Quick Take
The Trump administration governs through fear, particularly in the way it handles immigration, writes UC Santa Cruz researcher Veronica Hamilton. The tactics are leaving immigrant families and workers terrified and vulnerable, she says. Labor unions and organized workers have the power and experience to resist ICE intimidation and protect communities. From schools to hospitals to work sites, collective action has already shown it can keep people safe. The antidote to terror is organization, she writes — and the time to build it is now. She is moderating a Labor Against ICE panel at UCSC on Tuesday at 5 p.m.
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The Trump administration relies on widespread terror to push its inhumane agenda, which we see in the brutal way it has enacted immigration enforcement. As we witness harm inflicted on our immigrant neighbors, many of us feel compelled to take action, but we don’t know how.
For me, the best way to fight Trump’s fear tactics is to organize. Labor unions have a proud history of standing up to institutional bullying. Workers can be especially powerful in fighting against authoritarianism because we know how to push back against bosses; we’ve had plenty of practice.
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On Tuesday, the UC Santa Cruz Center for Labor and Community is hosting a Labor Against ICE panel discussion about how we can protect each other and our communities in anticipation of increased Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Panelists will share concrete steps they have taken with their coworkers to protect themselves and others. Several local immigrant-justice groups will table before and after the panel so attendees can plug into existing efforts.
This panel comes at a critical moment for our region.
In our area, many residents are afraid to leave their homes out of fear that they could be targeted by ICE. As a result of a Supreme Court decision to allow racial profiling in ICE raids, non-white community members are at risk of being targeted based on the color of their skin and the perception of their accent, including citizens and noncitizens, documented or undocumented. Workers in low-wage jobs are especially targeted.
The fear among our immigrant neighbors is certainly warranted.
ICE detention can have extreme psychosocial and economic consequences for individuals and their communities. Detention often sees loved ones separated, livelihoods threatened and safety for those detained at risk. ICE arrests have become more violent, at times deadly, in a political climate that has seen widespread impunity for state (e.g., police) violence. Just last week, protester Renee Nicole Good was killed by an ICE agent in Minnesota.
Last year was the deadliest year on record for deaths in ICE custody.
According to recent estimates, almost half of California children have at least one immigrant parent. Children face lasting consequences from uncertainty about whether their family members will be targeted; the chronic stress and fear affect their social, psychological and physiological development. If a parent is detained, who will pick up their child, feed them dinner, or tuck them in?
The threat of losing a parent, family member or neighbor is unbearable, especially as we learn about harmful treatment in detention centers, including unsanitary conditions, medical neglect and denied access to food, water and legal counsel. The Trump administration terrorizes our neighbors and their families as part of their explicit goal to govern by force.
We can stop this.
Although widespread raids like we’ve seen in Chicago and Los Angeles have not yet begun on the Central Coast, ICE was reported in Santa Cruz County at least 28 times in 2025. It’s a critically important time to learn from cities that have endured ICE aggression over the past year – their experience is the blueprint.
Work sites are often targeted, yet the power workers have shown across recent decades gives me hope for a way forward. Workers create power through organizing, and I believe that power has a valuable role to play as communities prepare to resist ICE collectively.
Teachers unions across the country are preparing for ICE raids to impact their schools. Because teachers are deeply embedded within the community, they are in a unique position to organize against ICE. Union teachers in Chicago organized “sidewalk solidarity,” which enabled workers to trigger a rapid response network that could identify ICE and alert the surrounding schools and communities. Likewise, union teachers in Los Angeles effectively organized to keep ICE out of schools, creating structures and procedures at each school to empower teachers to protect their students.
Labor resistance against ICE can happen in any industry.
Workers can secure contract language to defend immigrant workers. Health care workers can leverage their labor power to enforce greater protections for patients brought in by ICE. Hotel workers in Minneapolis refused to allow ICE to stay at their hotels. Child care workers are organizing to protect their coworkers and the families they work with, even preparing to care for children whose parents are detained. Farmworkers are fighting for workplace protections like fences and blocked roads to deter ICE access. Garment workers are building mutual aid networks to support their coworkers who are affected by ICE raids. Construction Workers United is partnering with the Architectural League of New York to create industry standards that would protect workers on construction sites.
Workers in any industry can create workplace safety procedures and practice how they will react when ICE comes to their workplace.
There are many ways to support workers, even for community allies. For example, Organized Power in Numbers leads a campaign to promote restricted access signs at local businesses to better enable workers to refuse ICE access to private areas. The National Day Laborer Organizing Network has called for allies to adopt a day labor corner to protect immigrant workers from ICE at places like Home Depot.
Your Allied Rapid Response has operated in Santa Cruz County for several years, documenting ICE raids and seeking to prevent harm against our immigrant neighbors. The organization holds regular trainings and has an extended network in our area to respond to ICE presence.
In 2026, we can anticipate that anti-immigrant federal spending will increase threefold with Trump’s intent to deport 1 million immigrants each year. That is why it’s more important than ever to lock arms with our fellow community members to protect our immigrant community.
The Trump administration is sowing fear across our country; the best way to counter that fear is to get organized. I see it as our duty to fight for our community.
If this touches something in you, please come to the Labor against ICE event on Tuesday, 5 to 7 p.m. at the Merrill Cultural Center or online and learn more about what you can do. We will also have simultaneous Spanish translation both in person and online. RSVP here.
We cannot let our immigrant communities and neighbors live in fear.
Veronica Hamilton is a researcher at the Center for Labor and Community at UC Santa Cruz. She received a master’s degree in applied developmental psychology from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and her doctorate in social psychology from UCSC. Her research focuses on dehumanization of low-wage workers and unionization as a way for workers to reassert their humanity. She will serve as the moderator for the Labor Against ICE panel.