Undocumented and Under Siege

Millions of undocumented people live, work, and raise families in the United States. Every single one of them deserves dignity, safety, and freedom. But the government treats these people as threats. Right now that threat is being answered with armed raids, detention vans, and mass deportations.

In June 2025, ICE launched a national crackdown across over a dozen states. In California alone more than six hundred people were detained in just three days. Home Depot parking lots, farmworker housing areas, laundromats, day labor hubs became ambush zones. In Atlanta agents stormed apartments with rifles. In Houston workers were pulled off meatpacking lines mid-shift. In New York plainclothes ICE teams staked out train stations. This isn’t about safety—it’s about punishment and control.

This Is Not New But It Is Escalating

The violence of 2025 builds on decades of bipartisan failure and brutality. The U.S. spends over $24 billion annually on detention, deportation, border walls, private prisons, surveillance towers, drones, biometrics—an entire industry devoted to caging movement.

It didn’t begin with Trump and it didn’t end with Biden. But under Biden we saw an explosion of workplace and sanctuary city raids. Title 42 expulsions were extended. Deportations surged in 2023, with courts documenting ICE arrests at immigration hearings in places like San Antonio. Agents even detained a Marine Corps veteran’s wife who was breastfeeding her three‑month‑old daughter during a green card meeting :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}.

Biden promised humane reform but instead ramped up enforcement budgets and carried out more ICE operations inside communities.

The Border Is Everywhere

The border is not just geography—it is a sprawling system of power, profit, and violence. Inside 100 miles of any U.S. boundary, Border Patrol and ICE can act without warrants, pulling data from DMV records, social media, and phones to hunt people anywhere.

Coupled with deportation infrastructure, it means there is no sanctuary—only constant fear.

Not All Risks Are Equal

Undocumented communities are diverse and face different threats:

  • Black immigrants are deported at higher rates and racially profiled
  • Queer and trans migrants face medical abuse and isolation in detention
  • Disabled migrants are often neglected medically and psychologically
  • Indigenous people face language erasure and lack cultural recognition

Justice demands policies built to reflect this complexity.

Failures of the Biden Administration

Biden came in promising compassion but followed with continued enforcement. His administration revived Title 42 expulsions, prioritized funding ICE, and froze comprehensive reforms in Congress :contentReference[oaicite:2]{index=2}. Sanctuary cities saw raids inside immigration courts, alarming legal advocates :contentReference[oaicite:3]{index=3}. Far from defending undocumented people, the first half of his term oversaw more interior enforcement than anyone expected.

Failures of the Trump Administration

Returning to power, Trump has doubled down. His executive orders labeled migrants an “invasion,” expanded warrantless expedited removal to the interior, and ramped deportations using the Alien Enemies Act and military transport :contentReference[oaicite:4]{index=4}. Worksite raids resumed, even after brief pauses, targeting farms and restaurants :contentReference[oaicite:5]{index=5}. Ten percent of ICE arrests continue without warrants, with quotas pushing agents to “turn the creative knob up to eleven” :contentReference[oaicite:6]{index=6}. Private deportation proposals and Guantánamo-style detention plans emerged—raising constitutional and moral alarms :contentReference[oaicite:7]{index=7}.

Communities Are Not Waiting

Resistance is alive and organized:

  • In Los Angeles neighbors formed human walls around ICE vans and shared encrypted alerts
  • Farmers in Bakersfield blocked federal vehicles at first light
  • Chicago students walked out in solidarity with classmates
  • Miami churches offered sanctuary overnight
  • Queens legal clinics stayed open late to support families

This is resistance defined by care and courage.

What Real Solidarity Looks Like

Solidarity is action not charity. It means:

  • Closing ICE and CBP for good
  • Shutting down all detention centers
  • Offering permanent legal status for every undocumented person
  • Reallocating surveillance funds to housing and healthcare

Resources to Support and Connect

Being undocumented should not mean living in fear. Migration is not a crime. Survival is not a crime. Meeting basic needs is not a crime.

If you are undocumented, know this: You matter. You belong. You are not alone.

If you are documented, now is not the time to stand on the sidelines. Show up. Speak up. Place your bodies where your values are.

No more raids. No more cages. No silence. We’re here to stay.