A group of local vigilantes recorded this Tuesday immigration agents shortly after they arrested a man in the city of Escondido in San Diego County.
Without fear of arrest , and with a megaphone in hand, one of the volunteers alerted the surrounding community that “la migra” was in her neighborhood while another shared a live video on social media.
At the same time a group of citizen volunteers patrolled the streets of south central Los Angeles in search of immigration agents (ICE) or local police who were detaining immigrants or acting out of their professional conduct.
For them It was fortunate to know that in a period of almost two hours of patrolling they did not find any of these situations but they know that at any moment it could happen.
The volunteers are part of the “Resistance Committees”, a project of Unión del Barrio —a community political organization.
Its objective is “Create a community resistance and self-defense group to disrupt hostile immigration raids and police terrorism against working-class immigrant and refugee communities,” they stated.
Unión’s resistance committee del Barrio-Los Angeles focuses on patrolling South and East Los Angeles neighborhoods to ensure the community is safe in its daily routine.
Ron Gochez, a member of the group, said the idea of these voluntary patrols began in the years 70 when the group of the Black Panthers did the same to protect to their communities and report police brutality against African Americans.
“The difference is that they used firearms and we did not,” he explained and assured that his only weapon is the megaphone and social networks to alert the community of the presence of immigration authorities.
Gochez said that the patrol in support of the c The immigrant community began more than two years ago in San Diego County, an area very crowded by Border Patrol agents (CBP), ICE and local police.
“Luckily we have not seen nothing and I think the 90% of the time we won’t see anything, and that’s good and that’s what we want, ”he said.
The activist said that a few weeks ago they received training via Zoom by the group Unión del Barrio de San Diego in strategies of how to identify unmarked immigration vehicles.
This ranges from the type of cars they use to the tinted windows, the way they park, among other measures.
Gochez said they want to get involved and learn more about the neighborhoods to protect to the community.
“In Los Angeles, there are more deportations than in any other city in the United States. For this reason, although the race is the majority here, until now we did not have a self-defense group or how to teach people to defend themselves, ”said Gochez.
Patrolling at all times
Jashine Alberto is a member of the Los Angeles resistance committee and her interest in participating was born after seeing that acquaintances disappeared from the communities due to an immigration arrest.
In addition, says that with the Trump administration terrorism against immigrants increased in his city.
“We have seen people coming from Orange County to our town hall meetings to terrorize immigrants”, the Huntington Park resident said. “And there is no organizational method to face situations.”
He said that as a therapist, he has witnessed how on many occasions children come home and their parents are no longer there.
“This is a problem that has been very present and until now we do not feel that we have support from the bailiff,” said Alberto.
He indicated that the patrols are scheduled for take them at least twice a week now that they are starting but the volunteers have been trained to be patrolling the streets at all times.
“When we organize as a group we work together but when we are alone , like when I go to work, I am always alert around me ”, said the activist.
‘We want you to know us’
When volunteers go out to patrol the streets they make sure to put some stickers on their cars that identify them as community volunteer patrols.
Gochez said that they are aware that the alleged main objective of the immigration authorities is to detain and deport undocumented criminals, however it is very common to see that this results in collateral damage.
“If they arrive and look for ‘José’ is not here, but there are more people who are going to ask them if they are legally in the country and if they are not they are going to take them too, ”said Gochez. “Or let’s say that José is in the house but there is also his wife, his parents, his grandmother. They are going to take them all. So we are not protecting criminals, we are protecting the community. ”
Gochez said that the local police are aware of them and although they have not sat down to talk, they know what the community group is doing . The resistance committees agree that criminals should pay for their mistakes but not their relatives or acquaintances.
“We have been fighting with LAPD and the city council to defend our communities,” said Gochez . “We want them to see who we are so that they are aware that there are people watching them and when they are doing things that should not be there, there will be political and organized resistance.”
Real America News tried to contact LAPD to obtain an opinion on the issue but at press time there was no response.
The activists said that they are also working very closely with the street vendors who are the ones who know a lot of neighborhoods.
Gochez said they have given these vendors flyers so they know how to report any injustice and so that they also inform their community.
In addition, they want to keep the entire community informed that if they see any type of police brutality or arrests by immigration agents, do not hesitate to report it to the vigilante group. The number to call is (213) – 8242.
They also invited any city in California that is interested in creating their own vigilance committees or interested volunteers to feel free to contact them to receive the appropriate training. You can follow Unión del Barrio on social media.