In the early days of the first President Trump administration, many Kern County organizations launched a party line that people could call if they monitor the enforcement activities of the ongoing immigration.
Nearly three weeks ago, the hotline began in the ring again. In panic voices, the callers of their celebrities informed the border patrol agents who are wondering about the Latinians in parking lots and fuel stations – and people are held in large numbers. In some cases, they said, a member of his family was arrested.
the Quick response network from Kern It spread at work. The organization’s employees and volunteers throughout the Beckerfield region have spread to the home warehouse, and Mubadala and other locations gathered where the border patrol was monitored. They also confirmed the raids, they tried to document the viewer, including any violations of rights or the use of force, as well as registering the names of the people who are detained and the witnesses of witnesses.
By the time when the multiple border patrol ended, 78 illegal immigrants were arrested, according to the EL Centro sector in the border patrol.
“Gregory K.” said Gregory K. Boufino, who leads the Contro sector in the imperial valley along the Mexican border, in statements on social media that the agents detained two rapists for children and “other criminals”. He said that the agents also arrested people because they were in the United States illegally.
Meanwhile, defenders at the scene said that the operation randomly targeted Latin agricultural workers and daytime workers, and that more people had been arrested. They wondered why EL Centro – 300 miles south – have been very far from the border.
Customs representatives, American border protection, and enforcement of immigration and customs did not respond to the suspension requests.
Rosa Lopez, a great political preacher in the US Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, said that while the quick response network is not designed to interfere in the raids, its members played a role in vital support by listing the process and advising those who are They were detained. He is a partner in the Kern County Network.
Fast response networks appeared throughout the state during the first Trump administration. Community -led groups have become the first line of the migrants who were overwhelmed by the threats of raids and mass deportation.
The hypothesis was clear: the people who see the agents of migration or borders in their community or send a text message to a hotline. One of the missionaries notify the volunteers, who respond to the reported address to confirm whether, in fact there is an active process. If verified, the sender can send a legal observer to monitor the situation, as well as a lawyer to provide legal assistance.
During the peak of the epidemic, and with the confrontation of migrants who face the least threat to deportation under the Biden Administration, many central networks have provided people with vaccines and food assistance.
But after Trump was elected in November, amid promises to carry out the largest deportation in American history, local organizations explode from the rapid response networks they built eight years ago.
In the early days of his new term, Trump issued a large number of executive orders that close the legal means to asylum and declare illegal immigration a national emergency on the southern border. General feelings can be by his side. A modern poll From the New York Times and IPSOS found that 55 % of Americans support or somewhat support all migrants in the country illegally.
Besides providing legal defense to immigrants detained by the authorities, much of what networks do is preventive. They teach members of society about Their rights To ask a note if Ice appears at their door and not to answer questions. They urge people to document the meeting and report the accident. They also ensure that families have an emergency plan.
They use text messages and social media to warn people of confirmed processes, and often, to establish rumors that can motivate people to stay at home from working and keep their children at home from school.
“Our primary goal is to build power, not panic,” said Lisa Nox, CEO and Legal Cooperative Manager with Cooperative with immigrants, who support rapid response networks throughout the state. “One of the biggest roles that these community networks can play is to publish accurate information and waste wrong information.”
Even before Trump was opened this week, the rapid response networks began in high condition as Beckerfield raids fired a wave of fear across the central valley, as the migrant workforce largely helps to harvest a quarter of the cultivated food in the United States
At least half Among the 162,000 agricultural workers are not documented, according to the Federal Ministry of Labor estimates Research By Uc Merced. Many of these workers have children or husbands who were born here.
In the weeks that followed the Beckerfield raid, the Kern’s rapid response network helped distribute groceries to more than 200 families feared to leave their homes, coordinating horse riding to people who are afraid to lead themselves to work. Network partners explore the emergency rental assistance to families who lost income after the raids.
“There is a great panic,” said Blanca Oujida, an organization of the Iman Network in the Valley, which leads the Valley Watch Network, a quick response network that serves the societies from Kern to Saint -Jawakin’s provinces. “The activity in Kern … increased the senses of everyone and made us a little more suspicious than everyone.”
The rapid response network of the Internal Empire – which did not receive a call in eight months – obtained approximately 140 calls and text messages that alerted it to the enforcement of potential immigration in the weeks that have passed on the Bakersfield operation, according to the internal alliance for migrant justice.
The volunteers with the network responded to more than 70 reports in the provinces of Riferside and San Bernardino. The group publishes updates on Instagram, which mostly worked to dispel rumors about the scenes of the immigration agent. At least two have confirmed social media from Friday afternoon.
Javier Hernandez, CEO of the coalition, said that an attempt to respond to the reports of raids in an area that extends more than 27,000 square miles is not an easy task. To meet this request, the Empire Inland network aims to obtain messengers who speak English and Spanish from 4 am to midnight a day, and it is in the process of training 300 respondents.
Wath Watch faces a similar challenge. She trained more than 90 people since late last year and has been trying to employ more legal observers to respond to potential enforcement activities in San Joaquin Valley.
“We just want to be able to fill as quickly as possible, because it gives the ice the opportunity to leave that spot, and then we have no evidence of what happened,” said Ojida.
This article is part of the era Initiative to report stocksand Funded by James Irvin FoundationExplore the challenges facing low -income workers and efforts to address California’s economic gap.