Faith in the Valley issued Monday morning a community alert about increased ICE activity in Fresno. The faith-based grassroots organization said communities should be on the lookout for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in the Valley.
“This morning, July 20, we observed increased ICE activity at the Fresno ERO, including several SUVs, agents in tactical gear, and a riot shield,” read the social media post Monday morning. The alert included photos of several black SUVs vehicles without license plates, parked at the ICE field office.
The Fresno’s Enforcement and Removal Operations field office covers Merced, Mariposa, Madera, Fresno, Kings and Tulare counties.
Nora Zaragoza-Yáñez, program manager of the Faith in the Valley’s Valley Watch Network Rapid Response hotline, said, “The warning was issued for communities that are under the area of coverage of the Fresno ICE office” to stay vigilant, to be aware of their surroundings and be on the lookout for the type of vehicles posted on the alert.
While Faith in the Valley has not received reports of any ICE sightings on Monday in the other counties, Zaragoza-Yáñez said the organization’s legal observers are either on assignments, standing by or patrolling their respective communities.
“If you are in these areas, stay calm, stay alert and remember your rights,” the social media post continued.
“We’re just trying to keep the community on the alert, not to scare them,“ Zaragoza-Yáñez said. She said Faith in the Valley has observed an increase in ICE agents and vehicles, particularly SUVs, at field offices, which could indicate “a greater likelihood“ that operations will take place.
“These are trends that we’re noting, and we’re issuing alerts on so that way community members know what the vehicles look like,“ she said. She added adding that the public can call Faith in the Valley to ask that legal observers go out to verify sightings.
Faith in the Valley’s Monday alert comes days after a coalition of Central Valley advocacy groups organized a vigil, rally and press conference Friday outside ICE‘s ERO field office location in downtown Fresno to demand accountability after two deadly ICE-involved shootings in Texas and Maine.
An ICE agent fatally shot 26-year-old Joan Sebastian Duran Guerrero, a Colombian national, during an immigration enforcement operation July 13 in Biddeford, Maine. Guerrero’s shooting took place less than a week of that of Mexican national Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, 52, on July 7 in Houston. Both shootings happened when ICE agents tried to stop their vehicles, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
ICE was ordered last week to temporarily suspend vehicle stops in the wake of the two shooting. The pause was seen as a temporary win by immigrants rights organizations in the Valley.
Zaragoza-Yáñez said if people see ICE or immigration-related activity in their community, they can call or text the Valley Watch Network at 559-206-0151 and provide as much information as possible, such as what they saw, time, vehicle descriptions, license plates and any other details.