Hello Community,
On Tuesday, February 25th, 2020, the Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN) held a press conference in Santa Ana in support of Celia, a community member who had a last check-in this morning and had asked for community-support in accompanying her. We gathered over 35 community members to support Celia to her walk-in. You can find out more about Celia’s case here.
After the rally and check-in, Celia was granted an extension for another month. Community groups will gather again before the next check-in on March 31st. We’ll reach out about further supporting Celia leading up to her check-in next month.
While community groups were supporting Celia through the press conference and rally this morning, ICE was conducting immigration arrests across Santa Ana. So far we have confirmed three separate arrests across the city. The Santa Ana Police Department confirmed DHS was present in Santa Ana.
We responded to two separate cases after the press conference in Santa Ana after community members reached out for support via the hotline and another who posted on social media. These community members defended their rights and prevented their arrests.
In one instance, ICE tried to arrest a community member at their home in the early morning while their family was home including their children. The family did not give in to ICE’s demands to open the door. In another instance, another community member was stopped while in their car on their way to work just down the street from the first attempted and failed arrest. In this second incident, ICE had cornered the community member in their car for nearly three hours until the media came and filmed the arrest at which point ICE fled the scene. We are further looking into a third case that was sent over text of an arrest that occurred this morning in Santa Ana as well.
We are still piecing together the policy and advocacy implications of these arrests and how to best support the community members who reached out to us over the course of the day. To say the least, these cases indicate a small rise in immigration enforcement actions in Orange County in a single day since the launch of our hotline last summer. These trends today may also indicate additional arrests that we may not have yet identified, so sharing the hotline will help in reaching the larger Orange County community to identify if any other arrests occurred. Also please spread power, not panic. Accompanying and passing on Know Your Rights information is vital.
As always, we denounce all immigration arrests and ICE’s attempts to terrorize our community with the use of aggressive tactics including the use of intimidation, lies and ruses against community members to effectuate arrests. We stand by the community members impacted today and welcome your support in this process.
We are asking community members to assist us in the following ways:
- Please distribute our OCRRN hotline number to community members. The Hotline is meant to verify ICE presence in Orange County so please ask clients or community members to call if they see ICE in our community. The number is (714) 881-1558. Trained first responders of the OCRRN verify if ICE has made an arrest and connect impacted community members to resources. Tracking these arrests helps us gather and identify immigration arrest trends impacting our region. We are also able to make appropriate referrals to community partners where possible.
- Know Your Rights material proved helpful to the community members who confronted ICE this morning. Please share KYR information with families and friends when you can.
- The OC Rapid Response Network and other community partners are putting together a pop-up community forum in Townsend where one of the arrests occurred. We’re currently drafting a flyer for this event and will post on our Facebook soon.
- Celia will have another check-in on March 31st. Please support and uplift her case as we push out opportunities for community members to plug-in including fundraisers, rallies, and press conferences.
Thank you to the OC Rapid Response team, first responders and community partners for coming together under these trying times.
Follow the OCRRN on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OCRRN