With the Trump administration promising the largest deportation effort in U.S. history, more than 200 people marched through downtown Ontario on Saturday morning in support of the Inland Empire’s immigrant community.
The energetic crowd waved American and Mexican flags, banged drums and unleashed noisemakers as they paraded along the sidewalks. They chanted, “We are not leaving,” and the United Farm Workers’ motto, “Sí, se puede.” Demonstrators erupted into cheers when vehicles along Euclid Avenue honked in support.
The protest — promoted on social media as a “mass mobilization against mass deportation” — was led by the San Bernardino-based Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, which is comprised of more than 35 organizations serving the immigrant community in the Inland Empire.
The region is home to a sizable immigrant population. According to a 2018 report from UC Riverside’s Center for Social Innovation, the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and the California Immigrant Policy Center, one in five Inland Empire residents was an immigrant, with nearly 1 million immigrants across Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Dozens of protesters from Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and several other Inland Empire organizations participate in a demonstration in Ontario on Saturday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
San Bernardino County also is home to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, one of California’s largest immigration detention centers, which is managed by the private prison corporation GEO Group. A coalition of immigrant rights groups has advocated for the facility’s closure for years, citing health, safety and human rights concerns.
Addressing the crowd before beginning the march, Javier Hernandez, executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, framed the administration’s rhetoric as an attempt to sow fear and panic among the immigrant community; a ploy to make people cower in the shadows or self-deport.
“The way we fight back is by coming out to the streets,” Hernandez said. “We’re leaving fear behind and pushing forward with our fight for immigrant rights.”
“Sin papeles, sin miedo,” he cried out, leading attendees in a boisterous chant. “Undocumented, unafraid.”
A protester wearing a flag that represents the U.S. and Mexico joins dozens of other demonstrators in Ontario on Saturday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Confronting that fear — and speaking out for those feeling attacked and afraid to protest — was on the minds of many protesters.
Andy Garibay came to the country as a baby and now has work authorization and deportation protection through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. A mother of two, she lives in Rialto and works in payroll administration.
She said the Trump administration’s threats have her and her family on edge. Her family group chat seems to be constantly pinging with possible sightings of immigration officials near the warehouses where many relatives work, she said.
“Why should it be like this?” said Garibay, who held signs reading, “One Love,” and had a Mexican flag wrapped around her hair.
Deanna Pennino, of Ontario, is the daughter of a Mexican immigrant. He taught her and her siblings to work hard and be proud Americans, while never forgetting their roots, she said.
Pennino, a respiratory therapist at a local hospital, said several colleagues have stopped coming to work, afraid immigration authorities could show up at any moment. Trump on his first day in office rescinded a Biden-era policy that protected certain sensitive locations, including churches, schools and hospitals, from immigration enforcement.
Pennino also fought against Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative that sought to bar immigrants lacking documentation from receiving any public benefits, including healthcare, education and social services. That experience, she said, proved to her that “we can fight and make a difference.”
During Saturday’s march, she carried a sign reading “Deport Elon,” a reference to Elon Musk, a South African immigrant who is leading a controversial effort to weed out alleged fraud, waste and abuse from the federal government.
Trump initially focused his rhetoric on tracking down immigrants lacking authorization and who have been accused of violent crimes. His administration now says it considers all immigrants in the U.S. without legal authorization to be criminals, because they have violated immigration laws.
Dozens of protesters participated in a “mass mobilization against mass deportation” in Ontario on Saturday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has already conducted well-publicized operations in Chicago and New York, among other places. The pledge of more enforcement actions has rattled immigrant communities throughout California and across the country and spurred a groundswell of activism.
Last weekend, rumors that the federal government was planning a massive immigration enforcement sweep in Los Angeles County put many people on high alert. At that time, ICE officials did not say whether any special operations had taken place and did not release daily arrest figures. However, it appeared any such operation had not been anywhere near as widespread as many had predicted.
In early January, at the tail end of the Biden administration, Border Patrol agents conducted a multi-day raid in rural parts of Kern County, resulting in the detention and deportation of scores of laborers lacking documentation.
This week, ACLU attorneys representing the United Farm Workers and five Kern County residents sued the head of the Department of Homeland Security and Border Patrol officials, alleging the raid amounted to a “fishing expedition” that indiscriminately targeted people of color who appeared to be farmworkers or day laborers.
This article is part of The Times’ equity reporting initiative, funded by the James Irvine Foundation, exploring the challenges facing low-income workers and the efforts being made to address California’s economic divide.
