Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julián Castro warned that immigration enforcement under the current administration has reached a scale not seen in generations during a Latino Community Foundation webinar held Monday, January 26, focused on holding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) accountable and examining how philanthropy can support communities under threat.
The virtual event, titled “Holding ICE Accountable: The People’s Response, the Role of Philanthropy, and Where We Go from Here,” brought together nonprofit leaders, journalists and advocates from California, Arizona and beyond who are documenting abuses, supporting families affected by detention and pushing for oversight of what they describe as a rapidly expanding and increasingly opaque enforcement system.
Castro, CEO of the Latino Community Foundation, said the organization has increased emergency funding for grassroots immigration groups following the November election, including grants for rapid response, legal defense, and community education. The foundation, the nation’s largest Latino-serving philanthropy, awarded 188 grants last year, primarily to Latino-led organizations in California.
“This work has taken on a special urgency,” Castro said, pointing to recent ICE-related violence in cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, New Orleans, and Minneapolis. He referenced the killing of Alex Pretti, who was fatally shot by masked and armed ICE agents while attempting to protect a woman during a protest.
“What’s happening in Minneapolis is grabbing the nation’s attention right now, but it is not unique,” Castro said. “It is happening throughout the country. It’s happening in California.”
Castro cited the rapid expansion of ICE’s capacity, including a budget that has more than tripled to $85 billion, the hiring of 10,000 new agents, and lowered training standards. He said the agency’s growing use of masks and the lack of access to detention facilities have made transparency and accountability increasingly difficult.
“At times, the truth is hard to come by,” Castro said. “To hear the administration speak these days, it sounds like a propaganda film.”
Panelists described widespread fear in immigrant communities, with families avoiding work, school, and even grocery stores out of concern they could be detained. They also detailed coordinated efforts to document ICE activity, collect evidence, and prepare for future accountability.
Los Angeles-based journalist and organizer Memo Torres said documenting enforcement actions in real time has become critical as raids and street-level encounters increase.
“There’s a lot of games being played out there,” Torres said. “That video, that evidence, is a reflection of people’s lived experience.”
Torres said he regularly saves and catalogs footage shared by community members and has worked to organize videos by location and agency. He said that material has already been shared with attorneys, legal organizations, and civil rights groups to support ongoing cases.
Jeannette Zanipatin, Director of Policy and Advocacy at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), said documentation efforts have also played a key role in congressional oversight, particularly after large-scale raids began in California.
Zanipatin shared that she testified at a recent off-site House Oversight Committee hearing in Los Angeles, where community members directly impacted by ICE raids were invited to share their experiences.
“These stories are fundamental to this fight,” Zanipatin said. “These are human rights abuses happening left and right in our communities, and the best way to fight back is to document and make sure members of Congress know exactly what’s happening on the ground.”
She said many lawmakers were initially unaware of the scope of the raids and the conditions people faced once detained.
“People were going to their check-ins, going to court, following the process, and still being arrested and traumatized,” Zanipatin said. “There’s a complete disregard for due process.”
Zanipatin pointed to conditions inside detention centers such as California City and Adelanto, which she described as “atrocities,” citing lack of medical care, unsanitary conditions, and prolonged detention. She said CHIRLA and partner organizations recently filed a lawsuit over conditions at the Adelanto detention facility.
“We’re waging a full-frontal fight in every capacity that we can,” she said. “We need to ensure we don’t have more people die at the hands of DHS, Customs and Border Patrol.”
Despite the challenges, panelists emphasized the importance of continued organizing, documentation, and public pressure to shift the narrative and demand accountability.
“We’re putting the evidence on record,” Castro said. “So that the future does not look like the present when it comes to immigration enforcement.”
The Latino Community Foundation closed the webinar by outlining concrete steps community members can take as immigration enforcement expands and federal funding decisions loom.
As Congress finalizes the Department of Homeland Security’s 2026 budget, the foundation urged the public to contact their U.S. senators and demand that any additional funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement include meaningful oversight and accountability. Community members can reach their senators through the U.S. Senate website or by calling (202) 224-3121.
In California, residents were also encouraged to report alleged misconduct by federal officials through a reporting system established by the state attorney general.
Panelists emphasized the importance of supporting grassroots organizations that are documenting enforcement activity, providing legal services, and assisting families affected by detention. The Latino Community Foundation highlighted the work of organizations, including L.A. Taco, CHISPA Arizona, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), and Building Healthy Communities Kern.
