California Volunteers Stand Guard at Day Laborer Corners Amid ICE Sweeps

When a Bay Area woman watched recent bystander videos of agents in military-style gear arresting day laborers, vendors and gardeners in Southern California — sometimes violently — she was appalled. The freelance interpreter couldn’t shake the images of masked immigration officers pushing Latino workers to the ground or even punching them before loading them into vehicles.

“Watching what was going on in LA just broke my heart,” said the woman, an Alameda resident who asked to be identified only as Christy because she fears reprisals. “I believe in social justice, I believe in right and wrong, and I can’t sit on my hands and say that’s wrong without doing something about it.”

The 60-year-old doomscrolled at home until she spotted a social media post offering a way to turn her distress into action. The solidarity call asked sympathetic Americans to choose a local spot where day laborers gather as they wait for work and commit to showing up regularly.

Christy is now one of hundreds of Californians volunteering to accompany workers at highly visible intersections and monitor for immigration sweeps, according to the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. The Pasadena-based nonprofit launched the “Adopt a Day Laborer Corner” program in response to expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations in Southern California, including at Home Depot parking lots.

“I decided this seems like something I can do,” said Christy, clutching her sweater one breezy morning near a U-Haul location in East Oakland, where about 10 day laborers lingered. “More active than marching. This is definitely a better way to be present for people.”

On Sept. 2, a federal judge in San Francisco ruled that President Donald Trump violated federal law when he deployed military troops to Los Angeles and barred their use for law enforcement, though the order does not go into effect until Friday.

In a separate case, the U.S. Supreme Court handed the administration a win Monday by temporarily lifting a lower court’s order that had restricted immigration authorities from using factors such as apparent ethnicity, occupation and language as reasonable suspicion for “roving” immigration stops in LA. Two of the plaintiffs in the case, Jorge Hernandez Viramontes and Jason Brian Gavidia, are U.S. citizens.

Agents briefly drove Hernandez Viramontes away from his longtime carwash job in Orange County and pushed Gavidia against a metal fence, twisting his arm near a Los Angeles County tow yard, even though both men said they were Americans and offered an ID, according to the complaint.

Each morning in California, tens of thousands of mostly Latino men gather at busy intersections and retail store parking lots to await short-term jobs in construction, painting, landscaping and other projects. Day laborers, often low-income undocumented immigrants, are particularly exposed to ICE at the open-air hiring sites, said Palmira Figueroa, NDLON’s communication director.

For years, the organization encouraged employers, neighbors and others to get to know the workers, bring them coffee and establish relationships. But the summer sweeps in LA galvanized about 2,500 people nationwide to take NDLON’s training to adopt a corner, she said. Now, volunteers are monitoring dozens of corners in the state, Figueroa added.

On Christy’s first morning with fellow volunteer Wendy at the U-Haul parking lot, a trainer explained their main responsibilities over the roar of traffic.

“Your position is more as a watch out. We want you to be very aware of your surroundings and very vigilant,” Steve Robles, with the local nonprofit Street Level Health Project, told them.

Christy and Wendy looked around at the busy intersection. At 7:45 a.m., parents hurried by with children in tow and people hopped onto buses to work. In the Bay Area, most recent immigration arrests have taken place at courthouses and ICE offices, according to immigrant advocates.

Still, if immigration agents showed up in this heavily Latino area, Robles said, the volunteers should quickly call a number that connects them to a network of advocates to sound the alarm.

The women should also be ready to whip out their phones and document what happens next.

“These raids are happening in maybe five minutes,” Robles said. “This is why this kind of project was needed, because by the time that the news would come around and our team would come out … they would be gone.”

Julio, a day laborer originally from Honduras who declined to use his full name because of his immigration status, kept a watchful eye on approaching vehicles, trying to assess whether they held potential employers or immigration agents. He said he feels at greater risk of deportation and likes having the volunteers around.

“It’s good that they are here, because one feels more supported, less alone,” said Julio, 44, who has frequented the corner on and off for years to supplement longer-term jobs in construction and landscaping.

He chatted with Wendy, who has been stopping by the corner for an hour or longer several times each week, often with a hot cup of coffee on hand and apples from her backyard to share.

The public health professional sometimes works on her knitting for an hour before driving to work. On a weekend, she stays longer, from about 7 a.m. to noon.

Wendy is not keen on writing letters or calling government officials to complain about things she disagrees with. But adopting the corner — and introducing herself to the workers there — has helped her deal with feelings of despair by doing something she believes can help a broader community, she said.

“I can make time for it. It’s important,” Wendy, who lives in the neighborhood, said. “Using my privilege, of course. I’m white, middle-aged. I’m not going to intimidate anybody, and I’m also not going to be much of a target for immigration enforcement. So, yeah, I can be out.”