Undocumented folks and their allies across the United States remain angry and fearful after word got out that immigration authorities are prepping raids against Central American refugees, with Mexicans and the token Filipino also thrown in. Knowledge of this is what got residents of Huntington Beach’s Oak View barrio up in arms, after ICE and Homeland Security agents swarmed the community earlier this week and refused to tell shocked residents what was going on or who the action was targeting.
“When the vans came, people ran into their houses and locked the doors and closed the curtains,” said a witness who requested anonymity. “I kept asking la migra what was up, but they didn’t say shit.
In response to Obummer’s strategy, National Day Laborer Organizing Network legislative director Salvador G. Sarmiento (an OC chavo through and through) issued the following statement earlier this week:
The President’s cold calculation to start the year by rounding-up refugee families is morally wrong and will backfire. The Hispanic Caucus is right, the President should not be in the business of separating families. That these raids are motivated by electoral politics is offensive. After years of abuse and nearly 2 and a half million deportations, shouldn’t the President be reigning in this rogue agency instead of revving it up?
Which raises the disturbing question: Is ICE getting ready to execute immigration raids across OC?
La migra doesn’t like telling the Weekly their plans, but reports of an uptick of ICE vans driving through random OC neighborhoods, from Lake Forest to Anaheim to (of course) SanTana, have trickled into our office since the end of last year. And yesterday, community activists in Oakland went to Twitter to report of ICE officials approaching people in public places around the East Bay, meaning la migra is on its way.
Musical interlude: “Ice/El Hielo” by my former house band, La Santa Cecilia, the most beautifully chilling song about la migra EVER:
Stay safe out there, gentle cabrones. And to the inevitable haters: #fuckthehaters
