May 20th is reportedly the first day that ICE began arresting individuals inside San Diego Immigration Court.
And just two days later, the officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement had company – volunteers, community members and advocates lined the hallway.
They’ve come back each day since May 22, documenting every arrest, jotting down emergency contact information and assuring detainees that they are not alone.
Ruth Mendez was in the immigration court that day. She has volunteered with Detention Resistance, a San Diego-based collective advocating for the self-determination of refugees and immigrants, since 2019, when she joined to conduct visitations at the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
On May 22, Mendez was accompanying a neighbor, one of her close friends — and an asylum seeker — to a routine hearing. He didn’t have an attorney at the time but had filled out all his asylum paperwork prior.
“(ICE officers) were just telling me, ‘we need to speak with him after his hearing, just so you know, you guys have to talk to us,’” Mendez said. “And I kept asking why. They didn’t say why. And at that point, all my alarms internally went off.”
Mendez said her friend was granted a continuance by the judge, who set a court date to continue his asylum process. Regardless, he was detained by ICE agents right outside the courtroom.
The response was rapid: a network of non-profit organizations, community members and pro-bono organizations organized almost immediately when Mendez sent out messages.
She began writing down rights in her notebook that attorneys relayed to her in Spanish, giving the instructions to families sitting behind her in court.
There’s a lot of waiting in immigration court between arrests. Here, volunteer Nancy Francis, in blue, stands against the wall with uniformed federal officers. (Photo by Swasti Singhai/Times of San Diego)By May 25, a group of approximately 30 people were ready to step in and help, said Mendez.
Volunteers at the courthouse are split into three groups — one is focused on the courtroom hallways, primarily documenting arrests. The second group observes public hearings and monitors trends in cases. The third is largely stationed at the front of the courthouse, handing out Know Your Rights cards and filling out contact information forms to help connect individuals with their friends and families if they get taken to a detention center.
They may have shared values and goals, but the volunteers have distinct backgrounds and interests. One, who has come to court every day since May 27, is a retired court reporter. Others are students or researchers or organizers; many are neighbors and community members.
As of this moment, volunteers are still joining the effort. Two of the newest, Susan and Leonard, spent their first day volunteering on Tuesday. Due to fears of retaliation, they preferred to be referred to by only their first names.
They first learned about the courtroom arrests through the news and were aware of the detentions but being there, watching and witnessing, was still painful, they said. Regardless, they described volunteering as an attempt to make a difference.
“It makes sense to me, that being able to look somebody in the eyes, even if I don’t speak their language, and (say) ‘we’re trying to help you, here’s some information that might help you,’” Susan said. “You can’t change the whole system. So maybe you can help one person at a time.”
Susan stood outside the courthouse for part of the day, asking those without attorneys if they wanted to be accompanied to their courtroom. Leonard stood inside the hallway of the immigration court, escorting individuals to their elevators after their hearings.
Some made it outside the building. Others didn’t.
“It was gut wrenching,” Leonard said. “I think it’s gut wrenching to realize that you’re looking at somebody who’s lost their rights at this point … and you don’t know what their story is, but it feels so wrong.
People are asked to volunteer to support immigrants. (File photo by Chris Stone/Times of San Diego)“We can’t really do anything except provide moral support. But I think that matters.”
Alondra Alvarez has been in the courtroom almost every other day since early June. She keeps two items on her while volunteering — a miniature U.S. Constitution in one pocket and a rosary in the other.
It’s important to her, she said, that ICE agents are continuously reminded that the community cares.
“There are some things you can’t unsee,” Alvarez said. “Families that enter the courtrooms with their children that are gripping their little hands, that are terrified that they’re going to be separated.”
Having observed dozens of arrests, Alvarez said the predominant reaction has turned out to be one not of shock, but of resignation and defeat.
She recounted all the things loved ones have said while witnessing family members being detained: “There was a possibility that this could happen, and we were aware of that possibility, but my father’s not a criminal, my mother’s not a criminal, my brother’s not a criminal, my sister’s not a criminal. They’ve been working hard, they do these jobs, they pay taxes, they don’t deserve this.”
Some volunteers, like Alvarez and Mendez, are veterans in immigration advocacy. Some, like Susan and Leonard, are just beginning.
For others, like Emily Mahmoud, it’s also personal — their grandfather immigrated to the United States from Egypt.
Mahmoud, who volunteers once a week at the courthouse, said the hope is that immigrants who are arrested at their hearings know that there are people on their side.
“We are here with (them),” Mahmoud said. “We are witnessing what’s happening, so it’s not going to just go away. We are there. We see it. We’re recording it …We have power just with our eyes and our voices.”
The aggression that ICE agents have shown, both during arrests and towards community members filming, has been particularly traumatizing, according to multiple volunteers.
“The dehumanization of other people, to just witness(it), it’s heartbreaking,” Mahmoud said. “Also to see people cry, to see people be in pain and not really be able to do anything without being detained, arrested, or thrown on the ground, like I was shoved.”
But the work of volunteers has not been in vain.
Mendez’s friend — the first arrest observed by volunteers — was granted bond by a judge last Friday. He was released on Monday and greeted by Mendez with sunflowers.
His case, in a way, sums up the community’s support — one of the attorneys who responded to Mendez on the day of his detainment took his case pro-bono and another coalition, NorCal Resist, was able to pay his $2,500 bond.
Mendez said that her friend’s release is a good sign.
Yet there is no end in sight for volunteers. Like many others, Mahmoud said they would not stop volunteering until ICE agents are out of the hallways and asylum seekers can attend their hearings without fearing detainment.
“I’ve seen first hand what a warm and welcoming face means to people that are being detained by ICE,” Alvarez said. “I’ll continue showing up for my community as long as ICE keeps terrorizing them and violating laws in the process.”
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