June 21 was one of the hottest days this year, but that did not stop dozens of immigrant rights leaders of all generations from organizing a street meeting in the South Bronx, telling stories and trading tips on how to address the crisis of ICE raids in their communities. These community members were marking the “Binational Day for Peace and Justice,” a call to action for organizations, collectives, and community leaders in Mexico and the US promoted by the organization Global Exchange.
“Since January 20, we’ve seen an increase in the attacks from ICE agents, in collaboration many times with FBI and other agencies, that are terrorizing our communities. Almost never with a judicial order,” Marco Castillo, a leader in the Red De Pueblos Transnacionales, a grassroots network that unites immigrant groups in New York City. Castillo is also the co-executive director of Global Exchange. The Red has its office on East 146th Street in the South Bronx, an area populated by a large Mexican immigrant population that has been threatened by the frequent presence of ICE since Trump’s second presidency.
According to Castillo, community members in the surrounding streets have reported encountering ICE agents in the streets, asking for identification. This puts the immigrant communities in the South Bronx “under tremendous stress,” Castillo says.
As community members and immigrant rights leaders gathered outside the Red De Pueblos office on 146th street, an older woman came up to the group and said in Spanish that ICE agents had been spotted on the corner of East 148th street and College Avenue. Peoples Dispatch joined a group, including Castillo, in walking over to observe and document the ICE agents in order to alert the community.
In the end, no ICE agents were spotted on that particular block, but Castillo described to Peoples Dispatch about the network that the local immigrant community had developed in just the few blocks around 146th street. Several different chats have been created, which include a group of immigrants from the community and a group of those with US citizenship who are willing to use their “privilege” to protect the neighborhood. There is also a strong network of word of mouth communication which ensures that neighbors are documenting and warning each other about the frequent appearance of immigration enforcement.
“We know our territory, we know our neighborhood, we know our streets, we know our people,” Castillo said. “We are in constant communication, and we are organizing to watch, observe, document, and respond through an emergency response strategy. We are not going to let ICE agents show up with impunity in our neighborhoods.”
Peoples Dispatch spoke to a father who showed up to the Binational day gathering at 146th street, who described the experience of ICE agents showing up to his household. “I was at work when my neighbor called me and said that immigration was outside my building,” he told Peoples Dispatch. His family was still asleep, because he received this call at around 7 am “I called and called my daughters, my wife, my sons, and they didn’t answer, and for me those minutes were very long.”
“When they managed to answer me, they informed me that they were fine, that they did not open the door, that they did not knock on the door, but that they could tell from the hole in the door that there were immigration people in the entrance of the building, in the corridor, and on the stairs,” he described.
He told Peoples Dispatch that for the 40-minute interval that ICE agents were at the entrance to his building, it was as if it was a “ghost building,” with families too afraid to send their children to school, and their parents too afraid to go off to work. He thanked god that none of his neighbors were taken that day. “We are in the fight together,” he concluded. “Let’s support each other, because together we can fight this.”
The palpable fear felt among the immigrant community in the Bronx is one felt by people across the US, especially after Trump increased the quota of immigration enforcement arrests to 3,000 per day.
In response, grassroots organizers have put out a call to action for people to call out sick in solidarity with immigrants facing down ICE raids in the workplace and the home. In calling for a mass “sickout” against Trump’s deportation regime, activists are echoing the 2006 “Day Without An Immigrant” mass protests.
