{"id":475793,"date":"2025-12-27T22:23:13","date_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:23:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475793\/"},"modified":"2025-12-27T22:23:13","modified_gmt":"2025-12-27T22:23:13","slug":"how-immigration-activists-are-tracking-deportations-in-real-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/475793\/","title":{"rendered":"How immigration activists are tracking deportations in real time"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Dozens<\/a>A crowd gathered in San Diego last month for a prayer vigil to support immigrants. Many of those who attended are a part of a coalition whose members frequently head to immigration court to witness the results of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown. (Photo by Adrian Childress)<\/p>\n

At the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Courthouse in downtown San Diego, a coalition of activists, volunteers and clergy members patiently congregate. Gathered in the narrow, windowless corridors, they wait for migrants to emerge from their check-in meetings with immigration officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A collective called Detention Resistance<\/a> has accompanied people to their court proceedings and check-in meetings for years, but when they noticed a shift last May, they called for more volunteers: people were now being detained after their hearings.<\/p>\n

Xavier Vasquez has been following immigration issues for five years, but became involved with Detention Resistance in May, turning\u00a0 his attention to the courthouse due to the new immigration enforcement practices.<\/p>\n

In June, a group of interfaith clergy showed up<\/a> at the courthouse. Vasquez said his Detention Resistance colleagues noticed it was the first day ICE hadn\u2019t detained anyone at the courthouse since the agents\u2019 tactics began to escalate<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n

After that, the clergy formed their own group \u2013 FAITH<\/a> \u2013 and coordinated among themselves to show up every day alongside Detention Resistance.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As the Trump administration\u2019s mass deportation push has played out daily in immigration court, the courthouse itself has increasingly become a daily site of opposition for immigrant rights groups.<\/p>\n

Their presence has allowed the groups to track in real time how the administration\u2019s immigration enforcement policies are changing. Federal officials don\u2019t publicly announce those shifts. But the trends are clear at the courthouse, and volunteers are keeping a record.<\/p>\n

Ruth Mendez, another member of Detention Resistance, said the group recognized by mid-summer an increase in people with decades-old cases being summoned for immigration hearings.<\/p>\n

\"Four<\/a>Five members of United Women in Faith hold signs sharing their message at San Diego\u2019s Immigration Courthouse. (Photo by Sophia Sleap)<\/p>\n

In the fall, they started seeing ICE summoning immigrants for routine <\/a>check-ins \u2014 and then arresting them following routine hearings. Many immigrants were taken away by masked agents and held downstairs in a makeshift prison \u2014 sometimes for days<\/a> \u2014 in the cold basement of the courthouse before being transferred to a detention center. People soon stopped attending their appointments and check-ins.<\/p>\n

\u201cICE\/DHS operations have essentially made our immigration courts a dangerous place for people who would otherwise be complying with immigration law,\u201d Mendez said.<\/p>\n

Mendez said volunteers are now documenting the expansion of targets for detention.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDHS has pushed further and further towards mandatory detention, regardless of what process or circumstances someone may be in,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mia Marie, a local activist in the coalition who livestreams ICE detentions on social media<\/a>, said ICE agents regularly follow her social media and livestreams in real time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving more volunteers and eyes on them does make them uncomfortable,\u201d Marie said. \u201cThey know they\u2019re being watched \u2013 it makes them aware that everybody is watching and that these things aren\u2019t going to be done in the dark.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Detention Resistance gathers inside the courthouse to document detentions and how immigration officials treat immigrants, groups of activists regularly protest outside.\u00a0<\/p>\n

United Women in Faith<\/a> is a group of retired women who post up twice a week with signs and bright pink T-shirts emblazoned with their name. They hold signs reading \u201cLove thy neighbor\u201d and \u201cCompassion, not cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n

When they heard what was happening at the courthouse at the beginning of summer, they decided to come from Methodist churches across the county to support immigrants.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe feel called to step up, to do our best to help the least of these and people on the margins,\u201d said Randa Krakow, 80. \u201cJesus called us to welcome the stranger, so we believe in welcoming immigrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

She said they\u2019re there to bear witness.<\/p>\n

The coalition of various groups at the courthouse has since come together to hold larger rallies, such as a prayer vigil,<\/a> held there last month. Krakow thinks United Women in Faith\u2019s small, regular protest has made an impact.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve heard from some of the attorneys that our presence and the presence of the other groups have made a difference in the degree of cruelty,\u201d she said. \u201cThat maybe the authorities are not being quite so rough as they take people away. And we\u2019d like to think that we\u2019ve influenced that a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n

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