As outrage mounts over federal immigration raids across California, members of the state legislature gathered at the Capitol on Thursday to urge the state to formally condemn federal raids targeting immigrant communities.
The Latino Legislative Caucus for the California State Senate held a press conference on Thursday in Sacramento in support of Senate Joint Resolution 9 (SJR9), which if passed would mean the state senate would officially denounce the federal immigration raids. Among the caucus members who spoke was caucus chair and Long Beach’s State Senator Lena Gonzalez.
Along with directing the state legislature to officially denounce recent mass immigration raids and the use of military force in immigration enforcement, if passed, SJR 9 would also call for expanded legal aid and emergency resources.
“On the eve of this Independence Day, when we all take the Pledge of Allegiance inside the Capitol and we say, ‘With liberty and justice for all,’ we can’t help but think, ’Liberty and justice for who?’ Gonzalez said during the press conference. “We’re standing here today as immigrants, daughters, sons, family members, neighbors; we’re here to stay clear these cruel and immoral raids don’t just hurt immigrants. They hurt our entire communities. We are all absolutely and personally shaken to the core.”
During President Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, he promised to oversee the largest mass deportation in U.S. history. Trump stated his deportation efforts would focus on criminals, but immigrants with criminal convictions have only made up 30% of ICE arrests since May, according to an analysis of ICE data by ABC news.
According to an analysis of ICE data by NBC News, since Trump came into office, the number of people arrested by ICE has doubled, and the number of people being held in detention by ICE is higher than any other point in American history.
Videos circulated on social media on June 26 showed federal agents detaining and taking people in Signal Hill. Day laborers were reportedly taken by federal agents outside the Home Depot on Cherry Avenue and at least one man was taken from Hilltop Park. The Signal Tribune reached out to ICE to confirm how many arrests were made in Signal Hill, but did not receive a response.
According to ICE data obtained by the Cato Institute, of those arrested by ICE from the beginning of fiscal year 2025 to June, 65% had never been convicted of a crime and 93% had never been convicted of a violent crime.
“This is an attack against all of us,” said well-known civil rights advocate Dolores Huerta during the press conference. “We know that the people they have been detaining are the people who feed us, our farmworkers, the people that work in the packing sheds, the people that clean our hotels, the people who do all of the work to keep America fed, clean and safe.”
Representatives from the LGBTQ, Jewish, Asian and Black Legislative Caucuses attended the press conference and gave statements in support of the Latino and immigrant communities.
“We must know that we cannot allow this racial terror—and that is exactly what this is— we cannot allow this racial terror to persist and continue,” said State Senator Lola Smallwood-Cuevas of the Black Legislative Caucus. “We will resist. We will contest. We will denounce these actions with every fiber of our being. Why? Because our humanity depends on it. Why? Because our economy depends on it. Why? Because our safety depends on it. […] The Legislative Black Caucus stands in solidarity with our immigrant brothers and sisters, with our families. We know the significance and importance of radical solidarity between Black and brown communities, and how we stand together against this racial profiling and reemergence of racial terror, today, tomorrow and always.”
