In the Inland Empire, immigrant rights groups say day laborers continue to be arrested by federal agents. They are relying on public tips about where agents with Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol are showing up, while volunteers inform workers about their rights.
On Tuesday, volunteers part of a local rapid response network rushed to the Ontario Advanced Surgery Clinic after nurses there called to report an ICE arrest. In a video posted online by the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice (IC4IJ), you can hear a nurse ask the agent for a warrant.
Two ICE agents are seen arresting Dennis Guillen, a 30-year-old gardener from Honduras, and one other unidentified worker. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Guillen fled from agents and that the nurses obstructed his arrest by assaulting an agent.
But, Javier Hernandez, IC4IJ’s executive director, says the nurses didn’t do anything wrong and that they were asserting their rights.
“They're asking the right questions,” said Hernandez. “‘Who are you? Do you have a badge? Do you have a warrant for this person's arrest?’ It's important for people to realize when we talk about Know Your Rights and rapid response, it is not just for immigrants, it's for all of us."
Hernandez says as of Friday, Guillen was being detained somewhere in Los Angeles, but that his family says he might be transferred soon to a facility in another state. They've also had a difficult time trying to track him in ICE's detainee locator.
ICE has stepped up public immigration arrests across the Inland Empire, even entering church grounds to detain migrants at Catholic churches in Montclair and Highland. This week, San Bernardino Diocese Bishop Alberto Rojas formally excused parishioners from their weekly Mass obligations following these detentions.
According to San Bernardino Diocese spokesperson John Andrews, one of those arrested was a longtime gardener and Catholic parishioner who has a child currently serving in the armed forces.
Community groups mobilize as ICE activity intensifies at day laborer sites
The recent surge in ICE arrests has immigrant rights groups across the region scrambling to provide support. In response, grassroots organizations have launched social media campaigns to encourage the community to report immigration enforcement activity and help coordinate volunteer efforts.
Several Home Depot stores and other well-known day laborer gathering sites across the Inland Empire have been the focus of recent enforcement. On Wednesday, immigrant rights activists say more than a dozen people were detained during raids at Home Depots in Riverside and San Bernardino.
Fannelly Milan, with the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center (PEOC), says her organization has been monitoring ICE and Border Patrol operations since President Trump’s first term. On Thursday and Friday, she returned to the Riverside Home Depot following the raid, handing out Know Your Rights cards and checking in with workers to see if they had connected with the families of those detained.
Millan says she’s been so busy responding to ICE raids that she missed her college graduation. That urgency — along with a shortage of trained volunteers — is what’s driving PEOC to train more people to document enforcement activity and talk to workers about their rights.
“We're not going to be able to prevent every raid, or be at every raid, unless we get help from our community,” said Millan.
Meanwhile, DHS says some of the individuals arrested in Riverside had existing deportation orders. They also said reports of ICE arrests in San Bernardino are "false."
Hernandez says volunteers are the first line of defense for the Rapid Response network, which helps track ICE presence and quickly mobilize support.
“We try to the best of our abilities and to the best of our capacity,” he said, “to really meet the needs of these families that are affected by these detention and deportations as well.”
Hernandez says as long as the raids continue, so will their efforts to document and respond.
