I was trudging through the Friday Disneyland crowd on June 6th, 2025, when I noticed my mom hunched over her phone with my aunt, gasping at whatever was on the screen. I ran over, thinking something funny had happened. I was greeted with a livestreamed video of one of the first major ICE raids in Los Angeles, in the Fashion District. People were screaming, running away, and one man was even hit by an ICE car after trying to stop it from moving further along the road.

“What are they doing? Who are they taking?” I asked urgently.

My eyes darted over to my Mexican grandmother waiting in line for one of her favorite rides. 

According to the Department of Homeland Security, there have been over 10,000 arrests made by ICE in Los Angeles  since June, 2025.  Last summer, the news was flooded with stories about it, but the public’s concern seems to have waned. However, it is not old news. It is still happening, and it has not stopped since that fateful afternoon in June. 

In a 20-day window from June 6 to June 26, close to 1,900 ICE arrests were made in the Los Angeles area, an arrest rate of 88 people every day, according to the Deportation Data Project. Families are being torn apart every single day and are being sent to ICE detention centers with abhorrent conditions. 

For example, the South Florida Detention Facility, which has been nicknamed Alligator Alcatraz, is the first federally-funded, state-run facility for immigration detainees. A report from Amnesty International, a human rights organization, alleges the details of how detainees are treated at the facility, reporting of “unsanitary conditions, including overflowing toilets with fecal matter seeping into where people are sleeping, limited access to showers, exposure to insects without protective measures, lights on 24 hours a day, poor quality food and water, and lack of privacy.” 

Despite an order to close the facility by a federal judge, it remains open as of now. Immigrants’ limited due process rights have been under attack by the Trump administration. When speaking to reporters at the Oval Office in April, President Trump discussed his administration’s attempts to expedite the deportation of undocumented immigrants without full legal proceedings. He said, “I hope we get cooperation from the courts because we have thousands of people that are ready to go out, and you can’t have a trial for all of these people.”  

Since the beginning of the ICE raids, I have started to attend protests, showing my support for the immigrant community, as well as my own family. I’ve also done research on how I can help more directly through volunteering. So far, I’ve discovered several organizations dedicated to providing help and making a change, and I’m planning to work with one over winter break, a time of year that desperately needs volunteers. 

Here are some great organizations and opportunities where you too can contribute your own support. 

Siempre Unidos LA is a community outreach group dedicated to helping immigrant families impacted by ICE. This is the organization I’m hoping to work with most. They also provide legal referrals for immigrants. 

Though outside the LA area, Border Angels is another great non-profit organization known for its life-saving humanitarian aid for migrants by the border, including water drops. It was founded in 1986 and continues to support the immigrant/migrant community today. 

For legal help,  Immigration Justice Campaign offers free legal services for immigrants. 

If you are able to or know someone who can, I urge you to look into the organizations above and think about offering your help.
         
Thankfully, Westridge students in the Upper School have already started the conversation and taken the initiative to help impacted communities with the Hope in Action Instagram account.  The account provides several links for petitions, immigrant-run small businesses, and more. Clearly, we are able to help, and our help is needed. We have that capability. There needs to be more of this kind of action, and I will do what I can to make that happen; if that means organizing food and toy drives specifically for immigrants, or simply writing about it to spread awareness. That is how we make a change–by coming together and doing what we can, where we can.