Community organizers leaned on one another, both figuratively and literally, on Saturday as they made space for an unexpected amount of food and people filing into the parish hall at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Modesto.
Attendees gathered with notepads, ready to hear what local organizations needed from them in preparation for when U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers come knocking on doors in Modesto and surrounding areas.
As news from Minneapolis, Los Angeles and the Bay Area continues to show aggressive and deadly ICE tactics in action, Modesto residents are wondering how they can protect themselves and their neighbors from what they consider discriminatory state violence.
Over 100 people showed up to the event, bringing snacks and drinks for the potluck. Dozens more joined online, including a few of the presenters.
Central Valley Black, Indigenous, People of Color Coalition (CVBIPOCC) hosted the town hall, in partnership with community based organizations, including: Faith in the Valley, Modesto 50501, Valley Improvement Projects, El Concilio, Empowering Marginalized Asian Communities, and more.
Presenters touched on various topics, including mental health resources within immigrant communities, ICE watch volunteer opportunities and legal resources.
After working with organizers in the Bay Area, CVBIPOCC adopted the use of orange cards in which people at risk write their names and phone numbers of emergency contacts. If detained, people can drop the cards wherever they are, in hopes that someone will see them and contact their loved ones. The group has also created a resource hub.
Attendees received emailed templates of the cards and have been asked to share them around the community.
One of the panelists, Patrick Kolasinski, an immigration lawyer practicing in Modesto for 15 years, said the region is a legal desert. While there have not been any major ICE raids in the Valley, he said, he has seen immigrants, especially in the Cambodian community, targeted for pick up.
He and other organizers placed an emphasis on calling a Rapid Response Network hotline, operated through Faith in the Valley. Unverified ICE spotting posts on social media hurt people, he said.
“We have people literally causing medical harm because they’re panicking that their community is being invaded. People are self deporting because they’re terrified. People are not shopping like (on) Crows Landing, and so the community is losing money and losing support. So don’t spread misinformation,” Kolasinski said.
Nationally, the Episcopal Church prioritizes immigrant rights, and it’s especially true for the local diocese, said Deacon Tom Hampson, who opened the doors for the event.
With three ICE detention centers located within the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin, which stretches from Lodi to Bakersfield, the issue of ICE raids hit close to home, said Jonathan Partridge, chair of the immigration rights commission.
“These are awful places,” he said. “They’re privately run. People have complained of moldy food and just horrific, horrific conditions. And so we’ll write letters of encouragement and support to the people who find themselves in these places, just to let them know that they’re not alone.”
Local protests against ICE
Since the death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse who was shot in the street by ICE officers in Minneapolis in late January, Stanislaus County residents have taken to the streets regularly in protest of what they consider state-sponsored violence.
On Jan. 29, California Nurses Association hosted a candlelight vigil for Peretti and several other victims killed by ICE officers since the beginning of the second Trump administration. More than 50 nurses and community members joined in front of Doctors Medical Center on Florida Avenue.
Lynn Warmerdam, chief nurse representative of DMC’s nurses union said inside the hospital, her colleagues have begun mentally preparing for ICE raids to interfere with medical professionals and patients alike.
“We do anticipate in this community, ICE is going to start coming into the hospitals, and we need to know how we can safely stand up for our patients and how we can safely care for our patients and not put ourselves, or them, at risk,” she said. “And ICE is coming. We haven’t seen as much of it yet as we expect to see, but it’s coming.”
Students from Turlock, Oakdale and Modesto have also begun to speak out against the violence, organizing school walkouts. Last week, more than 1,200 high schoolers in Modesto took to the streets during school hours to protest ICE and the Trump administration’s immigration policy.