Organizers gather to regain strength to protect LA’s immigrant communities

This past weekend the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA) organized “Los Angeles, Más Fuertes Que Ayer,” or “Los Angeles, Stronger than Yesterday,” a forum to commemorate and reflect on a year since the U.S. federal government initiated its violent campaign of raids and detentions in the City of Los Angeles. 

On the morning of June 6, 2025, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) personnel conducted operations using unmarked vehicles at an apparel manufacturer in the heart of the Los Angeles Fashion District and at a Home Depot parking lot near MacArthur Park. By the end of that day, over 100 people had been detained in the greater L.A. area. 

Last Saturday, June 6, families impacted by the raids and community organizations and leaders who have led the ongoing mobilization of undocumented people in L.A., along with local city officials and faith leaders gathered to rededicate themselves to protect immigrant communities in L.A. and throughout the country. 

Angelica Salas, executive director for CHIRLA, talked about the early days of July 2025 when ICE raids were at an all-time high.

“Our community experienced [what] has been a painful chapter for all Angelenos. Families separated, workers disappeared from their jobs … children have been left traumatized and entire neighborhoods have been forced to live in fear and uncertainty,” she said in her opening statement at the forum. “And as we look forward to fighting, denouncing and ending these brutal and racially motivated raids, we know our work is not finished.”

The forum was held at the Democracy Center at the Japanese American National Museum in Little Tokyo, only a few blocks away from the Metropolitan Detention Center, which ICE routinely utilizes to hold individuals detained during immigration enforcement operations. 

Since then, both the Senate and the House have passed a $70 billion immigration enforcement bill, which will now go to President Donald Trump for his signature to fund immigration enforcement agencies, including ICE and Border Patrol, for the next three years, through the end of his term.

The funding would supercharge ICE's operations, making it the highest-funded federal law enforcement agency in U.S. history, with about $45 billion directed toward expanding immigrant detention centers; $30 billion explicitly allocated to increase deportation speed and capacity; as well as around $47 billion going toward constructing more border walls, surveillance equipment and checkpoints.

"This is the money that could have gone to schools, to clinics, to food [and] to homes. And yet we know that we will fight together because we must use our strength to be even more organized, prepared and tenacious in the pursuit of human rights and dignity,” Salas said. 

Activists like David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU-United Service Workers West (USWW), who was arrested by federal agents on June 6, 2025, during an ICE workplace raid at a Downtown L.A. garment business, reflected on the months that followed. 

“I think back on that day [and] it was a day of affirmation. It was a day that we all collectively confirmed through what we knew was coming. Although it was a shock to many, it wasn't a shock to all of us. It was a day that tested ourselves [and] our resilience,” Huerta said. 

Huerta was detained while peacefully observing and documenting the ICE raid, yet the U.S. Department of Justice alleged that Huerta blocked a vehicle gate and pushed a federal officer. He was initially released on a $50,000 bond and later pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor obstruction charge in late November 2025.

Huerta said he finds hope in a time when Trump is no longer in office. “The crisis that he started is the crisis that we're going to find an opportunity in. We're not only going to win; I feel it in my heart that when we get the power back by 2028, not only [will] we win citizenship, but we will build something better for the next generation,” he said. 

Last month, a hunger strike was initiated in various detention centers, including the Adelanto ICE detention center in San Bernardino County. The Adelanto strikers are protesting unsafe and inhumane conditions marked by inadequate medical care, delays in treatment, overcrowding and insufficient food and drinking water, along with other violations of ICE’s own detention standards.

It was recently reported that three prisoners in Adelanto were transferred to solitary confinement after they met last week with members of Congress to discuss their hunger strike.

In an anonymous statement provided to the Immigrant Defenders Law Center (ImmDef) by one of the detainees participating in the hunger strike, they mention that phone calls are cut off if detainees talk to a reporter, attorney, or family member about what is happening inside this facility.

“The emotional distress we are all going through is unbelievable. There are a lot of people here talking about suicide or trying to take their own lives because they feel hopeless. I know of one person who tried to cut his throat and another who tried to hang himself,” the anonymous detainee said. “Many people are struggling, and if it were not for faith, I do not think some detainees would make it.”

Carlos, one of the participants in the forum, told CALÒ News the conditions inside Adeanto are “inhumane.” 

Last year, Carlos, who has diabetes, was detained inside the detention center for a total of 98 days. During that time, his health worsened. 

“The food is horrible: ground lentils, cabbage, lettuce, expired hot dogs, expired milk, expired medicine. The hygiene is terrible; four bathrooms for 130 people,” he said. 

Carlos said he also stopped eating in protest of the conditions inside, but only lasted two days. On the third day, he threw up blood.

“I want to send a message to the comrades who are fighting in there with hunger strikes: keep fighting. I did. I was on a hunger strike for two days. I know that one day you're going to get out of that horrible place.” 

Also present at the forum was L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, who reflected on the surge and impact of the immigration raids and talked about the city’s leaders who responded courageously to defend and uplift immigrants. 

“Think about all that has happened over this last year, the trauma that has been inflicted on children who will be traumatized by this for the rest of their lives, whether they realize that's the day their parents disappeared, or the day they saw them being snatched out of the house, or the day that their father didn't come home,” she said. “Imagine if we hadn't protested. Can you imagine if we sat back in silence while this egregious attack happened? Our protest is absolutely critical and we have to continue that because we can never, ever, ever accept what happened here a year ago and continues to happen every day.”