Immigrant rights groups across the Central Coast are speaking out in response to early-morning raids conducted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security on May 13, when federal agents served search warrants at several locations connected to community defense organization VC Defensa.
Federal agents knocked open doors to search four locations, including the VC Defensa’s business spaces and the home of organizer Leo Martinez, one of the most vocal immigrant rights advocates in the region. In a press conference the next day, Martinez said federal agents pointed guns at both him and his mother during the raids. While nobody was arrested, Martinez said the search warrants served as an example of ICE and DHS “bullying” community defense volunteers.
“They’ve been harassing us for a while,” Martinez said in a video interview the next day. “We push back. We’re effective in the county. We helped prevent a ton of arrests over the course of the last year and a half, and we get into entanglements with ICE officers on a regular basis.”
Federal agents searched the four locations for electronic devices, seizing laptops, cellphones, and merchandise, such as skate decks and T-shirts with the organization’s logo. Martinez said the warrants also showed the agents were looking for weapons that could be used to harm ICE agents.
“We don’t work like that as an org,” Martinez said. “We know that we have to operate out in the open.”
DHS confirmed in an email statement that search warrants were conducted on May 13, as part of an “open investigation” looking into “individuals associated with an anti-ICE organization,” including group members “previously arrested for ambushing federal law enforcement and destruction of government property.”
Martinez was arrested and released in two separate incidents in which federal agents claim he attacked them using his truck. Video evidence obtained by KEYT contradicted the federal government’s statements, and Martinez has not faced any charges related to either incident. DHS has not provided details as to the status of the investigation.
Representatives from 805 Undocufund’s Rapid Response Network spoke out in solidarity with VC Defensa. Immigrant rights advocates consider the raids as retaliation against volunteers who work to protect their communities.
“Advocacy, accompaniment, and community organizing are not crimes — they are acts of solidarity rooted in the belief that every person deserves to live free from fear and persecution,” 805 UndocuFund said in a statement posted in response to the raids. “We recognize the emotional, physical, and legal risks many leaders and volunteers take to support immigrant communities, and we reject attempts to intimidate or criminalize those working to uphold transparency, accountability, and human dignity.”
Reem Yassin, an attorney representing VC Defensa, said the organization is looking to take legal action to “fight back against these unjust attacks.”
“This is completely unconstitutional, clearly an intimidation tactic being used against people who are exercising their right to organize and protect their community,” Yassin said.
