Following the Supreme Court’s Noem v Vasquez Perdomo decision on Sept. 8, the legalization of ICE officials targeting people in the United States on grounds of race, language, accent, and occupation has already impacted Los Angeles. Community organizations are now gearing up for the divisive social and political climates they will help Angelinos navigate.
When asked about the Supreme Court’s decision, Alex Sanchez, Executive Director of gang rehabilitation organization Homies Unidos, said, “The difficulty is how to respond. We were always dealing with the intersection of being an immigrant, being criminalized, and being deported.”
Sanchez added that “In places where there’s little hope, it’s difficult to see yourself beyond that.”
He believes that the Supreme Court’s decision adds hurdles for community organizers. “In organizing, you bring people. You’re responsible for their safety. You need to understand in organizing what’s gonna be the impact, the outcomes, and the hurdles you’re gonna have along the way to achieve your goal,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez addressed how anti-social service policy harms the health of a community, “There’s a lack of resources. The system should be providing you the skills to choose how you want to get out of those situations that you’re in,” he explains.
“But when they start cutting health, when they start cutting off employment, when they start coming after immigrants, now you have a whole population of people who are not working, feeling bad about themselves, not being able to take care of their kids,” Sanchez adds.
President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill is expected to take $750 million per year from the Los Angeles County Department of Health Services, and $200 million from the LA County Department of Public Health. Additionally, hundreds of employees have left the city to avoid the 360 layoffs taking place as the city adjusts to the Big Beautiful Bill.
USC Social Work professor Robert Hernandez co-founded the Tri-County Collaborative in 2015. The organization connects low-income community members with organizations that will provide them with social services and civic engagement resources, like Homies Unidos.
Hernandez addressed the ongoing spread of hopeless mindsets in local and national communities amidst these distressing times, “The intent in that [spread of hopelessness] is to keep people disconnected and isolated. We need to continue to stay connected. That’s the key.”
Dulce Acosta, Tri-County Collaborative co-founder and senior principal director of community partnership at USC, shared, “We were sold this narrative that there was going to be due process and people were going to be deported based on their behavior and background in incarceration. That is not the case. Many of us live in fear of going outside, not even getting the opportunity to be asked about our immigration status, and just be[ing] picked up.”
The Tri-County Collaborative operates by connecting organizations with specific areas in Los Angeles that they are closest to in order to rapidly respond whenever entities like ICE enter the community.
The Tri-County Collaborative is committed to expanding that rapid response project.
However, community organizers share their fears of being persecuted by government entities and fear for their safety as they continue to do their job.
Sanchez himself said, “We’re not living in a democracy. I’m afraid to go out. I got to carry my green card like they’re my freedom papers.”
Executive Director Sanchez defines democracy as “a place where we can voice our concerns and be heard, where the system is controlled by the people, not shareholders. Where corporations aren’t in control of politics.”
With the Supreme Court’s decision affecting community organizing, Acosta describes how these rulings are changing their organizations.
“For the most part, it has brought organizations and leaders closer together to make sure we do have a plan and that our allies are well-equipped with what we can do. For us who are of legal status, how we can serve as allies for those who aren’t,” Acosta says.
The main project of the Tri-County Collaborative is hosting the Community Safety Conference twice a year.
At this conference, Tri-County Collaborative gathers community organizations from around Los Angeles to directly connect with people of the community. This is to ensure marginalized members of the LA community have their hands on valuable tools to defend their human rights.
Acosta explains that we as a people can stand on the side of humanity, “By identifying organizations and systems asking for the social capital of individuals who are ready to serve and assist. And as college students, ‘what can I do to bridge the university with community organizations, what can I do with my colleagues, and what can I do to access research?’”
When asked about the role of the Tri-County Collaborative in protecting and promoting democracy, Acosta says, “We provide the voices of those who ordinarily don’t have the capacity to be in spaces where decisions are being made, to be in those spaces. What fuels the Tri-County Collaborative is ensuring that we are bringing those types of resources so that not only the frontline but the people the frontline serves have the opportunity to live with wellness.”
Youth play a key role in maintaining the power of mobilizing the community for an overarching purpose, as Acosta illustrates: “Too often our systems prescribe what they think that we need. That genuine voice of the needs of the community that is usually echoed by the youth is overshadowed by someone else’s agenda. We have to create the space for youth. If we don’t create and demand those spaces, then that’s already a barrier.”
Despite the ongoing threats to community organizers throughout Los Angeles, Sanchez’s passion for the work of Homies Unidos remains bright. “We can help somebody understand themselves and get to know who they are, not only culturally, but completely be proud of who they are, and understand that the violence in our community is by design.”
As federally-recognized Latino Heritage Month continues, the Community Safety Conference provides allies a way to identify better what they can do to serve those being targeted. The Tri-County Collaborative will be holding its next Community Safety Conference on October 24th. Homies Unidos is one of the various community organizations that will be featured at the event.
Hernandez calls on community members to abandon close-mindedness to connect with others:
“Whether you feel like there’s no reason to engage, we need to engage. We need to stay aware, we need to stay in communication with one another, and that’s something that’s historically continues. We continue to show up whether we have resources or not. People have identified this conference, and they’re able to connect. They’re able to build networks of their own.”