Federal workers across the US are mobilising to prevent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents from raiding workplaces, arguing that such places should be considered sanctuaries and off-limits.
On Wednesday afternoon, in front of a federal building in San Francisco, around a hundred people gathered to advocate for an end to ICE raids, particularly in places where people should feel safe, such as churches, schools and workplaces.
"I'm very concerned about attacks on so many vulnerable communities. I know that if we don't show up for them, no one is going to be here to show up for us," Erica Wang, a local resident and longtime activist, told The New Arab.
"When we don't take action, we can get into a place of despair and fear, and that's what they're banking on," she said. "We can comply, or we can say: hell no."
Among Americans' biggest concerns about US President Donald Trump's second term is the proliferation of ICE raids. As a candidate, he promised to carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in US history.
Cities and towns across the US are seeing the warrantless detentions of immigrants, often with no criminal record. It has become common for unidentified, masked ICE agents to apprehend individuals going about their daily routines, including attending their immigration hearings at courthouses.
The fear of arbitrary detention or deportation has led to immigrants minimising their public exposure, leading to missed work, school and medical appointments. Neighbourhoods with high immigrant populations, particularly from Latin America, have seen far less pedestrian traffic in the last six months.
"Seeing people not on the streets and not taking care of their needs disturbs me. These are my neighbours," said Wang. "My sign says ICE = the American Gestapo. That's what we've got right now."
Along with demonstrators' concerns for immigrants' rights is also a frustration over allocation of resources. Trump's recently passed "Big, beautiful bill" provided record-high funding for ICE while cutting healthcare benefits for millions of working and middle class Americans.
"All of our communities are under attack. First, the Trump administration came for the federal workers, slashed and burned the federal workers," Rosa Shields, one of the speakers at the event, said to TNA, noting that major demonstrations are planned for the US Labour Day in September.
"It's important to come out here to say labour is in support of immigrants, and immigrants are workers. We need to be working as a community coalition," she said.
Over the last six months, US citizens from different backgrounds have been organising to stop ICE arrests in their tracks, often showing up at courthouses for immigration hearings or notifying their networks of ongoing ICE raids in their local areas. In some cases, protesters have been able to block immigrant arrests through their presence.
"It's very important as federal workers to be standing up against these unconstitutional, illegal practices that we're seeing day in and day out from this administration," Sol Hilfinger-Pardo, who works for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, told TNA.
Federal workers are required to take an oath to the constitution, something one of the speakers read out loud to emphasise the importance of defending democracy and rule of law and protecting the rights of others.
"As federal workers, we have to organise ourselves, we have to be prepared, and a lot of that also means being in solidarity with other workers, even if they're not federal workers, and just trying to strengthen the labour movement across the board," Hilfinger-Pardo added.