ICE left its mark, but the immigrant community is reorganizing

The approach to immigration in the United States has completely changed in the last year. The hardline policies implemented during Donald Trump's second presidential term have disrupted the lives of millions of people, from immigrants detained, deported , or opting for voluntary return , to employers facing financial losses and families separated as a result of the federal government's immigration measures.

Faced with this unprecedented migratory offensive, which has not even spared sensitive places such as churches, schools or immigration courts —formerly safe for the immigrant population—, communities seek to reorganize themselves amid fear, uncertainty and the need to continue with daily life.

“I put my fear in my pants pocket and keep going.”

At the beginning of Trump's current term, hundreds of arrests and deportations accumulated.

However, starting in June, the Government began a strategy to strengthen the enforcement of immigration laws in communities known to be home to immigrants.

The initial target: Los Angeles, California. In early June, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began conducting immigration raids in the city , triggering protests—some violent—and the deployment of the National Guard to contain the demonstrations.

This situation sowed "a feeling of terror throughout the community," said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at the time.

Since then, the fear has not gone away, but the immigrant community has no choice but to continue with its activities to earn a living, according to Jorge Mario Cabrera, director of Communications for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), a non-profit organization in Los Angeles.

In an interview with CNN, Cabrera says that, according to data collected by CHIRLA, between 5,000 and 7,000 people have been detained or deported in the Los Angeles area since January of this year.

“We are witnessing an attack against the immigrant community (…) We have not seen such a brutal attack as we are seeing right now,” Cabrera states.

CHIRLA's Communications Director explains that the number of arrests and deportations began to grow in the city in June, with the arrival of immigration operations and the National Guard.

Regarding the immigration raids in Los Angeles, the White House previously said that "these operations are essential to stop and reverse the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States."

While the U.S. government has labeled immigrants “ the worst of the worst ,” Cabrera asserts that, according to CHIRLA estimates, “60% to 70% of those detained in Los Angeles have no criminal record.” In June, CNN reported that, in the first eight months of fiscal year 2025, more than 75% of people in ICE custody had no criminal record other than an immigration or trafficking offense.

Despite this situation, the immigrant community must remain on the streets to go out to work, regardless of the fear, as CNN previously reported.

I was talking to two workers one morning, it was around 6:30 am, and they were already at work. One is a parking attendant and the other is a street vendor. And I asked them, "Aren't you afraid?" And they said, "Of course we're afraid." So I said, "Well, what are you doing here then? What are you doing with that fear?" And one of the workers said, "I put my fear in my pocket and keep going."

Cabrera recounts this story and says it is one of the moments that has most impacted him in recent months.

“That is the reality that our community lives,” he adds.

A reality that is reorganizing itself

Reality, however, is constantly changing.

Cabrera notes that immigration authorities continue to conduct operations in Los Angeles every week, although not with the frequency seen in the middle of the year.

This, he adds, keeps the fear alive, but it has also caused the community to reorganize itself to find some solutions.

For example, CHIRLA has organized diverse activities, from religious ones (such as the recent celebration of the Virgin of Guadalupe in favor of immigrants' rights) to cultural ones (such as the "summer of resistance", a 30-day initiative to raise awareness of immigrants' rights and organizing strategies).

Additionally, CHIRLA created a fund between July and August that raised US$800,000. This money, Cabrera says, is used solely to help pay bail for detained immigrants, which can reach more than US$20,000 (although the minimum bail by law is US$1,500).

“However, those funds are almost running out; there are only US$200,000 left. This tells you that the need has been so great that those funds have been gradually dwindling, and therefore, new ways of raising funds are being sought to ensure that the fund continues,” he says.

In coalition with other NGOs, CHIRLA delivers food to immigrants and people in general who need it, and offers "emergency legal services to many families affected" by the US government's immigration measures.

“We’re talking about, for example, 7,000 people who need these legal services through our coalitions, (but) we can probably only help between 500 and 1,000 people. The need is so great and the availability of these services so limited that we help those we can, the most urgent cases,” says the Communications Director of CHIRLA.

“We are more united”

The scenes in Los Angeles have been replicated in other American cities that have historically housed immigrants — especially Latinos/Hispanics — including Chicago, in the state of Illinois.

Jorge Ortega, a Colombian by birth who is now a U.S. citizen, has been one of the thousands of witnesses to Trump's immigration offensive in Chicago, as well as one of those indirectly affected.

Ortega arrived in the U.S. when he was 5 years old and has lived in the country for over five decades. He is the founder of the Great Colombian Festival of Chicago and is largely involved in businesses related to the entertainment industry.

The festival is held annually. The 2025 edition took place in July, and faced with warnings of a possible raid by immigration authorities, Ortega had to implement emergency plans and increase security at the last minute to ensure the event could proceed and avoid losing thousands of dollars. For him, despite being a U.S. citizen, hiding wasn't an option , as many people depend on the jobs the festival generates.

Between September and October, the Trump administration's immigration offensive in Illinois left more than 1,000 immigrants detained and many more gripped by fear.

Similar to Cabrera, Ortega says that the feeling of fear continues to affect the Chicago community.

“Immigrants, in particular, are still living in fear (…) We are still living with the scars of what happened, or what is happening, because this is not over yet,” Ortega commented in an interview with CNN.

The traces of ICE's presence that are most evident to Ortega are found in Chicago businesses , specifically in restaurants and street vendors of Latino origin.

“Small businesses have been the hardest hit (…) They all had a really bad season,” says the founder of the Gran Festival Colombiano . “I’ve tried to support them as much as I can by going to various places two, even three times a week, visiting bakeries and restaurants.”

Despite the fear, Ortega says, the community in Chicago has also readjusted to navigate the new U.S. immigration reality.

What I also see is that Chicago has come together, we are more united.”

Ortega has observed individual help (like the kind he offers), but also help from other fronts, such as public officials, who from Chicago have organized themselves to monitor the presence of federal agents in the city.

Likewise, parents in Chicago (and in other cities targeted by the federal government) also organized school patrols to make students and families feel safer.

The Colombian government has also joined forces with people like Jorge Ortega to gather support for those most in need. Among the initiatives the Colombian government supports are the celebrations of Colombian novenas , which have brought together local businesses and the wider community in Chicago to provide food and toys for children.

“To end the Colombian novenas, we will be in a church right here (in Chicago) handing out toys to children, we will be distributing food baskets with the Colombian consulate and other organizations, we will be distributing food baskets to immigrants, to people who come who need it that day,” Ortega emphasizes.

“Those are the kinds of things you do here in Chicago. We already did it during the pandemic and now we’re doing it again. We already have that system in place,” he concludes.

“A heavy emotional and legal burden”

Laura Jimenez, an immigration lawyer who resides in Florida, has also been affected by the traces of ICE as it passes through American communities.

Most of the cases he represents, he says in an interview with CNN, are of Cubans and Venezuelans who face deportation or are in the process of obtaining asylum or residency.

However, immigration processes have become more difficult under the current Trump administration, to the point that applications have been suspended for people from multiple countries, including Cuba and Venezuela .

Since most of his clients are from those two countries, the situation represents "a great emotional and legal burden (...), both for the lawyer and the immigrant," Jiménez says.

For the immigrant, it means a legal burden due to representation expenses or bail that must be paid throughout the process, while the strongest emotional burden is reflected in facts such as the separation of families or the absence of the main caregivers in the home.

“If they aren’t there, who will take care of this family? If they have young children, who will care for them? For example, I’ve had clients come to me asking what they’re going to do because they have a child born in the United States who also has autism, or others who were born with other, even more serious, health problems. So, this is an emotional burden on an immigrant who hasn’t done anything wrong,” explains the immigration lawyer.

As for the burden on the lawyer, the strongest emotional burden for Jiménez is seeing himself in the shoes of his clients.

I'm a mother, I have two children, I have a husband. Imagine a mother or father coming to me and asking, 'What do I do with my child?' Both parents are immigrants, the child was born here and they're being deported. 'Who do I leave my child with here?' In many cases, they have children, or one of the parents even has serious health problems, and the country of origin they're going to, for example, Cuba, doesn't have the resources, doesn't have the facilities to provide this type of medical care. You're practically sending them to die.”

Meanwhile, the burden of legal practice for lawyers is reflected in the thousands of cases that accumulate and remain pending or whose processes are suspended, the expert adds.

“It is very difficult at this time, having a good asylum case and knowing that this person has the opportunity to obtain this type of protection because of everything they have suffered, to know that one is going to face a decision where they are going to deny this benefit,” Jiménez points out.

“We are seeing it even in the processes, for example, of Cubans who are eligible for the Cuban Adjustment Act and who have not yet been able to obtain their residency. We are seeing it with the cancellation of Venezuelan TPS where we know that the situation in Venezuela has not changed, but has even become more politically critical,” he says.

The Cuban Adjustment Act remains in effect as a path to obtaining permanent residency in the U.S., but at the same time the Trump administration has suspended immigration applications for Cubans.

Meanwhile, in early November, hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans lost their protection from deportation in the United States with the end of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) by decision of President Donald Trump's administration and a Supreme Court ruling.

The suspension of immigration applications for Cuba and Venezuela “is another level of uncertainty. It will create even more significant delays, regardless of the delays that already exist,” Jiménez concludes.