Editor’s Note: The following article was sent in by one of our dear readers, Cathleen Williams.
As she came out the door of a building on a quiet street in downtown Sacramento the afternoon of November 4, Norma’s worried face broke into a momentary smile. A crowd of 100 supporters had gathered under their umbrellas in the rain to witness and wait as she met with ICE.
Norma, a mother of three young children, fled Honduras because her life was threatened. She sought asylum in the U.S. That rainy day in November, she had been unexpectedly called in to report to an ICE contractor’s office. She received two day’s notice. No one knew – including Norma herself – if she would be detained, taken away under guard, or deported after her appointment. When she emerged after a few hours from the ICE office, the crowd greeted her with joyful cries before she hurried off to rejoin her family.
The organization that mobilized members of community organizations and faith groups to gather in support of Norma is called NorCal Resist. Seasoned local organizers founded NorCal Resist in 2017. They saw that Trump’s first election would bring the U.S. government to attack and scapegoat immigrants. According to NorCal Resist staff leader Giselle Garcia, “the mission of NorCal Resist is to provide mutual aid to vulnerable communities and build structures that reflect the peaceful world we want to live in, especially in terms of U.S. police power and the impact of ICE on people’s lives.”
NorCal Resist focuses on food insecurity, housing insecurity, and other basic needs of immigrants and their families, as well as the community as a whole. It supports political education, “Know Your Rights” trainings, a weekly reading club, a self-defense class, self-help immigration clinics, and different kinds of forums addressing immigration policy and the “carceral” U.S. state that rules through its vast prison and detention system. “We have to protect and care for each other,” Giselle Garcia says, “We have to organize and mobilize to face the threat of ICE kidnapping and detention without due process.”
When ICE summoned Norma to report to the contractor’s office, NorCal Resist sent out an urgent call to action by email which reached hundreds of people. “A mom from Honduras is at risk of being taken from her husband and children – including a 3 month old baby – at an ICE check in,” the notice said. “Please show up and stand with us. We cannot sit by while ICE tears apart families in our community.”
The “check in” by ICE that required Norma to show up in person reflects current ICE practices and policies for control of immigrants subject to ICE jurisdiction. This year, ICE has increasingly resorted to using “orders of supervision” (OSUP) that are issued by immigration courts to people who cannot be immediately deported because of pending appeals and other considerations. Under OSUP, immigrants seeking asylum can be placed into “ISAP,” the “Intensive Supervision and Appearance Program.” ICE describes ISAP as an “alternative to detention,” but the program amounts to digital and psychological confinement through electronic surveillance. ISAP requires strict compliance – Norma had to report immediately to ICE when contacted, and notify ICE of any address changes. “Norma and others subject to ISAP live every day in extreme anxiety and stress,” reports NorCal’s Giselle Garcia.
Initially, Norma had to wear an ankle monitor; more recently, ICE monitored her through a GPS app on her phone, which Norma had to keep with her at all times. Any problems with the electronic devices could lead to detention and deportation. ICE could impose house arrest on Norma or revoke her status without notice at any time.
According to immigration experts, the scope of ISAP has ballooned since 2024 with the U.S. government’s announced policy of massive arrests, detentions, and deportations of immigrants. Today, more than 7.6 million people are under some form of immigration “supervision.” It is less costly than the detention centers that have been set up across the country, but it has meant that ICE contractors can gain huge profits from their surveillance and control measures.
According to Giselle Garcia, “There is no question that our presence at Norma’s “check-in” made the difference. They knew we were out there watching, ensuring that rules would be followed. This is why community response, sanctuary, and other organizational responses to immigration abuse is so important.”
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