Editorial: As ICE continues terrorizing Latinos, we must embrace acts of civil disobedience

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents are forcibly disappearing members of our Latino communities.

We saw it at workplaces across Los Angeles this weekend. Outside Phoenix courthouses just weeks ago. Across U.S. neighborhoods. Images and videos have flooded our social media feeds of families being separated, mothers and children being taken by masked individuals, loaded into unmarked vehicles and initiating their deportation process.

And despite the threats and the fear — that has been ever present since the presidential election in November 2024 — our community, courageously so, is refusing to stay silent, embracing their rage and engaging in acts of peaceful protest and civil disobedience to send a message to the White House: we will not back down and we will not stop until these blatant and racist attacks on our loved ones cease and desist.

Because rage built up over generations of oppression is the fuel that keeps movements alive and sustains the waves of progress in the U.S.

And because our community is no stranger to the U.S. government using military-style tactics to round up and deport Latinos — during the Great Depression with the Mexican Repatriation Program; post World War II via Operation Wetback; and with the growing militarization that the southern border region has been subjected to over decades — we have rage in spades.

As we have done so many times before, it is once again time to activate that rage, to overcome the fear and the apathy and join our neighbors, strangers, colleagues, family and friends as they conduct peaceful acts of civil disobedience, calling for certain political leaders to cease their violent crusade.

The immigration raids that took place in Los Angeles over the weekend have mobilized immigration rights and labor union organizers alike, prompting protests that continued through Monday and activating others to engage ICE agents directly, as they forcefully seek to apprehend individuals as a part of the agency’s increased activity across the country.

And in doing so, in attempting to protect our own, our community is being further demonized.

That’s what happened to David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California, who was violently detained by federal agents when documenting a raid, prompting his hospitalization and subsequent transfer to a local Los Angeles jail.

From the hospital, Huerta issued a statement calling for unity and resisting injustice — a message that has resonated across L.A. with community members, leaders and civil servants alike calling for his release.

But perhaps Huerta’s most powerful words are these: “What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger.” 

Because acts of resistance and civil disobedience are an empathic response to injustices plaguing a people, a community and the desire to see them reversed for the greater good.

At a time when an extremist agenda dominates the rule of law on the federal level — enforcing reprisal and punishment on those who dare oppose — the fear we live with is the most significant deterrent and they’re counting on it. 

This especially applies when our community engages in acts of civil disobedience, which, according to philosopher John Rawls, involves being a part of “a public, non-violent, conscientious yet political act contrary to law” in order to bring about change. It is a type of protest which is, unfortunately, not protected under the U.S. Constitution.

Not all community members are David Huerta, nor should they be expected to be, but with unity comes strength and impactful acts of dissent can take place in all spaces.

As grassroots organizers, activists and street medics across the country step into the frontlines, it is imperative that we engage in these acts of peaceful protest and resistance in our everyday spaces — calling for change within our workplaces, challenging curriculum that contributes to the erasure of our people in our schools, using our social platforms to demand justice, providing safe spaces within our places of worship and, above all, educating those inside our own homes.

The act of intentionally calling out the aggressors who have been set against us by this administration is a courageous act of resistance, and we must be willing to do our part in support of those who cannot do the same; those whose livelihoods are on the line.

To learn more about the movement and organizations supporting it, visit: 

• Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)

• Central American Resource Center (CARECEN)

• Immigrant Defenders

• American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). 

To learn more about your rights, visit: https://www.immigrantsarela.com/knowyourrights

The CALÓ News Editorial Board publishes separately from the newsroom.