Amid the immigration raids, a coalition of American leaders gathered in LA to share strategies for resistance

On a warm Friday morning, a group of organizers, academics and government officials stood in MacArthur Park, peering out at the empty football field.

They came from as far away as Florida, Georgia and Chicago as members of the steering committee of Mijente, a grassroots national group that organizes activism in the Latino and Chicano communities.

Mijente’s Leadership Circle, meets in person once a year to discuss strategic planning for the Phoenix-based organization.

But this year’s gathering was unlike any other. This is just happening in the immigration raids in each of these member cities. They were curious to know how each city was reacting to the Trump administration.

So they met in Los Angeles, where the managers presented for the first time aggressively, sometimes violent, again indiscriminate raids.

Among the most affected areas are the neighborhoods in the district of LA City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez. Hernandez is also a member of the steering committee.

Standing on the north side of the park, he and his staff recalled the July day when park-goers and children going to summer camp were forced to leave as California National Guard soldiers and foreign servicemen arrived in armored vans and vehicles.

Federal agents in smart gear, rifles in hand, entered the park, walking in a straight line, side by side, some on horseback, as helicopters hovered overhead and nearby protesters jeered.

LA Mayor Karen Bass, Hernandez and other California lawmakers condemned the incident, which was widely used in a Border Patrol promotional video.

Joseline Garcia, who led immigration protection efforts in the region by helping organize and train volunteers on how to respond to raids, said word of the agents’ presence spread quickly among organizations and residents.

Mijente community activist Joseline Garcia speaks with other organizers from the United States.

(David Butow/The Times)

“One of the things we are trying to do is to build a high-quality communication network to get people out of the area,” he said.

Although no one was taken, the attack spread fears of immigration in the already densely populated area. homelessness, drug use and crime.

At the park on Friday, Hernandez talked about himself efforts to help deal with problemspopulated the area by mobile home response teams, former gang members who try to end gang violence, known as ambassadors of peace.

“That’s what we’ve been trying to do, to strengthen the public safety system, not with the police but with everything else,” Hernandez said. “We’re trying to figure it out. There’s no way.”

He said the park serves as a community gathering place, like a large yard for thousands of working class families living in the area, most of whom are immigrants.

Last year, a new problem appeared in this area – immigration raids.

The park was one of many stops that community organizers made that day. They visited UCLA James Lawson Jr. The Worker Justice Center, an advocacy and research center that works with labor unions and community groups to address workers’ rights and social justice.

Saba Waheed, the center’s director, said the center produces “know your rights” materials and other resources for local immigrant groups.

“The purpose of this center is to provide the public with research and research,” he said.

The group also visited the headquarters of the Central American Resource Center, or CARECEN, a non-profit organization founded in 1983 by Salvadoran refugees fleeing the civil war. The US at the time was providing military aid as well training for counter-insurgency warfare that later terrorized and killed Salvadorans.

Mijente activists at the Latino community center near MacArthur Park.

(David Butow/The Times)

On the ground floor of the headquarters, between columns entwined with green vines and yellow flowers, center director Martha Arevalo spoke about the difficulties her organization has faced.

It includes the loss of federal funds and letters from Congress threatening an investigation into the use of those funds.

Arevalo said the nonprofit was forced to cut, including 10 positions, a major loss in Los Angeles County where nearly half of the population is Latino and 33% are foreign-born, according to the US Census Bureau.

“It’s been a tough year,” Arevalo told the group. “We never thought that the second term of the Trump administration would be this bad.”

At noon, the group headed to Los Angeles City Hall where they discussed issues ranging from homelessness to immigration policy.

Among the more than a dozen visiting members was Latin American studies professor Rafael Solórzano from Florida.

He said the meeting highlighted that communities from all over the US must respond differently. In Florida, for example, local police work directly with ICE.

“In Georgia and Florida, you don’t have ice patrols, you have state troopers. So what kind of public safety strategy do you build to combat the vigilante state police?”

Chicago Alderperson Rossana Rodriguez made a similar observation.

“There are things we did in Chicago because of how hard we were hit. We had to develop our own sound plans for our city,” said Rodriguez.

In the face of challenges like these, Mijente Executive Director Marisa Franco said non-profit and grass-roots organizations must find strength through collaboration.

“Despite our desire for there to be one thing to stop this in politics [or] the only training that will help us prepare – there is none,” said Franco. “That’s where communication and the ability of people to exchange. [ideas] to each other it is truly precious.”

As the group left City Hall that afternoon, hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets, holding signs calling for an end to immigration raids. It was one of many protests held across the country.

Activists from across the United States gather in MacArthur Park to discuss the strategy of Mijente, a national Latino organizing group.

(David Butow/The Times)