SAN DIEGO — San Diego organizers are taking action to inform residents of ICE activity, setting up community patrols from San Diego to Los Angeles.

An early-morning act of service begins with putting a community patrol decal onto their cars and making sure walkie-talkies are ready. Adriana Jasso is a member of Unión del Barrio, who says they are on a mission to patrol neighborhoods in Southern California to alert people of potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in the area.


What You Need To Know

  • Community patrols are alerting people of potential U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity

  • They are acting as a first line of detection for families worried about President Donald Trump’s plan to enact mass deportations throughout the country

  • Unión del Barrio says they have patrols around Los Angeles and San Diego

  • The patrol group says they never interfere, they just observe and report

Jasso says they're acting as a first line of detection for families worried about President Donald Trump’s plan to enact mass deportations throughout the country.

“We hope through the work that we do that communities find a way to reaffirm their humanity and their dignity and take a little bit of that fear away,” she said.  

Jasso noted that community patrol members are trained to look for signs of undercover law enforcement vehicles.

The community patrol cars came upon a large police presence in City Heights. San Diego Police said this was a gambling raid and the team updated the community over a quick Facebook live.

Nearby in El Cajon, Mayor Bill wells said their city council recently passed a resolution stating the city will comply with federal immigration law to remove violent criminals, as much as state law will allow. He is aware of community patrols in El Cajon and other cities around Southern California.

“You may not like it, that it would be our intention to help with ICE if we had a dangerous criminal in our possession, but it doesn’t mean that we’re running around trying to grab people off the streets and be like our own vigilante immigration force. That’s just not the case,” Wells said.  

A current state law limits the ability of local law enforcement to help federal immigration agencies. Wells says the recent resolution is symbolic, since they are still restricted under state law, but he hopes federal agencies like ICE can remove violent criminals from communities.

“We have not done one thing different than we’ve done in the last five years," Wells said. "But the resolution was just us saying, 'Hey, we think that the federal government should be able to enforce their own laws. We agree with that.' That’s it."

Jasso hopes their patrols encourage other people to look out for each other at a time when fear among immigrant communities is high.

“The aspirations and the hopes that we all have are pretty much the same. We all want the best for our families, we all want the best for our communities,” she said.  

The patrol group says they never interfere — they just observe and report. They also have a community hotline that people can call and ask for information or report activity that they see.