Black Women for Wellness and other Black-led grassroots organizations leaders in LA sounded the alarm as to why “the ICE crisis is a Black issue, too.”
Since early June, thousands of ICE officers and supporting forces, armed with military-grade weapons, have intensified raids on Black and brown neighborhoods across the U.S., deporting tens of thousands of people under President Donald Trump’s renewed mass deportation push. Removal operations have escalated in more than 15 major cities across at least 10 states—many with significant Black communities.
“The ICE crisis is a Black issue, too,” said Myeisha Essex of Black Women for Wellness (BWW) at a recent press conference held in the group’s Los Angeles office courtyard. Essex was joined by leaders from other Black- and Latino-led grassroots organizations, including the Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI) and the California Black Power Network (CBPN). Together, they warned that Trump’s crackdown threatens the safety and civil rights of immigrants and citizens alike, underscoring the need for solidarity across communities of color—and with allies—amid deepening political and racial divides.
The uncertainty and fear of this political moment intensified last month when the Supreme Court upheld the federal government’s ability to deport immigrants to third-party countries—even when individuals have not had a fair chance to contest removal or raise credible fears of torture or harm. Advocates argue the ruling undercuts due process and erodes bedrock democratic principles, leaving both immigrants and U.S. citizens questioning what rights remain secure.
“We are the ones—Black people, regardless of citizenship—who must define what resilience and resistance look like in this moment,” said Nana Gyamfi, executive director of BAJI. “The first human beings who migrated, allowing people to exist all over this planet, were Black people.”
ICE follows a blueprint … drafted and tested in our Black neighborhoods, from the Fugitive Slave Act and its slave catchers to modern-day racial profiling and predictive policing.
Elice Hennessee, CADRE
Trump’s anti-immigration policies have sharpened partisan divides. According to Pew Research Center, 81 percent of Republicans favor using local and state law enforcement to help federal deportation efforts; among Democrats, just 21 percent support this approach.
Trump has also openly encouraged targeted ICE raids in Democratic strongholds such as Los Angeles and Chicago. In a recent Truth Social post, he called for stepped-up enforcement in major cities run by political rivals—a strategy advocates say weaponizes federal power to punish opponents and instill fear.
At the LA press conference, multiple speakers labeled Trump both a white supremacist and a fascist. Kevin Cosney, associate director of the California Black Power Network, argued that white supremacy lies at the core of Trump’s immigration agenda. By demonizing immigrants as criminals and scapegoating them for rising crime rates, he said, Trump fuels raids by ICE officers (and emboldens impersonators).
Yet the data tells a different story. As of mid-June, about 72 percent of the 56,397 immigrants held in ICE detention have no criminal record, according to Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. Of those who do, most have been charged with minor infractions, such as traffic violations.
Speakers emphasized that solidarity—especially between Black and Latino communities—is essential to resist Trump’s efforts to divide. “Solidarity has always been part of our movement and it always will,” said Cosney. “If you let them divide us, you’re feeding into white supremacy.”
The first human beings who migrated, allowing people to exist all over this planet, were Black people.
Nana Gyamfi, Black Alliance for Just Immigration
Advocates at the press conference pointed out that white supremacy, once the ideology that upheld slavery, still underpins systemic racism and violence against communities of color. Today, they argue, it is increasingly intertwined with Christian nationalism—an ideology some conservative extremists cite to justify intimidation and violence against protesters, students, immigrants and Black communities. According to the Public Religion Research Institute and The Brookings Institution, about one in 10 Americans identify as Christian nationalists, and nearly half say violence is acceptable to “save the country.”
White nationalism poses a danger not only to immigrants but to U.S. democracy itself, Cosney said. Many in the Black community feel frustrated that repeated warnings about white supremacy have long been dismissed—just as racial profiling and police brutality went largely unacknowledged before the 2020 protests following George Floyd’s murder.
“We’ve never had the luxury to forget that Black people have always been—and remain—at the heart of the struggle to have our humanity recognized, our rights protected, and our freedom fulfilled,” said Elice Hennessee, co-executive director of strategy and sustainability for Community Asset Development Re-defining Education (CADRE).
Speakers drew historical parallels between the Jim Crow era and today’s mass deportations, noting how ICE tactics echo older strategies used to strip Black people of rights and freedom. “ICE follows a blueprint … drafted and tested in our Black neighborhoods, from the Fugitive Slave Act and its slave catchers to modern-day racial profiling and predictive policing,” said Hennessee.
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Baba Akili, director of the Fannie Lou Hamer Institute and a representative for BLM Los Angeles, reminded the crowd that abolishing ICE should be part of the Black liberation agenda. Quoting an African proverb—“If you see a crow eating your neighbor’s corn, shoo it away, because tomorrow it will eat your corn”—he urged vigilance against injustice. “We gotta find some crow catchers,” he added, prompting cheers and applause.
Midway through the event, a heckler shouted anti-Latino slurs, claiming Latinos were forcing Black people out of Los Angeles. Organizers quickly clarified the heckler was not affiliated with the conference and led the crowd in chanting, “The people united will never be divided!” As the chant faded, Akili began singing the spiritual, “Wade in the Water,” quieting the disruption and reinforcing the message of unity.
Torrence Brannon Reese, founder of FAMLI and the Malcolm X Legacy Project, closed the gathering by celebrating a long tradition of Black defiance—and calling for continued resistance. He urged boycotts of MAGA-aligned corporations like Walmart and Chick-fil-A, which have supported Trump or GOP candidates and profited from selling Trump merchandise.
“There is hope, and it’s in this community and in grassroots work like this,” Reese said. Quoting Martin Luther King Jr., he added: “We will keep on pushing until justice rolls down like waters, in righteousness like a mighty stream. We will get our freedom by any means necessary.”
