An illegal alien activist group is organizing patrols to disrupt raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in southern California and claims to have stopped multiple raids.
The patrol said members identified a gathering of ICE agents at a Target parking lot in Alhambra and sent activists with loudspeakers to repel the officers. Video posted to social media showed the supposed agents eventually leaving the area.
‘Once the agents saw that they were being recorded, and that people were alerting the community with megaphones, nobody was taken.’
A KTTV-TV report said that Alhambra police confirmed that they had been alerted by the FBI about a meeting involving numerous agencies at the Target parking lot for arrests near the area.
The activists call themselves Union del Barrio and claim to have seen five ICE vehicles at the gathering.
“Our people had megaphones, and they called for backup of our folks and they went to both locations,” said Ron Gochez to KTTV.
The group says members’ actions are legal and that they have been organizing such efforts since 1992.
Corporate officials at Target said they were not aware of the operation and that it did not involve anyone at the store. Employees and workers reportedly did not notice the operation.
“We are super happy to report that once the agents saw that they were being recorded, and that people were alerting the community with megaphones, nobody was taken, and those ICE agents, they retreated and left the community,” Gochez continued.
ICE did not confirm to KTTV whether agents were operating a raid and said that they were targeting only criminal illegal aliens.
“Based on intelligence-driven leads, ICE officers do not target noncitizens indiscriminately,” read a statement from the department.
Gochez claimed that ICE was lying about only targeting criminal illegal aliens and accused the agency of targeting “brown people” where they congregate.
“That’s a lie that they are saying they are only looking for criminals. They are going to places, anywhere and everywhere, where brown people are,” he said. “That’s what they are looking for. We are the target. We are not going to fall for that lie!”
Union del Barrio claimed to have stopped another enforcement action in the city of San Fernando and is now calling for more volunteers from the community to aid these efforts.
Footage from the activists and the interview with Gochez can be viewed on the KTTV news video on YouTube.
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