Hot from our inbox, from one of our favorite local activist groups, Chispa:
On Monday, massive ICE sweeps swept across Santa Ana and Orange County, tearing community members from their homes, their jobs, and their loved ones. We must be clear: these raids are a violation of our rights, an assault on our humanity, and an act of state terror against immigrant communities.
We cannot, we will not, stand by and allow our neighbors to disappear in silence. The people kidnapped by ICE could have been any of us. This is not public safety, it is political violence.
When residents gathered to protest this injustice, they were met with militarized force. Santa Ana police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd. The National Guard is now deployed in our city. This is unacceptable.
We do not need soldiers on our streets. We do not need tanks in our neighborhoods. We need the National Guard out of Orange County. We need leadership that protects our people, not forces that terrorize them.
At Chispa, we believe in the dignity and humanity of every person, regardless of immigration status. We believe in the right to live without fear. We believe that no person is disposable. Now is the moment to remember that belief and act on it. We must protect each other. We must show up for each other. We must refuse to become desensitized to this violence.
Here’s what you can do right now:
- Call 714-881-1558 and report any ICE activity in your community to the Orange County Rapid Response Network. Be sure to save their number as a contact!
- Follow @OCRRN on social media for verified ICE sightings and for opportunities on how to support their critical work.
- Support and donate to the Orange County Rapid Response Network. These are the organizers providing direct support, legal help, and community defense in the face of these attacks. Visit: bit.ly/donate2OCRRN and make your donation in honor of the Orange County Rapid Response Network in the dropdown menu.
- Show up and speak out. You have a constitutional right to protest and demand justice. We encourage you to do so safely, with community, and with purpose.
Do not normalize this. Do not look away. Do not let our neighbors be forgotten. ICE is weaponizing fear to divide us. We will continue to meet that fear with unity, resistance, and love.
Remember that you have constitutional rights:
- DO NOT OPEN THE DOOR if an immigration agent is knocking on the door. They must present a signed judicial warrant with names.
- DO NOT ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS from an immigration agent if they try to talk to you. You have the right to remain silent.
- DO NOT SIGN ANYTHING without first speaking to a lawyer. You have the right to speak with a lawyer.
- If you are outside of your home, ask the agent if you are free to leave and if they say yes, leave calmly.
In solidarity,
Isuri from Chispa
If you commit crime you will be arrested. I love what ice is doing cleaning up YOUR neighborhood. Let them do their job before someone commits a crime against YOU.
What crime? Stephen Miller ordered ICE to arrest 3000 a day, and they have practically run out of any criminals to bust.
Yeah, this is your cue to say “It’s a crime for them to BE here!” Hater.
Sorry Vern you don’t understand what ice is doing they know 90% who is wanted for arrest let them sift through the knuckleheads getting in the way…some are paid some are stupid idiots they can be arrested too..hahaha
Ah the old “paid protesters.” I keep wishing some journalist would ask Trump WHO is paying protesters. Is it that old boogieman Soros again? (And where’s MY check?)
But of course there are no journalists at the White House any more, they wouldn’t be let in.
Wait. When I said Stephen Miller demands 3000 arrests a day, that is not protesters. That is regular folks doing their jobs or going to court or whatever.
I told you Betty Franco was stupid. She should be worried now.
Willie the Weenie drags Farrahkhan for doxxing federal agents in Irvine.
https://x.com/OCGOP/status/1933237997916590141?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Etweet
Mushroom girl tells undocumented residents and vulnerable (?) individuals – like Councilmember Betty Franco (???) to stay home.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/ice-conducts-targeted-operations-in-irvine-city-confirms/
Dpoc and dgi out ice agents in Irvine too, a la Farrah.
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1106789064815465&id=100064531460664
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1156985006468815&id=100064719791171
Umm… DGI outed ICE agents at the Irvine Marriot, and good for them. (Good for Farrah and Treseder too!)
But that DPOC statement was just about the Padilla incident. And it’s a good one.
I do not know why you let Eric’s comment above and the “Betty Franco is Stupid” one survive.
Tom Umberg told Irvine council members including Larry Agran not to mention ICE operations publicly lest they wanted to attract unwanted attention. On January 3, at special meetings, Agran agendized a resolution re protection of residents from violation of their due process rights by ICE agents or something like that which sounded meaningful but had not teeth. Roughly a week later, ICE shows up in Irvine. Moral of the story: listen to Tom Umberg.
No moral to the story. If you keep your head down like Lou Correa and Valerie Amezcua ICE will still come. So you can face it defiantly or submissively. What do you think our position is?
Oop, that’s three in a row now.
I’ve been pulled off a plane by homeland security post 9/11. I’m christian lawyer born in Hollywood, CA. Talk is cheap.
Irvine councilmembers are left handing out know your rights propaganda from Correa and Lopez because of their inaction.
If they were really concerned about protecting and helping undocumented folks, they would have had kyr propaganda years ago. And they knew about the illegal deportations more than a month ago or should have. Mind you this is a city that neglected to acknowledge Fred Korematsu day.
They weren’t prepared to run their mouth about ICE operations. They had no plan in place.
The phrase “kyr propaganda” gives you away, Eric. It’s not “propadanda.” It’s a summary of relevant law.
Four in a row and counting.
Ada Briceno wants you to know she moved her of her own volition at age 7 because of authoritarianism.
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1017113497238096&id=100068183651270
Ugh. She should really not talk about her childhood in Nicaragua. I never held it against her, cuz you can’t help where you were brought up, but… she brought it up.
The authoritarian state, in Ada’s childhood Nicaragua, was the Somoza regime, and her family was upper-class Somoza supporters. They left when the revolutionary Sandinistas took over. If anything, it was the Somoza regime that oppressed union leaders (although I should look it up.)
The Sandinistas became more authoritarian over the years as many revolutionary governments do, but that’s not when Ada’s family left. She should leave all that alone.
Exactly Vern.
She is recreating her history.
Her family was party of the ruling class either way.
The only oppression they experienced is when those in power with whom they were aligned were sacked.
Streak broken! This one landed fair. Of course, I’ve been using the phrase “Somosista spawn” for her for most of this decade. We have some good people — Vietnamese, Cuban, Taiwanese, etc. — in our “escaped from left-wing revolutions” communities, but also a hell of a lot of opportunists who don’t think that examination of what they are for — and whether it’s “nothing beyond themselves” — is in order.
Now I am not unique. Homeland security also pulled federal judge dickran tevrizian off a plane too post 9/11. Another Christian lawyer born In Los Angeles. You can confirm it on your own. I’ve heard him tell the story.
Do you wanna guess why Armenians Americans were being pulled off planes after 9/11? Which ngos share info with the gubernment??