As ICE raids sweep through Southern California, grassroots groups become a lifeline for immigrants
The urgency Cruz feels isn't unique. As the Trump administration's immigration crackdown leads to dozens of raids at homes and worksites across Southern California, community organizations like the one Cruz works for — League of United Latin American Citizens — are seeing an unprecedented surge in demand for their services.
These organizations are responding to the crisis with expanded legal aid, educational outreach, and housing assistance.
'We work with everyone, and you don't have to be Latino to be a member … our mission is empowerment through education,' Cruz said. 'As people look out and are seeking more help, they're coming to us more and more. I like the fact that they're coming to us, and I get a chance to try and touch as many lives as possible.'
That growing demand for support is not limited to Cruz's organization.
Esperanza Immigrants Rights Project, a nonprofit focused on Latino advocacy through education and human rights programs, is seeing similar trends. Staff reports have responded by expanding community education efforts, including 'Know Your Rights' presentations. They've also partnered with housing providers such as homeless shelters to train staff on how to better assist the immigrants and migrants they serve.
'[We're] really trying to take a step back and look at the people that we're serving as a whole person, and make sure that we're doing our best to meet all of the needs, especially during this time where a lot of them are telling us that they're really scared,' said Vanessa Cecena, director of holistic services and capacity building at Esperanza.
Cecena emphasized that legal representation is especially important in immigration cases, where the system is often confusing and difficult to manage without help. She noted that many immigrants face challenges applying for citizenship or even understanding their rights in court.
UnidosUS, a national Latino civil rights and advocacy group, works with a national network of local partners that provide legal and social services to immigrant families.
'Community-based organizations are oftentimes a place where members of the community are comfortable in getting information and going to them because they trust and rely on them,' said Laura Vazquez, director of immigrant integration at UnidosUS.
During times of heightened immigration enforcement, Vazquez said these organizations help immigrants navigate a complex legal system and ensure that due process is upheld.
Still, access to these services isn't always easy. Fernando Romero, the Associate Director of Catholic Charities of Los Angeles Immigrant and Refugee Resettlement program, said the insular nature of some communities makes it hard for newcomers to find support.
'These organizations have been around, but because the communities are so insular, they're not always easy to find unless you're already a member of the community,' Romero said.
Los Angeles, home to one of the largest immigrant populations in the country, reflects many of these national concerns. Advocates note that undocumented residents have often lived in the U.S. for years and remain active contributors to their communities.
According to Pew Research Center, 65% of Americans support allowing undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. legally, with 36% backing a path to citizenship for those who meet specific requirements.
Representatives from Chinese for Affirmative Action echoed the sense of fear among Chinese Americans. Staff pointed to increased anxiety tied to former President Donald Trump's renewed calls for mass deportation during his campaign.
'There's a lot of uncertainty right now,' said Sin Yen, Communications Director from Chinese for Affirmative Action. 'Immigrants need to stay informed about policy changes.'
Yen's connection to the work is personal. Her parents immigrated to the United States in the 1970s. Her father was undocumented, and her mother was a green card holder. At the time, gaining legal status was more accessible.
'Every time we represent, whether it be a Chinese migrant or an El Salvadoran immigrant, it's an extension of my family,' she said. 'They have a stake in what happens in their community, and they are equally important as everybody else.' Related
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Los Angeles Times
17 minutes ago
- Los Angeles Times
Snow Tha Product blasts Latino Trump voters in new video for ‘Sabado'
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Los Angeles Times
4 hours ago
- Los Angeles Times
Back-to-school season sees LAUSD, parents work to protect kids from ICE
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As the school year starts this week, LAUSD is forced to deal with the reality of the ongoing ICE raids throughout the city and being monitored for how it plans to protect students and families.s This week, my colleague Howard Blume reported that a 15-year-old boy was reportedly handcuffed, detained and had guns drawn at him by immigration agents just outside Arleta High School on Monday. The situation was later described as an alleged case of mistaken identity by L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho. 'He was not an adult,' Carvalho said. 'This is the exact type of incident that traumatizes our community and it cannot repeat itself.' The teenager — a student with disabilities who attends a different school — was with his family members when the arrest occurred. He was ultimately released after his family intervened, L.A. Unified School District officials said. 'Such actions — violently detaining a child just outside a public school — are absolutely reprehensible and should have no place in our country,' Kelly Gonez, the LAUSD District 6 school board member who represents Arleta High, said in a social media post. 'As we prepare for the start of the school year this week, we are doubling down on our efforts to protect students and families such as by providing safe zones outside of our campuses, working with partners,' she continued in her statement. 'I denounce these violent aggressions, the continued unconstitutional targeting of our Latino community and call on the federal government to immediately stop harassing, abducting and tearing apart our communities.' Speaking to the concern that Gonez and many parents across L.A. have regarding student safety, Carvalho said that the district will create and expand 'safe zones' around campuses before and after school, and that everyone must work to protect the most vulnerable populations. Carvalho will send staff across the school system beginning the first day of classes to patrol the streets around schools and ensure the safe passage of students from school to home. The safe zones will cover areas most affected by immigration enforcement. In recent weeks, Carvalho said LAUSD has been equipping households with informational packets that explain 'the rights of our children and their parents, but also providing easy access to the resources that we have available to all of them.' Additionally, LAUSD is working to reroute buses to make transportation more accessible to families and has created a 'compassion fund' to provide general help for families, including legal assistance. LAUSD officials aren't the only ones looking out for students as classes start. Community organizations are equipping parents and fellow concerned citizens with tools and plans for how to ensure a safe start to the academic year. On Wednesday night, Unión del Barrio — an independent political organization advocating for immigrant rights and social justice — held a Zoom meeting called 'Community Plan to Defend Our Schools.' Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, an LAUSD educator, coordinator and leading member of Unión del Barrio, spoke to the Times ahead of the meeting. 'It's really going to be about community members coming out around the school areas [and] even small businesses,' she said. 'I know at my school a lot of students go to the liquor store, they pick up their little munchies, they pick up their coffee or beverages and things like that. And so it's a callout to all those other folks to know what to do in the event that ICE is in their vicinity and how they can help protect all students.' The agenda for Wednesday's online gathering was in part informed by the crowdsourced concerns from parents and educators. 'A lot of parents are concerned about transportation, [specifically] what's going to happen from their house to the bus and then on the bus and then from the bus to school,' Cardona said. 'We have a lot of parents who are afraid of what happened at the Arleta orientation. I know at my school, we have a lot of parents that have been asking for alternative ways to complete all the paperwork that's necessary for students to register for the new school year.' But for Cardona, Thursday, the first day of classes in the district, will become the new reference point for how deeply affected families in the school system were by ICE over the summer. 'As a teacher I fear for students that don't return, that aren't just like in hiding, but that may have been been kidnapped and deported without us knowing because over the summer it's really difficult to keep track,' Cardona explained. 'Some things happen by word of mouth, but some things just happen, especially during the mass raids. We've been trying to keep track, but it's been very difficult to confront.' The organization's goal is to have families' trips to school be as uneventful as possible so that students can focus on getting an education. And although LAUSD has put forward a strong face and message about student protection, Cardona expressed concern about the district's current, seemingly nonexistent implementation strategy. 'I have not as an educator — and I'm also a coordinator, so I actually deal with buses — heard a single peep about how [the student protection strategy] is going to be different and what I need to be doing for my students so that it's different than last year, for instance,' she said. 'I'm very happy about the fact that L.A. Unified, L.A. elected officials and our leaders are at least in word in support of our migrants and immigrants. So that's huge because that gives us the support to do this outside organizing that we're doing,' Cardona said. 'I mean, it's not enough because it would be better for us to have actual official resources and support instead of us just doing this on our own.' More than 350 people logged into the Wednesday night Zoom call, on which Unión del Barrio leadership shared phone numbers for community members to dial if they see suspicious activities, fielded questions from participants and gave a tutorial on how to spot ICE vehicles. (A helpful hint: Their cars are usually American brands and have unusual license plates.) 'We feel that as teachers, we are part of the front line of the defense of our students and community. We're proud of that, because not only do we get to work with students and educate them, but we also have that responsibility to make sure that they are OK,' said Unión del Barrio member Ron Gochez, who also serves as an LAUSD teacher in South L.A. 'What we are asking, our call to action to community members is every one of us lives near schools — it may be schools where your own children go, it may be schools that you don't have children at, but it's in your neighborhood,' Cardona said Wednesday night to an online crowd that included United Teachers Los Angeles union members and concerned citizens. 'We are asking you to come out. Show up to your local school tomorrow. Tomorrow's schools start at 8:30 a.m. throughout the L.A. area or whichever city that you're in. Come out be the eyes and ears.' As the academic year kicks off, Cedar-Sinai is offering free back-to-school vaccinations and general health screenings for young kids and teens through its mobile clinic. The program does not ask about immigration status and all clinics take place on LAUSD property. The goal of the program is simple: Increase access to family healthcare and protect communities from diseases. The mobile clinics look to provide as smooth a transition into the school year as possible by checking off inoculations required by institutions. 'Kids entering transitional kindergarten need boosters for measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio. This includes the DTaP vaccine — given to younger children — which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis,' Cedar-Sinai nurse practitioner Anne Traynor said in a news release. 'Older children, especially 11-year-olds and teens, receive the Tdap booster, which offers continued protection against the same three illnesses but in a smaller dose appropriate for adolescents and adults. It's not just one age group; we're vaccinating children from birth through age 18.' 'These vaccines protect against childhood preventable illnesses — measles, chickenpox, pneumonia, meningitis,' Cedar-Sinai pediatrician Arthur Cho said in a news release. 'In the past, we saw high rates of these infections. Today, because of vaccines, we rarely see them. When children aren't vaccinated, they're at greater risk of getting sick, ending up in the hospital, or even worse.' As for the people with vaccine hesitancy, Cho 'understands the concerns' but continues to trust the studies and science behind it all. 'We've studied these vaccines for decades. Side effects are generally mild — fever or some swelling — but the alternative is far worse,' Cho said. 'These diseases still exist and can be deadly. Getting vaccinated protects your child and others in the community.' To see where the mobile clinics will pop up throughout August, click here. This week De Los editor Suzy Exposito spoke with Mary Guibert, the Panamanian-born mother of late musician Jeff Buckley, about what it was like to raise the musical legend. Buckley's life and tragic death have resurfaced into the public conscience thanks to a recent documentary about his life, 'It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley,' which received a limited release Aug. 8 and is expanding to more theaters this weekend before going to HBO later in the year. In the piece, Guibert recounts moving to Orange County as an immigrant from the Panama Canal Zone in the '60s. She mentions the joyous and the fraught connections she has to Latinidad and how she shared her heritage with her son. Guibert also discusses what finally led her to agree to work with director Amy Berg on the new doc. Unless otherwise noted, all stories in this section are from the L.A. Times. It's been nearly 55 years since more than 20,000 demonstrators marched through East Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 1970, for the National Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War. But the protest for peace devolved into conflict between demonstrators and sheriff's deputies. By day's end, hundreds were arrested and trailblazing Latino journalist Ruben Salazar was dead. In 2020, The Times commemorated the event's 50th anniversary with a holistic account of the actions that took place that day, the cultural moment in which it occurred and its lasting political/social/cultural ramifications. Check out our coverage here.
Newsweek
4 hours ago
- Newsweek
Woman in US for Nearly 3 Decades Arrested by ICE After Traffic Stop
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, a 38-year-old Phoenix resident who has lived in the United States for almost 30 years, was detained after a traffic stop and nearly deported immediately thereafter before her lawyers helped move her into standard removal proceedings, the Los Angeles Times reported. The Guatemalan immigrant was initially transported to the Florence Processing Center. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) records show Co Tupul is currently being held at the Eloy Detention Center in Eloy, Arizona, roughly 65 miles from Phoenix. Newsweek reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security via email for comment. Why It Matters Co Tupul's case highlights questions about the government's use of expedited removal, a procedure that her attorneys and advocates say is meant for recent arrivals, but they allege it has been more broadly applied by Trump administration immigration officials. In January, the Trump administration expanded expedited removal to its full extent to apply to undocumented persons who are apprehended anywhere in the U.S., cannot prove they have resided in the U.S. for at least two years, and, entered the U.S. between ports of entry or were paroled into the U.S. and have their parole status revoked, according to the National Immigration Forum. Civil rights lawyers said the episode illustrated legal and humanitarian risks for long-term residents who lack counsel when immigration officers move quickly to remove people without a court hearing, an issue that has drawn renewed attention amid increased immigration enforcement actions. Law enforcement officers search the inside of a car during a traffic stop on August 14, 2025, in Washington, D.C. Law enforcement officers search the inside of a car during a traffic stop on August 14, 2025, in Washington, To Know Co Tupul was stopped by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agent while driving to work at a laundromat on July 22 in a predominantly Latino area of Phoenix, according to her attorneys in court documents. She entered the U.S. at age 9 and has lived continuously in the country since that time. She is a single mother of three children (ages 8, 16 and 18), all U.S. citizens. Three days after the traffic stop, legal counsel for Co Tupul was informed that she was placed in expedited removal proceedings and would be removed in one to three weeks. The removal officer reportedly explained ICE had a "new policy" of utilizing expedited removal for noncitizens with "their first contact with ICE." Lawyers submitted evidence of her decades-long presence in the U.S., including vaccination records, other official records and sixteen signed affidavits. Their legal complaint on her behalf claimed that the traffic stop of Co Tupul violated her Fourth Amendment rights "as it lacked reasonable suspicion and, as a result, any evidence obtained must be excluded from her immigration proceedings." They also said in legal briefs that she was statutorily ineligible to be placed in expedited removal proceedings due to being physically present in the U.S. for 30 years. Her placement in expedited removal proceedings violated her due process rights, they also argued. On Wednesday, August 13, she and her attorneys received positive news when a U.S. district court judge in Arizona dismissed the case and moved Co Tupul to regular deportation proceedings. It was also agreed that the government would not attempt to remove her expeditiously again. The judge in that case granted the lawyers' emergency request due to the timing of the matter. The federal government subsequently moved Co Tupul into regular removal proceedings and committed in writing not to pursue expedited removal in her case, after which the judge dismissed the lawsuit, according to the attorneys and DHS. Attorneys said a deportation officer had told Co Tupul that a "new policy" allowed immigration officials to use expedited removal at the first interaction with immigrants, a practice they argued conflicted with long-standing limits on expedited removal. Federal law enacted in the 1990s established expedited removal procedures intended to apply primarily to recent arrivals, a point raised by Co Tupul's lawyers as they challenged the government's actions. Department of Homeland Security officials later confirmed that ICE filed Co Tupul into regular removal proceedings after reviewing the case. What People Are Saying Eric Lee, a lawyer for Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul, in an X post on August 4: "Good news: Our demand that the court halt Trump from deporting Ms. Co Tupul without due process as just GRANTED by U.S. Dist. Ct. for District of Arizona! Judge says Trump admin is 'enjoined from removing Petitioner Mirta Amarilis Co Tupul from the United States...'" Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons on Fox News on Thursday: "I don't think the American public as a whole realizes just exactly who ICE is going after every day." What Happens Next The government's next steps in the matter remained unclear after the district court dismissed the suit. Co Tupul's attorneys warned that similar attempts could recur in cases where immigrants lacked legal representation.
