SOUTH LOS ANGELES — More than 30 community organizations in the Los Angeles area pledged a unified front in opposition to the ongoing immigration raids in Southern California and made it clear that the crisis is also a “Black issue.”
As agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement continue to detain suspected undocumented Latino residents, leaders of the organizations expressed fears that ICE will start devoting more attention to Black immigrants.
“One out of every five Black persons in L.A. is an immigrant,” Nana Gyamfi, executive director of Black Alliance for Just Immigration, said at a press conference June 24 near Leimert Park. “What we see happening with enforcement is just a tip of the sphere. We’re in a police state. They’re sending people to prisons all over the world. This is the time to stand together in solidarity.”
Several leaders at the press conference confirmed recent sightings of vehicles containing ICE and Department of Homeland Security agents cruising through Black neighborhoods, including St. Andrews Park in South Los Angeles, the site of a recent Juneteenth celebration.
With no apparent signs of ICE slowing down their immigration raids, members of Black Women for Wellness summoned the community organizations to show support for targeted Hispanic and Latino residents and their families.
Black Women for Wellness also wanted to raise awareness in Los Angeles’ Black immigrant community, which is beginning to feel more scrutiny from ICE and DHS patrols.
“This is not a press conference for feel-good; this is a press conference because we need a call to action,” Janette Robinson Flint, co-founder and executive director of Black Women for Wellness. “We have armed, masked, aggressive men coming into our community, snatching people and holding them without warrants or due process. They used to do that to Black folks.
“We cannot rest on ‘we voted,’” she added. “We must do more. The first thing we need to do is get organized. If you are not part of an organization, join one. We need to be inclusive because if they can isolate one group, they can isolate two. And lastly, rest is not a liberation strategy. We may believe we can opt out of this movement, but we can’t.”
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, said President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration policies are an “attack on all people of color.”
“Black and brown immigrants are being denied due process,” Salas said. “Racial profiling is at the core of these attacks in Black and brown neighborhoods. Classrooms are empty. Businesses are closing. We need to end this cruelty now. We need a restoration of justice.”
A ruling by the Supreme Court on June 20, which allows the Trump administration to continue its immigration crackdown without due process, will likely make it more difficult to reach a legal resolution.
The ruling also gave the Trump administration the right to maintain a military presence in the Los Angeles area.
Trump called in the National Guard and U.S. Marine troops when protests erupted in downtown Los Angeles three weeks ago. Gov. Gavin Newsome and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass were unsuccessful in challenging Trump’s military deployment through legal action or the state Legislature.
Local opponents to Trump’s immigration policies are forced to find other solutions.
“The 2026 election is right around the corner,” said Kevin Cosney, associate director of the California Black Power Network. “We need to fight more with our ballots to reclaim the House and Senate, so we can push back on this current administration. We have a voice to use on so many platforms.
“This is about white supremacy and if we feed into divide-and-conquer tactics, they win,” Cosney added. “Part of the reason we wanted to have this conference is to address the ‘92% conversation’ and some Black folks saying this is not our fight. That was an exact example of why we do what we do.
“Black and Latino leaders are confronting and addressing the tensions between Black and brown communities and naming that there is a common enemy that we need to fight against,” he continued. “We can talk about the jobs that have been pushed out of Los Angeles, and that is real — but it’s not immigrants who are doing that. It’s the corporations, landlords and developers who are pushing us out, not the people who are taking whatever jobs they can get. We have to call out the real enemy.”
The Trump administration is not waiting until the March primaries to make a stance.
U.S. Rep. Mark Green, R-Tennessee, chair of the House Committee on Homeland Security, and U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism, has taken aim at more than 200 organizations nationwide for allegedly assisting undocumented immigrants with federal funds.
Green and Hawley also accused several organizations, including CHIRLA, of using federal money to finance the immigration protests in downtown Los Angeles.
Both elected officials sent letters to organizations blaming them for the unrest and demanding information regarding their services to immigrants. The deadline to submit the information was June 24.
Salas denied the allegations and labeled Green’s letter as an “intimidation tactic.”
“Most organizations are not going to provide that information,” Salas said. “The letter is based on a false premise and has no legal foundation.”
The letters submitted by Green and Hawley indicated that “further action” would be taken against organizations that don’t submit the requested information.
Many organizations have already been affected by the immigration crackdown. Salas said CHIRLA and other organizations committed to helping immigrants have had their federal funding suspended or permanently canceled.
Ray Richardson is a contributing writer for The Wave. He can be reached at rayrich55@gmail.com.
