Santa Ana, CA – On June 27, activists and community members waved signs on the corner of Flower Street and Civic Center Drive near the Central Justice Center chanting, “Drop the charges now!” and holding signs reading, “Protesting is not a crime!”

They gathered as a response to the National Day of Action for Alejandro Orellana called by the Legalization for All Network and the Committee to Stop FBI Repression. Orellana is an immigrant rights activist and member of Centro Community Service Organization (Centro CSO) in Los Angeles who was raided and arrested by the FBI on June 12.

David Pulido with CSO Orange County (CSO OC) stated, “Trump has launched a wave of ICE raids in cities like Los Angeles and Santa Ana, where I live. He has deployed the National Guard to occupy our cities. These are direct, racist attacks on Chicanos, Mexicanos, Centroamericanos and immigrants broadly. It is right to stand against these racist attacks. Alejandro is a proud and dedicated immigrant rights activist, and we stand with him.”

Diana Terreros of CSO OC explained that Orellana is facing bogus charges of conspiracy to commit civil disorder and aiding and abetting civil disorder. She spoke about Verita Topete, another Centro CSO member and immigrant rights activist who was ambushed by the FBI, stating “They approached her at a public park where she was just trying to walk her dog, they roughed her up, and took her phone. This is an attack on our organization but also on our movement as a whole.”

The protesters marched along the intersection and the sidewalk, waving their signs at cars stopped at the light, signaling people to call 213-894-2400 to demand Bilal Essayali, United States Attorney for the Central District of California, drop the charges now. Many cars driving by honked in support, with one car turning around to grab a sign to spread the word.

Rain Mendoza with CSO OC said, “The resources and the manpower they are using on repressing protesters and organizations such as Centro CSO, that are trying to keep their communities safe from these horrific ICE raids, is shameful. There are masked men kidnapping people off of the streets of LA but they are spending all their energy on some bogus charges against our brother Alejenadro for protesting, which is our First Amendment right.”

Zack Beckstrang with Centro CSO condemned these attempts to silence righteous protesters, stating, “This is a clear attempt at political repression designed to silence dissent and sow fear in our communities. Alejandro and Verita are leaders in the immigrant rights movement and heroes. We demand that the charges against Alejandro be dropped! We demand justice for Verita!”

All speakers emphasized that CSO and the community will continue to fight these bogus charges until they are dropped and will not be intimidated as the government tries to repress the movement against ICE raids and deportations.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #InJusticeSystem #PoliticalRepression #ImmigrantRights #ICE #CentroCSO #CSOOC #Featured