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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">What To Do When You See ICE in Your Neighborhood</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Justin Caffier</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time">July 12, 2025</div>
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<img src="https://theintercept.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/GettyImages-2223410160.jpg?fit=7792%2C5200" alt="Federal agents near MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles on July 7, 2025." width="467" height="312" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;">
<span>Federal agents near MacArthur Park in the Westlake neighborhood of Los Angeles on July 7, 2025. </span><span>Photo: Carlin Steihl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images</span>
<div>
<p></p><p><span>Justin Caffier
is a journalist and occasional artist based out of Los Angeles. His
investigative and experiential writing has featured in VICE, New York
Magazine, and other outlets. You can find him on most platforms @justincaffier.</span></p>
</div>
<p><span>To commemorate 30 days</span> of its Los Angeles occupation,
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its auxiliary federal
forces swarmed the city\u2019s MacArthur Park earlier this week with cavalry,
gunner-mounted humvees, and lines of agents kitted out for war.
Monday\u2019s boondoggle, later revealed in a leak as <a href="https://www.kenklippenstein.com/p/exclusive-operation-excalibur-in" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">\u201cOperation Excalibur,\u201d</a> resulted in no known arrests. This slapdash show of force accomplished little more than shutting down a <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/ice-agents-children-los-angeles-macarthur-park-2095877" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">children\u2019s summer camp</a>
and further pissing off beleaguered Angelenos. It failed, in part,
because LA has spent the past month learning how to fight back. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-07-07/immigration-agents-descend-on-macarthur-park" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Local news reports</a>
indicate that activists were ready. They preemptively raised the alarm
with multilingual flyers, had lawyers on deck, and shouted warnings
through megaphones once federal agents arrived.</p>
<p>During the botched raid, U.S. Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory
Bovino made it clear that the occupation is only just beginning. \u201cBetter
get used to us now,\u201d <a href="https://youtu.be/CJA7lYPLNhs?t=139" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Bovino told Fox News</a> at the scene. \u201cBecause this is going to be normal very soon. We will go anywhere, any time we want in Los Angeles.\u201d</p>
<blockquote>
<p>\u201cWe\u2019re peaceful people. But we\u2019re not going to allow y\u2019all to kidnap us, to beat us, to brutalize us. \u201c</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But in Downtown LA that evening, a coalition of community groups held
their own press conference celebrating 30 days of resistance. Well
aware of the impotence or unwillingness of elected leaders to
meaningfully hinder the federal terrorization of the city and the
complicity of local law enforcement, these groups have spent the past
month \u2014 many much longer than that \u2014 organizing collective approaches to
protect those without documentation. Fired up by that morning\u2019s raid,
speakers were clear-eyed about the David-vs.-Goliath fight ahead. But
they were more resolved than ever to win it. As everyone there seemed to
fully understand, Los Angeles is the test case for what President
Donald Trump will try to get away with elsewhere. Fighting back here
matters far beyond city limits.</p>
<p>Ron Gochez, who founded <a href="https://uniondelbarrio.org/main/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Unión del Barrio</a>\u2019s
LA chapter and volunteers patrolling the streets and manning the
hotlines for the affiliated Community Self Defense Coalition, closed the
rally with an impassioned call to action.</p>
<p>\u201cIf they want to keep attacking us, they have to know they\u2019re going
to suffer losses too,\u201d he shouted to a roaring crowd. \u201cYou can take it
how you want. We\u2019re peaceful people. But we\u2019re not going to allow y\u2019all
to kidnap us, to beat us, to brutalize us. We\u2019re not going to allow it.
We will fight back.\u201d</p>
<p>But what can <em>you</em> actually do to effectively resist when, not if, ICE comes to your town? </p>
<p>With the One Big Beautiful Bill Act\u2019s unprecedented new funding for
Trump\u2019s detention and deportation machine, it\u2019s clear the
administration\u2019s fascistic operations will only grow bigger and bolder.
I\u2019ve been reporting on and observing anti-ICE agitation around LA nearly
every day over the past month. In this time, I spoke with activists
leading the fight, including Gochez, and experts from organizations like
<a href="https://www.instagram.com/no.sleep.for.ice/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">No Sleep for ICE</a>, the <a href="https://immigrantjustice.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">National Immigrant Justice Center</a>, and the <a href="https://www.nlg.org/los-angeles/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">National Lawyers Guild of Los Angeles</a>,
or NLG-LA. Here are some tips gleaned from those conversations on what
to do when the state\u2019s masked kidnappers descend upon your town.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-understand-the-risks">Understand the Risks</h2>
<p>To gain some on-the-ground advocacy experience while pursuing her law
degree, Elizabeth Howell-Egan became a board member at the NLG-LA,
which provides pro bono legal support for immigrants and protesters
arrested by federal agents. She cautioned that while the First Amendment
and other protections should safeguard those recording and reporting on
immigration raids, there\u2019s often a gulf between the letter and
application of the law. NLG-LA takes great pains to underscore this
disparity and the unfair but inherent dangers that come with exercising
these liberties at their popular \u201cknow your rights\u201d workshops.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Know your rights, know your risks, know your reality.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>\u201cWe say \u2018know your rights, know your risks, know your reality,\u2019\u201d
Howell-Egan explained. \u201cSaying \u2018I don\u2019t consent to this search\u2019 probably
won\u2019t stop the police from searching you. But that could make it so, in
theory, they have to throw out whatever [charge] they find from that
illegal search.\u201d</p>
<p>Like others I spoke to, Howell-Egan encouraged activists to do their
utmost to avoid the expensive, time-consuming, and physically perilous
prospect of arrest. Calling resistance efforts \u201ca marathon, not a
sprint,\u201d she stated a preference for collective, mass-defense approaches
that endanger as few individual protesters as possible.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-salute-when-you-re-the-source">\u2018Salute\u2019 When You\u2019re the Source</h2>
<p>Out running errands and see a cluster of weirdos kitted out for war,
milling about like they\u2019re stuck in a Call of Duty matchmaking lobby?
Grab some pics and vids to raise the alarm. Keep in mind that
specificity is paramount when logging these sightings, both to increase
efficacy and avoid panic. Fortunately, one of master\u2019s own tools has
proven itself an invaluable counterintelligence asset. Plucked straight
from <a href="https://www.army.mil/article/259712/antiterrorism_awareness_on_americas_post_see_something_say_something#:~:text=If%20you%20witness%20something%20strange,%2C%20unit%2C%20time%20and%20equipment." rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">U.S. military field books</a>,
the acronym S.A.L.U.T.E. can help you gather the most pertinent
details. It\u2019s also the practice almost universally recommended by the
groups I spoke to.</p>
<p><strong>Size</strong>: How many people and/or vehicles do you see?</p>
<p><strong>Activity</strong>: What, specifically, are they doing that\u2019s suspicious?</p>
<p><strong>Location</strong>: What address, cross streets, or landmark are they at (the more specific the better)?</p>
<p><strong>Uniform</strong>: What are they wearing, whether it\u2019s fatigues, nondescript civilian clothes, or something else entirely?</p>
<p><strong>Time</strong>: What date and time did you observe them?</p>
<p><strong>Equipment</strong>: What guns, weapons, or devices do they appear to be carrying?</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-follow-and-repost-with-discretion">Follow and Repost With Discretion</h2>
<p>Thanks for taking such comprehensive notes. Now where do you send them? </p>
<p>There\u2019s no evidence the feds are conducting \u201chow do you do, fellow
antifa\u201d honeypot busts. But anyone attempting to post alerts about the
activities of federal agents would be wise to operate as if they were.
The groups I spoke to remain concerned about infiltrators stymying their
efforts. Even at the press conference, activists clocked and called out
a suspected undercover among the crowd.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, there\u2019s no one-size-fits-all approach for this element
of activism. To safely discover and interact with the patchwork of
anti-ICE activities around LA, I relied on trusted individuals from my
personal network of journalists and activists, as well as community
groups and organizers leading local efforts. But if you\u2019re just getting
started, the accounts mentioned in this article, any of the more than 65
groups that have joined LA\u2019s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/communityselfdefensecoalition/?hl=en" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Community Self Defense Coalition</a>, or the <a href="https://www.chirla.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights</a> are solid sources of information. And if you\u2019re ever unsure about an entity\u2019s bona fides, sites like <a href="http://mutualaidhub.org/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">mutualaidhub.org</a> can help determine if an outfit is legit or carpetbagging.</p>
<p>After sharing your hot ICE tip, there\u2019s another key step. Call your area\u2019s <a href="https://nnirr.org/education-resources/community-resources-legal-assistance-recursos-comunitarios-asistencia-legal/immigration-hotlines-lineas-directas-de-inmigracion/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Rapid Response Network</a>,
a multi-organizational, community-based coalition that helps mobilize
to protect vulnerable immigrant groups in real time. These groups can
take your tip and turn it into action.</p>
<p>Take, for instance, No Sleep for ICE. The group\u2019s Instagram account
provides daily lists of hotels lodging federal agents \u2014 resulting in
noisy protests designed to make the occupation inhospitable for the
occupiers. No Sleep for ICE also does the critical job of issuing
on-the-fly corrections and victory posts once a location is confirmed
agent-free. </p>
<p>A No Sleep for ICE representative, who spoke with me on the condition
of anonymity out of concerns for their safety, said the account
functions thanks to a network of volunteers who turn tips into a robust
database of vehicles, license plates, individuals, and locations
believed to be associated with the federal forces. This critical
information is relevant for just a short moment, making the group\u2019s work
feel almost Sisyphean.</p>
<p>\u201cNothing is consistent. Everything changes every day,\u201d the
representative said. \u201cWe can produce photos today and, by tomorrow, none
of it will matter.\u201d</p>
<p>No Sleep for ICE relies almost entirely on community tipsters to
piece together enough of the puzzle to build a working theory of which
hotels are hosting agents, before the group begins the corroboration
process. The last thing the group wants, according to the source, is to
act on a false positive.</p>
<p>The overarching fear brought about by the raids has engendered a
\u201cbetter safe than sorry\u201d reporting strategy among citizen spotters,
where anything that could be ICE-related is passed along. But tipsters
could considerably lighten the load by spending a few extra seconds
confirming their information before contacting tip lines.</p>
<p>We may never know how much worse the <a href="https://www.vvng.com/false-ice-raid-reports-continue-to-spread-in-san-bernardino-county-deputies-warn-public-of-misinformation/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">false sighting problem</a>
has been made by deeply ingrained and addictive social incentives of
the online platforms used to share warnings. Nonetheless, every tip sent
to No Sleep for ICE and other community watchdogs has to be
investigated \u2014 often sending volunteers scrambling to check false
alarms, such as Recreation and Parks Department employees, Forest
Rangers, and film crews. Taking an additional beat to check a suspicious
car for tinted windows, hidden grille lights, or a backseat cage can
mean the difference between sending volunteers on a goose chase or
confirming a true threat.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-remove-when-it-s-no-longer-relevant">Remove When It\u2019s No Longer Relevant</h2>
<p>Though Snapchat and Instagram stories condition us to believe our
online ephemera expires after a 24-hour life cycle, counterintelligence
warnings warrant more active digital stewardship. Don\u2019t forget to take
your post down (and ideally replace it with an update or retraction)
should the situation change. This practice may seem like overkill, but
there can be real consequences. Outdated or unsubstantiated warnings
don\u2019t just merely send latecomers into harm\u2019s way. They also keep people
from their jobs, customers from businesses, and exacerbate the culture
of fear these raids seek to foment.</p>
<p>Nobody\u2019s perfect or keeping a record of you here. Consider this the
digital activism equivalent of returning your shopping cart. Do the
small but right thing.</p>
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<h2 id="gmail-h-download-signal-if-you-haven-t-yet">Download Signal if You Haven\u2019t Yet</h2>
<p>Organizers have so far used the big social media platforms to great
effect to protect their local immigrant communities. But these tech
platforms are nonetheless inherently compromised by the oligarchs who
own them. There\u2019s not yet concrete proof these services are feeding
relevant intel to an administration they are courting during this
renaissance of pay-to-play politics, but it\u2019s prudent to act as if they
are.</p>
<p>Enter Signal, the imperfect but still exceedingly secure messaging
app historically favored by journalists, whistleblowers, and Defense
Secretary <a href="https://theintercept.com/2025/04/25/pentagon-defense-secretary-pete-hegseth-leaks-signal/">Pete Hegseth</a>.
For many activists, this end-to-end encryption app became standard
operating procedure long before ICE\u2019s 2025 onslaught. But as more
first-timers are joining the cause, it\u2019s useful to follow these
guidelines:</p>
<ul><li>If it\u2019s sent to you on Signal (particularly images and videos),
don\u2019t take that content off the app, at least without permission.</li><li>Set a timer so your messages and images automatically expire after a while.</li><li>Don\u2019t use your legal name or phone number as your user name.</li><li>If you must screenshot, cropping out all avatars and initials is
just the start. Also scour the text or image for any potentially
identifying features. Signal even has <a href="https://signal.org/blog/blur-tools/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">a tool </a>for blurring critical information.</li><li>If an event organizer has already posted about an activity on a
social media platform, it\u2019s likely fine to reshare it there. But if you
want to share with someone who is not a mutual on said platform, sending
that link or image via Signal is more secure than doing so over
iMessage or WhatsApp.</li><li>Those abstracted philosophical hypotheticals, trolley problems, and
obviously satirical jokes you share with your pals that touch upon
topics like violence, sedition, and treason are a healthy reaction to
processing the horrors of the world around us. But don\u2019t you ever put
that in any text box outside of Signal. It doesn\u2019t always matter if you
never hit \u201csend.\u201d</li></ul>
<h2 id="gmail-h-when-in-doubt-just-call-them-feds">When in Doubt, Just Call Them \u2018Feds\u2019</h2>
<p>A recurring tactic of this administration and its online minions \u2014
bots and boot-lickers alike \u2014 has been to weaponize pedantry. The tactic
is to discredit or simply waste the time of well-intentioned people by
challenging anyone who mixes up any inconsequential detail while
chronicling the chaos unfolding around them.</p>
<p>Such was the case when the Department of Homeland Security deployed a historically grim \u201cum, actually\u201d on June 19 after the <a href="https://x.com/Dodgers/status/1935777782870819056" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">Los Angeles Dodgers claimed to turn away ICE agents</a> attempting to use their stadium for raid staging.</p>
<p>\u201cThis had nothing to do with the Dodgers,\u201d DHS\u2019 <a href="https://x.com/DHSgov/status/1935787097048109231" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">quote tweet</a> challenged. \u201cCBP vehicles were in the stadium parking lot very briefly, unrelated to any operation or enforcement.\u201d</p>
<p>Aw, geez. Turns out they were Customs and Border Patrol, not ICE. Who
gives a shit? Especially when they\u2019re all working toward the same evil
ends while purposefully <a href="https://laist.com/news/la-ice-police" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">obfuscating their identities</a>.
Don\u2019t sweat if you can\u2019t figure out which federal agency a group of
Special Ops cosplayers belong to, but don\u2019t chum in the water either.
When in doubt, a simple \u201cfeds\u201d will suffice.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-open-your-wallet">Open Your Wallet</h2>
<p>Many of the immigrants targeted by feds make their living selling
food as street vendors. The looming threat of raids has made it near
impossible for them to do their public-facing jobs, so activists have
begun organizing \u201c<a href="https://lapublicpress.org/2025/06/street-vendors-hiding-after-ice-raids/" rel="noreferrer" target="_blank" aria-describedby="targetBlankDescription">cart buy-outs</a>,\u201d
to purchase and redistribute their product for them. If you\u2019ve been
meaning to get more fresh fruit in your diet, there\u2019s never been a
better time or method to do so than with one of these.</p>
<p>If you have a few dollars more to spare, consider donating directly
to the organizations active in your community. Even the ones not asking
for donations would almost certainly accept a few bucks to help with all
the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by their volunteers.</p>
<h2 id="gmail-h-volunteer-your-time">Volunteer Your Time</h2>
<p>Though this guide is primarily advising on \u201cobserve and report\u201d-style
resistance efforts, there\u2019s certainly more you can do if posting ICE
sightings and attending protests doesn\u2019t feel like enough. There are
free street medic training classes, car caravan blockades, and even
community watches to join. But you should keep in mind that such
interventionist approaches come with higher degrees of risk and warrant
more in-depth training than just reading an article.</p>
<p>The many organizations making up LA\u2019s Community Self Defense
Coalition conduct the boots-on-the-ground work protecting residents of
this \u201csanctuary city\u201d that its elected officials and law enforcement
officers refuse.</p>
<p>Community Self Defense Coalition volunteers like Gochez often wind up
playing the role of scouts. Once ICE agents are spotted, volunteers
follow them to their target location and get on megaphones, warning
members of the community to stay indoors or, as Gochez described a
recent victory in the Highland Park neighborhood, encouraging everyone
with documentation to come outside and scare the outnumbered agents into
retreat.</p>
<p>Gochez, a high school history teacher of 20 years, starts his prowl
for ICE at 5:30 a.m. He told me that there\u2019s always a need for more
volunteers, though he\u2019d prefer would-be patrollers get properly educated
first.</p>
<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve trained thousands of people to do [community patrols] in
different parts of the country and here in LA locally,\u201d he said. \u201cBut
we\u2019re also getting a ton of people patrolling on their own \u2026 and
following [agents] too close or too fast, and that can get ugly very
quickly.\u201d</p>
<blockquote>
<p>\u201cWe can visibly tell that the agents are really, really frustrated. Public opinion is absolutely turning against them.\u201d</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While Gochez laments that anyone has been captured in government
operations at all, he thinks the figure would be much worse if people
were not so aware of their rights or stepping up to protect each other.</p>
<p>\u201cWe know that a lot of people have been taken in LA,\u201d said Gochez,
\u201cbut we know that this would be 10 times worse if it wasn\u2019t for the
organized resistance that we\u2019ve been putting up against these people.
And we can visibly tell that the agents are really, really frustrated.
Public opinion is absolutely turning against them.\u201d</p>
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