THE VAST AGRICULTURAL plain of Ventura County in California, where César Chávez first envisioned the United Farm Workers movement, is no stranger to grassroots activism. When federal immigration officers raided Glass House Farms in Camarillo on July 10, a rapid response network, the 805 Immigrant Coalition, immediately used its text app to mobilize citizens to protest and document the event.
“This is quickly becoming one of the largest operations since President Trump took office,” wrote Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on social media as the chaotic raid unfolded, a raid that ultimately resulted in the death of farmworker Jaime Alanís Garcia.
After ICE detained more than 360 individuals across several raids in July, residents of Ventura County again sprang into action to address urgent needs and to care for children whose parents had been detained or deported. In a county where 46% of the residents are Latino, more than 4,000 people are facing removal proceedings, while less than 40% of detained immigrants nationwide have legal counsel, said Genevieve Flores-Haro, associate director of the Mixteco Indigena Community Organizing Project, at a public hearing.
Martita Martinez-Bravo, executive director of Friends of Fieldworkers, was rushing to deliver groceries to a family torn apart by the Glass House raid when I managed to catch her briefly on the phone.
“This is one of our high-crisis families,” she said, in which both parents had been deported, leaving behind three young children to be cared for by an aunt and uncle. Whether the children, who are U.S. citizens, will join their parents in Mexico or the parents will return to the U.S. remains unknown.
“These families are not reaching out for any government support,” Martinez-Bravo said. “It is truly the nonprofit sector that is taking on the load of the responsibility because these families are so terrorized already that they are not seeking any government assistance [like social services or caseworkers]. Every child that is left behind without parents is being cared for by other family members or friends.”
When Friends of Fieldworkers sought to collect groceries, diapers, and other items to be delivered to families affected by the ICE raids, the organization was inundated with donations. With assistance from international berry growers Reiter Affiliated Companies, the nonprofits Local Love Project and Food Share, and with collection centers at some public schools in the area, the organization distributed more than 900 bags of groceries to farmworkers and families affected by the raids.
“Friends of Fieldworkers started giving everyone whose family was detained $500 to start,” Martinez-Bravo said. “Then we do immediate triaging, so that if a farmworker family comes in, they also receive food or a warm meal, especially the high-crisis families. We also try to connect them to our other programs [including legal assistance], and we do an immediate check-in with a family in person when we deliver the check, and then we assess further needs. If there is a baby in the household, we connect them to our diaper program as well.”
A common thread in Ventura County over the summer was the consistent delivery of groceries to families who were afraid to leave their homes—a charitable model available to other communities throughout the nation affected by ICE raids. Julia Newman and Beth Yale, coordinators of the food pantry at Somis Community Church, delivered groceries to three families who were afraid to come by the church to pick up their monthly supply. They also handed out “Know Your Rights” red cards, made available by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center in 41 languages.
When Julie Morris, pastor of Mt. Cross Lutheran Church in Camarillo heard that families were fearfully homebound over the summer, she brainstormed with Judy Lucas, the founder of Friends of Fieldworkers. Together, they worked with Vacation Bible School participants to assemble “love boxes,” which were individual shoeboxes and backpacks stuffed with small gifts, “just to give farmworker children a reminder that they’re loved,” Morris said. “These included a box of activities and snacks and school supplies and things that [children] specifically asked for.”
More than 900 bags of groceries were delivered to families affected by the raids.
Morris’ congregation also raised $4,000 to supply work boots for fieldworkers, and she collaborated with Michael Paul Anderson, rector at St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, and Elbert Kim, pastor of the United Methodist Church in Camarillo, to co-author a letter to the local newspaper. “As pastors of Christian congregations in Camarillo, we are writing to denounce the expressions of hate targeting farmworkers,” they wrote.
Most recently, Morris, Anderson, and Kim joined forces with Ventura County’s chapter of Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE-VC) to educate the community about civic engagement and legal assistance for immigrants. The chapter also organizes visits for families to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, more than 120 miles from Camarillo.
Other chapters of CLUE have begun hosting weekly “Godmothers of the Disappeared” vigils, modeled on those first held in Argentina in the 1970s during the military junta, where protestors demanded the return of their children who had been taken by government forces. “Godmothers of the Disappeared” meet weekly in downtown Los Angeles and in Orange County. The interfaith advocacy groups LA Voice and PICO California have also been instrumental in supporting prayer vigils for justice in response to the ICE raids.
Betty Stapleford, co-chair of CLUE-VC and a retired Unitarian Universalist minister, emphasized the importance of collaboration among community organizations involved in civic action, civil rights, and political advocacy, and she called for an ecumenical approach that merges progressive, mainline, and evangelical voices.
“As Unitarian Universalists, we talk about justice, equality, and compassion, and in the Christian tradition, we talk about helping the stranger and supporting women and children. It’s just so embedded in our religious traditions,” she said. “We need to take care of each other.”
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