Local activists in Los Angeles have interrupted several ICE operations, including one in Alhambra, as part of a larger resistance against the Trump administration's recent ramp-up of immigration enforcement. Community Self-Defense Coalition volunteers, numbering more than 100, have been conducting patrols, and in a couple of instances, they have thwarted ICE raids in progress, according to KTLA.
On a Sunday operation, activists from Union del Barrio confronted federal agents, ICE officials defended the operation as an investigative measure targeting criminal elements, not an indiscriminate sweep, but the confrontations in Alhambra and other areas like San Fernando have reportedly ended without any arrests being made and the Coalition is passing out informational cards on immigrant rights, as reported by KTLA. "Over the last few weeks, we’ve begun the largest deportation operation in American history, larger than even that of President Eisenhower," President Trump stated at the Conservative Political Action Conference per KTLA, matching the intensity of both the government's deportation efforts and the community's response.
During the Alhambra event, activists used loudspeakers to alert the community and demand federal agents leave, Union del Barrio has been active since 1992 in such efforts, aiming to protect immigrant communities from what they perceive as threats. “We denounce [ICE] and alert the community with megaphones,” volunteer Rob Gochez told KTLA; "We were there until the agents left. They didn’t kidnap anybody today," detailing the group’s tactics and their impact on the ground.
While ICE has not provided in-depth comments regarding the disrupted operations, they have maintained their position that actions are based on intelligence-driven leads and do not indiscriminately target noncitizens, yet Gochez disputes this, claiming that the agency often detains non-criminal undocumented individuals. “That's a lie that they are saying they are only looking for criminals they are going to places, anywhere and everywhere where brown people are that's what they are looking for, we are the target, we are not going to fall for that lie!" Gochez told FOX LA.
As part of these ongoing efforts, Union del Barrio continues to seek volunteers for their community patrols, reaffirming their commitment to defending immigrant rights in the face of what they deem aggressive and indiscriminate immigration enforcement operations. Further information, including insights from ICE's social media updates and interviews with activists like Ron Gochez, can be found at FOX LA and KTLA.
