Earlier this year, the Clergy Community Coalition gathered Spanish-speaking congregation leaders for a meeting with Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office about the impact of the disastrous January wildfires on that community.

“We have been preparing for the firestorm that was coming in January for immigrant families in this community and then we got a literal fire on top of that,” Mayra Macedo-Nolan, executive director of the coalition said. “We were calling it “los incendios,” the two fires, that were the intersection for immigrant families in this community.”

Macedo-Nolan joined educators, nonprofit leaders and city officials Monday, June 30, at a Pasadena Unified School District Board of Education special meeting to describe the fear that has gripped the community in the wake of multiple U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in the city.

Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco began with an overview of the training being provided to district staff and steps being taken to support students and families.

PUSD principals and local nonprofits reported similar concerns about fear among local families leading to lower attendance so far for summer school and programs and potential consequences of people staying home leading to the need to virtual learning options, food deliveries and transportation.

“The reality is this is going to continue. This is very much going to continue into the school year,” said Rosanna Del Rio who works for the The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “So as we’re thinking we need to think longer term,” Rosanna Del Rio said.

Those who witness an ICE activity or suspect one may be taking place can call CHIRLA’s rapid response network hotline at 888-624-4752. Del Rio said a team of volunteers will respond to the area.

Elisa Pérez, principal of Madison Elementary School, said her goal is to create a safe place for students and praised the training her team has received.

“I feel very prepared not for if folks were to come, but more so when they come,” Pérez said.

The training included reviewing fake warrants, sample warrants and instructions on how to act if ICE arrived on campus. In addition, Pérez said the school is tight-knit community where members of staff know every family.

Yoland Trevino, executive director of Pasadena Altadena Coalition of Transformative Leaders, said surviving the first President Donald Trump administration prepared local organizers for how to respond this time around.

Trevino said more than 50% of the families her organization serves are terrified to leave their homes.

“It’s important that we work together, that we learn cultural humility because it’s not enough to have cultural capacity but cultural humility because we don’t know who’s going to be next,” Trevino said.

Blanco said the genesis for the special meeting was Pasadena Police Chief Gene Harris speaking at Thursday’s board meeting to remind the public that the Pasadena Police Department is not involved in ICE activity but also cannot interfere with ICE operations.

He said people concerned about the identity of individuals who may be ICE agents can call the department to confirm their identities.

On Thursday, Trustee Yarma Velázquez spoke during public comment and questioned why there was not an item on the agenda about the ongoing immigration enforcement and what the district response would be.

“I am here as a private citizen in representation of all the families that are too afraid to be here tonight,” Velázquez said.

Velázquez proposed a district resolution placed on the agenda for Monday’s meeting that would have directed Blanco to come up with a plan for how the district would protect students and families from ICE activity in and around school sites.

Board President Jennifer Hall Lee cautioned that the board’s legal counsel had not had a chance to review the language of the resolution, while Trustee Michelle Richardson Bailey said the resolution was not needed because the district is already taking steps that were included in the resolution.

“The spirit of this resolution is to ensure that before the beginning of the semester we have some reassurance that there’s some uniform practices that not only incorporate policy but order of command but also that helps people understand what to do.” Velázquez said.

Following further discussion Velázquez agreed to withdraw the resolution on the understanding that Blanco and members of district staff would continue working on a plan to protect students.

Fear of raids prompts cancellations

Vannia De La Cuba, deputy to Mayor Victor Gordo, said that last Thursday the city met with coaches from a youth soccer league made up of 1,800 children and decided to cancel games because of fear among parents.

“Thank God we canceled the league because that Saturday morning there would have been 100 kids out there, there would have been the referees out there, there would have been the families out there and those ICE agents knew what they were looking for because they kept circling and circling and circling that morning.”

According to the city, on Saturday morning Pasadena police received a report of suspicious activity at Del Mar Boulevard and Catalina Avenue around 7:30 a.m.

Police confirmed that an ICE operation was taking place. According to the city, ICE detained one woman, the mother of two sons who witnesses say was detained in front of them. The Pasadena Fire Department treated the woman on scene who, according to the city, did not wish to go to the hospital.

Saturday’s detention came 10 days after six people were detained by ICE around 6 a.m. near the corner of Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue.

And it came after June 21 apprehensions near Villa Parke, forcing the city’s closure of park activities at three parks.

De La Cuba said ICE is not following the common law enforcement practice of notifying the local agency when it enters that local agency’s jurisdiction. She said Harris had continued to reach out to ICE for more information and has sent a letter to the regional director.

Once a person is taken by ICE, De La Cuba said, Pasadena police is not informed where that person ends up.

De La Cuba said the pattern that seems to be happening is that people detained in the Los Angeles area are taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center for processing and then moved to Texas.

“They’re not operating in any way that we’ve ever known before,” De La Cuba said of ICE.

Monday’s special meeting was streamed live on YouTube.