ICE Is Making an Example of California
Late Monday afternoon, Caravello was released from federal detention. Unusually, federal prosecutors did not announce the charges against him until Sunday, and when they did, it was in a post on X by Bill Essayli, the interim U.S. attorney for the Central District of California. The same office is pursuing federal charges against an activist who brought face shields to distribute at a protest, to protect people from chemical agents used by police. In the Department of Justice, such overreach is now par for the course: The day after Caravello was released, federal prosecutors in Spokane, Washington, chargeda group of protestors, includingthe former city council president, for “conspiracy to impede or injure officers.” Most of those who were charged in Spokane had merely blocked a bus carrying people whom ICE had detained, a type of intervention we are seeing now across U.S. cities. “This politically motivated action is a perversion of our justice system,” saidSpokane Mayor Lisa Brown. In bringing such specious prosecutions, the Trump administration is hunting for ways to criminalize people who oppose the ICE raids, including those engaging in nonviolent self-defense.
Protestors are not a monolith. In opposing the raids, they offer a range of arguments and tactics. Some defend the contributions of immigrant workers. Some do practical work like documenting ICE raids. But the point of these raids is to demonstrate that no one,no matter what they contribute to the community, will be spared arrest. In fact, some, including citizens and elected officials, were targeted precisely for their contributions. Ultimately, neither “good” immigrants nor “good” protestors can use their goodness as a shield from ICE’s violence.
Trump’s campaign of “mass deportations” was never just about carrying out more immigration raids. We knew this campaign would reach far beyond those immigrants who are living in the country without authorization—not just because the number of people he said would be deported exceeds the numbers of undocumented, but because his plans also involve making more and more people deportable. Sure enough, some of the workers who were detained in the July 10 raids were citizens, the United Farm Workers said in a statement. George Restes, a disabled veteran and American citizen, was arrested and held for three days without a phone call, he said, and without treatment after agents pepper sprayed him. These detentions may have been aimed at managing perceptions of the raid. The UFW pointed out that many of those detained reported being released only “after they were forced to delete photos and videos of the raid from their phones.”
ICE’s project goes well beyond the violent scenes of the raids: It has transformed everyday life in California. Family pets are filling Southern California shelters, given up by owners who have been forced to leave the United States. At a Glendale hospital, ICE agents camped out for days, scaring people away from seeking care; National Nurses United shared Know Your Rights guides for all health care workers. Countless children are left waiting for parents to return, like 16-year-old Alexa, whose pregnant mother was arrested Thursday, forcing Alexa to become the caretaker for her younger siblings until their mother returns. Other family members of missing workers, including their young children, went to the farm the next day, hoping to be reunited. The family of Jaime Alanís, one of the workers gravely injured in the chaotic raid, reunited with him in the hospital, where he died on Saturday. His surviving family members have said that he will be brought to Huajumbaro, Michoacán, his hometown: “His wife and daughter are waiting for him.”