Santa Ana, CA – On Tuesday, May 20, about 20 community members and activists filled the city council chambers to demand transparency from Santa Ana Police Department (SAPD) regarding alerts they have received from ICE. They also called for the jailing of Noe Rodriguez’s killers.

An article from journalist Ben Camacho published earlier this month revealed that SAPD received notifications from ICE/DHS that they would be present in the city at least 42 times since Trump’s inauguration. SAPD did not share this information with the public, despite being asked by council members and police oversight commissioners multiple times about communications with ICE. An item was presented at the city council meeting to implement a policy requiring SAPD to disclose these ICE alerts to residents.

Sandra DeAnda of the Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN) opened public comment by talking about their ICE hotline, which can be reached at 714-881-1558 to report ICE or any suspicious immigration activity. She spoke about the lack of transparency from the city regarding ICE alerts.

DeAnda stated, “On February 4, on the same day that the mayor and chief shared they had not heard about ICE activity, a community member was detained at the McDonalds on McFadden and Standard and deported within hours.”

Diana Terreros of Community Service Organization Orange County (CSO OC) questioned the proposed timeline of 48 hours to release these notifications of ICE activity to the public. “That timeline should be useful to the residents of Santa Ana. If it needs to be immediate it should be immediate. It needs to be useful and not just used as a report to say ICE was here because that’s useless. Please implement a system that is actually useful for the immigrant community to try and avoid these racist detentions that are going on across the country.”

Erica Gonzalez of ChicanxsUnidxs stated, “It's shocking but honestly no surprise that there were 42 reports of ICE activity in our city that were blatantly kept from the community.” She reminded the council that “Santa Ana is a city that is redefining what sanctuary means. The city council didn’t make the city what it is. Its residents did.”

Members of the community also demanded that SAPD officers Isaac Ibarra and Luis Casillas be jailed and held responsible for Noe Rodriguez’s killing. The officer’s names were obtained through a public records request made by CSO OC to support the family’s demands for justice and transparency.

Erika Armenta, wife of Noe Rodriguez and a CSO OC member, pointed out that Rodriguez was killed after receiving instructions in only English although he spoke only Spanish.

“Armenta stated, Officers Luis Casillas and Isaac Ibarra remain free and probably still patrolling our streets. This is not just, because we are in a sanctuary city where a large percentage of people speak only Spanish.” Armenta asked the council: “They described him as a Hispanic man in the phone calls. Why would they arrive and murder someone, giving them only instructions in English and shooting him before giving him a moment to understand what was happening?”

David Pulido of CSO OC pointed to the excessive number of rounds that were shot at Rodriguez. “Luis Casillas fired 18 rounds, every single round from his handgun, and then reloaded. And he lied about that later in his report. Isaac also lied; he said he fired eight rounds but he fired 11, three of them as he [Rodriguez] was falling.”

Matthew Compton of CSO OC stated, “These two officers took the life of a man and a husband and a father. I myself lost my father as a child. Let me tell you, it is something that a child should never have to go through. But because those two officers failed at their job, they failed to de-escalate and they failed to provide Spanish translation for a man who does not speak English, his children have to live that reality.”

Throughout the public comments, Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who has received over $200,000 from the Santa Ana Police Officers Association to fund her campaigns, looked at her constituents with disgust. Kanan Durham of Pride at the Pier called her out for this. “This is the first time I’ve spoken at Santa Ana city council meetings, I’m more often at Huntington Beach. It’s very concerning to me that I’ve seen you look at your constituents with the same level of contempt as I’ve seen from Mayor Pat Burns, the MAGA mayor in Huntington Beach.”

The council settled on having city staff report back within 45 days with answers to several questions that arose during the discussion of ICE alerts being given to residents. Only one council member commented on the killing of Noe Rodriguez, all others remained silent on the demands for justice from his family.

If you live in Orange County and are interested in CSO OC’s work fighting police crimes and deportations, they can be contacted by phone: (714) 367–6350, Instagram at cso.oc or email, orangecountycso@gmail.com.

#SantaAnaCA #CA #ImmigrantRights #CSOOC #OCRRN #Feature

Santa Ana, CA – Over 100 community members, activists and organizers rallied in Santa Ana to protest the inauguration of Donald Trump on January 20.

Despite cold gusts of wind, the crowd filled the intersection of S Bristol Street and W McFadden Avenue, a location people have rallied at for years, such as on Trump’s first inauguration or during the George Floyd Rebellion.

Erica Gonzalez of Chicanxs Unidxs (CU) said, “I stood on these streets in September 2017 with my four kids, all under the age of 14, to rally against the Trump administration for putting kids in cages and separating families at the border. It was during that rally that I felt the power of community for the first time. Here we are all these years later, except this time we’re much more organized and better prepared.”

Rachael Pozos of TransLatinx spoke on the danger posed to the LGBTQ community by Trump, stating “We are part of this community. They want to segregate and silence us, but we are raising our voices too. We demand that hormone replacement therapy continue to be carried out. We are not going to back down: on the contrary, we are going to fight!”

In his second administration, Trump will likely ramp up police spending and repression of the people’s movements. During his campaign he suggested harsh crackdowns on the Palestine solidarity movement, and in his first administration he responded to the George Floyd Rebellion with heavy repression. Last week Trump’s Department of Justice suggested halting consent decrees requiring reforms of police departments around the country.

Donna Acevedo-Nelson spoke about her son, Joel Acevedo, who was only 21 years old when he was killed by Anaheim Police Department, stating, “My son Joel was dragged, beaten, handcuffed and then shot in the back of the head. The police changed their story a few times. They lie. They go into the media. People believe what they read in the newspaper and there’s always more to the story.”

Protesters visible to passing cars held signs that read, “Indict! Convict! Send these killer cops to jail! The whole damn system is guilty as hell!”

Emma Gottfried from Community Service Organization (CSO) spoke about the killing spree by Anaheim and Santa Ana police over the years. In December, SAPD killed Noe Rodriguez moments after arriving at the scene, giving commands only in English and firing at least 30 bullets even as he collapsed.

Gottfried said, “CSO has launched our ‘24/48’ police accountability campaign. We are fighting for more transparency, demanding the public releasing of officer names when they are involved in misconduct or a shooting within 24 hours, and for releasing unedited footage of the incident within 48 hours. Families deserve to see what happened and know who was involved so we can hold them responsible!” Protesters waved signs saying, “Justice for Noe Martinez Rodriguez.”

Labor activist Manaal Subhani warned of Trump’s legacy of attacking workers, stating, “During his presidency, Donald Trump systematically undermined worker protections and unions. His National Labor Relations Board repeatedly sided with corporations over workers, making it harder to form unions and easier to decertify them.”

Subhani continued, “Workers built this city, workers run this city, and workers will fight back against the Trump administration and the cop administration!”

Abraham Quintana of Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) reinforced the importance of the working class struggle, stating, “The billionaires depend on our labor for their profits. It's not Elon Musk on the assembly line building those ugly, explosive trucks. It's not Gavin Newsom out there fighting wildfires. It’s workers!”

Quintana spoke of FRSO’s task of building a political party of the multinational working class, saying, “Instead of living in a world where we live to make profits for the billionaires, we can build a society that meets everyone’s needs and puts the power in the working class's hands instead of the hands of the 1%.”

Sandra de Anda, coordinator of the Orange County Rapid Response Network (OCRRN), encouraged the crowd to call their hotline if ICE is spotted in Santa Ana (714-881-1558). She cautioned people to correctly verify sightings to avoid panic and shared about their participatory defense work to stop and reduce detentions, deportations and incarcerations.

Sandra de Anda said, “We are here as a reminder that everyday people can organize: mothers, hermanos, everybody can learn how to get their loved ones out of cages. Right now is the time for regular people to do courageous things!”

Protesters waved signs that read “No to deportations,” “Protect Immigrants” and “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you.” The crowd shouted, “Up, up with liberation! Down, down with deportation!”

Vinny Mansoor of the US Palestinian Community Network (USPCN) stressed the importance of solidarity across different movements, telling the crowd, “I find myself for the life of me unable to see the difference between a child in a cage in California and a child in a cage in Gaza! Our children are being taken from us and we have to stand united!”

Erick Landeros of Guerrero, a solidarity organization supporting the National Democratic Revolution in the Philippines, connected the struggle between immigrants in Santa Ana with oppressed peoples around the world: “From here in Santa Ana with migrant, working class families, to Palestine, to Mexico, to the Philippines, we all face a common enemy: U.S. imperialism.”

Jensen Walsh of Orange County Democratic Socialists of America (OCDSA) called the audience to action, stating, “Right now, we are mobilized, but what we must do is organize for greater mobilization in the future.”

The crowd marched around the intersection, hoisting signs in the air and shouting over the gusty wind and traffic. Spirits were high as people raged against the Trump administration. The rally highlighted the importance of solidarity between all of the people’s struggles and the importance of joining an organization for long-term organized struggle against this administration.

The event was organized by CSO OC in coalition with CU, OCEJ, USPCN, FRSO, OCDSA, TransLatinx, Guerrero and OCRRN.

#SantaAnaCA #PeoplesStruggles #Immigrantrights #InJusticeSystem #LGBTQ #Palestine #AntiWarMovement #Environment #CSOOC #CU #OCEJ #USPCN #FRSO #TransLatinx #Guerrero #OCRRN