As federal immigration enforcement operations ripple across Orange County, local community groups are scrambling to respond in real time.
At the center of this grassroots effort is the Orange County Rapid Response Network, or OCRRN, a community-run coalition that’s become the primary source of updates on where Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids are happening, and where agents might go next.
The group’s hotline has been inundated, said Sandra De Anda, network coordinator. “The last three days, we’ve been getting a call a minute or two. So I don’t even know how many calls that is a day. It’s crazy.”
Formed in 2016, OCRRN is a coalition of community groups and residents that verifies reports of ICE activity and assists families affected by immigration enforcement. The group also monitors courthouse arrests and holds weekly Wednesday meetings with families of those detained to help them navigate the immigration legal system.
When a raid is reported, volunteers gather eyewitness accounts, review photos or videos and contact city officials to verify the incident. They also work to identify who was detained and connect people who are detained or their families to resources.
“We’ll give the city council or city manager a call and we’re like, ‘Hey, we’re aware that another agency, aside from your police department, was present. Can you let us know who that was?’ And they are very forthcoming,” De Anda said.
She credits that transparency to the trust she says the group has built with the various local agencies.
Through those methods, De Anda said her team documented at least 50 to 60 detentions across the county over a three-day period this week.
De Anda said OCRRN uses a structured system to verify reports. Callers are asked for cross streets, time of day, photos or video, details on law enforcement agencies present and whether any specialized equipment was used. These tips are then corroborated with local businesses and city officials.
That verification step is crucial, she added, especially as paranoia and misinformation rise.
OCRRN and other local response teams say they’ve seen a shift in enforcement style.
“What we have traditionally seen in terms of ICE agents is them wearing ICE or police patches,” De Anda said. “Right now, what we’re seeing is just plain clothes, gator masks, and that’s it. No identifying information about who they are.”
“I’ve been doing this work for eight, nine years, but I’ve never seen anything like this, in terms of the operations they have,” she said.
ICE officials have declined to confirm specific actions, citing officer safety. In a statement, an agency spokesperson said: “To ensure the safety of our personnel, ICE does not confirm or discuss the existence or status of operations. The agency publicly announces the results of operations when appropriate.”
Victor Valladares, who works for Resilience OC, a Costa Mesa-based nonprofit that partners with OCRRN, said he’s been working 12- to 15-hour days tracking ICE sightings across Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa and Westminster.
“These sweeps take around three minutes or less, so it’s very difficult to catch them,” he said.
He does livestreams on Facebook in Spanish about the operations the groups have tracked.
“There are not many people using Instagram, especially in the older, Spanish-speaking community,” he said. “So I’m doing livestreams in Spanish and trying to educate people on how to identify government vehicles.
“I’m using my privilege as a citizen to go and spread the word,” he said, adding that he distributes “know your rights” cards, shares resources with affected individuals and relays information to OCRRN so the network can connect people with legal assistance.
Carlos Perea of the Harbor Institute for Immigrant & Economic Justice said his team is shifting strategy in response to how ICE and Border Patrol are operating.
“We haven’t been able to successfully get to a site at the moment when Border Patrol or ICE is conducting the raids,” he said. “They show up, go quickly, and then they leave. There’s just not enough time to verify.”
To get ahead of the operations, Perea said the Harbor Institute and its partners, including VietRISE, are getting ready to launch what they’re calling community patrols. Volunteers on foot and in cars will monitor known gathering spots for day laborers in the Little Saigon area, specifically in West Santa Ana, Garden Grove and Westminster.
“The idea is not to wait until ICE or Border Patrol are seen on a specific spot,” Perea said. “We want to be able to deploy community members, volunteers in the streets, driving around the streets, to better track them while they’re on the road.”
By doing this, Perea said volunteers hope to alert community members before arrests happen, or at least be there right as someone is being detained. That’s important, he said, because sometimes it’s hard to know who’s been picked up.
“We can shout, what’s your full name. That’s very basic information we can use to track who their family member is. That’s the benefit of being able to respond on the site,” Perea said. “Of course, we’re not going to do anything that impedes federal ability, we’re not going to be preventing federal agents from physically doing anything, but we need to be able to respond immediately and support the family.”
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