As deportations surge and federal funding disappears, grassroots groups step up to defend undocumented workers and their families from an administration bent on erasure
When the Government Abandons Its Promise of Counsel
Unlike criminal defendants who are guaranteed legal representation, most immigrants held in ICE detention centers have no right to an attorney. This fundamental gap in the justice system creates a nightmare scenario where people can simply disappear into the deportation machine without anyone to advocate for them. The Immigrant Defenders Law Center, based in Southern California, has made it their mission to fill this void, operating a legal assistance hotline for those caught in ICE’s expanding dragnet. According to the American Immigration Council, immigrants with legal representation are five times more likely to win their cases than those forced to navigate the system alone, yet only 37% of detained immigrants have attorneys.
The Case of Andry Hernández Romero: A System Gone Mad
Lindsay Toczylowski, president and CEO of Immigrant Defenders, represented Andry Hernández Romero, a gay makeup artist from Venezuela whose case reveals the cruelty at the heart of Trump’s immigration enforcement. Hernández was sent to rot in what witnesses described as a hellish mega-prison in El Salvador–all because someone misidentified his tattoos, which were tributes to his parents, as gang-related. After his release in July as part of a prisoner swap, he described horrific abuse enabled by Trump’s rendition policy, including sexual assault by guards. Research from Human Rights Watch has documented systematic abuse in detention facilities, particularly affecting LGBTQ+ immigrants who face heightened vulnerability to violence and sexual assault.
Veterans Abandoned by the Country They Served
Among Immigrant Defenders’ most poignant cases are those of deported veterans–service members who fought for America but were cast out due to criminal convictions or immigration status issues. The organization operates one of the country’s largest legal programs specifically for these abandoned veterans. Toczylowski reports that her group has brought back dozens over the last four years, reuniting them with families and the country they served. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, an estimated 92,000 veterans are non-citizens, and thousands have been deported despite their military service, often for minor offenses that occurred years after their discharge.
Children in the Crosshairs of Budget Cuts
Many of Immigrant Defenders’ clients are unaccompanied minors–children who crossed the border without their parents. By law, these children are supposed to receive legal services, but this year Trump attempted to eliminate government funding for their legal representation. The move forced Immigrant Defenders to lay off attorneys at precisely the moment when vulnerable children needed them most. A court eventually ordered the funding restored, but Toczylowski warns of “grave uncertainty” about the future. Studies by the Vera Institute of Justice show that unaccompanied children with legal representation are significantly more likely to avoid deportation and remain safe from dangerous conditions in their home countries.
Tearing Apart Multi-Generational American Families
Most people served by Immigrant Defenders have no criminal convictions whatsoever. Many have lived in the United States for decades, building lives and families, with children and even grandchildren who are American citizens. “The types of cases that we’re working on are just a whole new level of heartbreaking,” Toczylowski said, describing how the second Trump administration has exceeded even her worst expectations. Research from the Migration Policy Institute estimates that 16.7 million people live in mixed-status families where some members are citizens and others are undocumented, meaning Trump’s deportation policies are directly impacting millions of American citizens, particularly children who face the trauma of losing parents.
Grassroots Surveillance Networks Emerge
In Los Angeles neighborhoods, residents have organized sophisticated community defense networks to protect themselves from ICE raids. They’ve established local patrols that honk horns or blow whistles to warn neighbors when immigration agents approach. They monitor Home Depot parking lots where migrant day laborers gather for work, ensuring that if workers are arrested, someone will document the event and alert family members. These spontaneous defense networks represent a profound shift in how communities are responding to federal immigration enforcement, taking protection into their own hands when they can no longer rely on government to act justly. Documentation by National Immigration Law Center shows that community-based rapid response networks have successfully prevented hundreds of deportations by providing real-time legal assistance and public witnesses to ICE actions.
Day Laborers: The Backbone of California’s Economy
The National Day Laborer Organizing Network was founded in 2001 to assist the often undocumented and frequently exploited workers who power California’s construction, moving, and landscaping industries. These workers face wage theft, hazardous working conditions, and discrimination, yet they remain essential to the state’s economy. Before Trump’s return to power, the organization focused on helping these workers find jobs, recover unpaid wages, and protect themselves at dangerous work sites. According to research from the Economic Policy Institute, wage theft costs American workers an estimated $50 billion annually, with undocumented workers particularly vulnerable because they fear reporting violations will lead to deportation.
Pivoting from Economic Justice to Survival
When Trump returned to office, Pablo Alvarado, the network’s co-founder, realized his organization would need to fundamentally transform its mission. “We are an organization that is nimble,” he explained. “We adapt to new circumstances.” The network quickly positioned itself on the cutting edge of resistance to Trump’s immigration policies, training 5,500 volunteers this year to monitor ICE activities and track the people being targeted. The organization hopes to double that number next year as demand for their services explodes. National Day Laborer Organizing Network represents how community organizations are being forced to shift from advancing workers’ rights to simply protecting workers from government persecution.
Churches and Progressive Groups Join the Fight
The network is experiencing an influx of interest from unexpected quarters. Churches are reaching out to the organization, seeking guidance on how to protect vulnerable members of their congregations. Progressive groups like Indivisible and the 50501 movement are connecting with the network as their members search for concrete ways to resist the administration beyond street protests. This coalition-building represents a significant evolution in progressive organizing, moving from symbolic resistance to practical mutual aid and direct protection of targeted communities. Research from Pew Research Center shows that religious communities have historically played crucial roles in protecting immigrants, from the sanctuary movement of the 1980s to contemporary efforts to shield families from deportation.
When Philanthropists Bow to Authoritarianism
Despite the increased grassroots energy and volunteer engagement, Alvarado reports that foundation funding is drying up. Some philanthropists appear wary of crossing Trump, retreating from supporting immigrant rights work precisely when it’s most needed. This represents a disturbing trend where wealthy donors who previously supported progressive causes are now self-censoring out of fear of retaliation from the administration. Analysis by Inside Philanthropy has documented how some foundations are quietly pulling back from controversial causes, concerned about political backlash or threats to their tax-exempt status under an administration that has demonstrated willingness to weaponize federal power against perceived enemies.
Building Solidarity from the Bottom Up
With institutional support wavering, Alvarado is placing his hope in individual people eager to fight authoritarianism. These are citizens who recognize that ICE’s expanding power represents “the tip of the spear”–the leading edge of authoritarian control that could eventually threaten everyone’s civil liberties. “This is the moment when we need to build solidarity, love and power from the bottom up,” Alvarado said, articulating a vision of resistance rooted in community organizing rather than top-down institutional support. Political scientists studying democratic backsliding at Varieties of Democracy Institute have identified grassroots organizing and civil society resilience as crucial factors in whether democracies survive authoritarian challenges.
Immigration Enforcement as Democratic Threat
The expansion of ICE’s power under Trump represents more than just an immigration issue–it’s a threat to democratic norms and civil liberties for everyone. When federal agents can operate without meaningful oversight, targeting people based on appearance or accent, conducting raids in sensitive locations like schools and churches, and detaining people indefinitely without adequate legal representation, the foundation of a rights-based society crumbles. Constitutional law experts at the Brennan Center for Justice have warned that the normalization of aggressive immigration enforcement creates precedents that can be applied to other populations, essentially creating a two-tiered system of rights where some people are protected by constitutional guarantees while others can be subjected to arbitrary state power.
The True Meaning of Holiday Giving
Supporting organizations like Immigrant Defenders Law Center and the National Day Laborer Organizing Network represents more than charity–it’s an investment in resistance to authoritarianism and a defense of democratic values. These groups are doing heroic work while squeezed between expanding need and shrinking resources, confronting a political climate that threatens both their funding and their mission. As foundation support wavers and federal hostility intensifies, individual donors become the crucial lifeline sustaining this vital work. According to Charity Navigator, grassroots immigrant rights organizations consistently demonstrate high efficiency in converting donations into direct services, making them particularly worthy of support during this crisis moment. The holiday season offers an opportunity to convert values into action, supporting the people and organizations standing at the front lines of democracy’s defense, building solidarity and power from the bottom up when institutional support fails.
