People are getting rich off the internment of immigrants in the Everglades
Welcome to our news segment: TL;DR of Immigration News, for when the news is Too Long and you Didn’t Read it.
This is a weekly collection of immigration-related news stories. These bite-size summaries will keep you up to date without overwhelming your inbox.
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Baltimore residents are mobilizing to protect their immigrant neighbors from ICE
In a climate of terror, local organizers are working to defend their communities against escalating ICE raids. As one witness to a recent neighborhood raid explained: “Masked men are taking our neighbors. It shakes me up in a way because my maternal uncle was a Holocaust survivor. The idea of sticking up for the people around you—it’s just really important,”
Baltimore is a “welcoming city,” which means city police do not assist with raids, though a confusing array of federal agencies, including ICE, the FBI, and HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) have been observed apprehending people. The Baltimore City Council recently voted to allot $2 million for immigrant services and legal defense.
Baltimore is one of many cities where people are expressing their opposition to the cruel and unnecessary policies of the current administration. The work ranges from holding rallies, to showing up to witness and oppose deportations, to pressuring electeds to support immigrants, to mutual aid funds set up to help the families of those deported.
In a grim time, this is how we defend our collective humanity.
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People are getting rich off the internment of immigrants in the Everglades
Democracy Now! interviews Florida Congressmember Maxwell Frost and Miami Herald reporter Claire Healy about the wildly inhumane prison-like conditions at the immigrant internment camp recently opened in the Everglades.
Frost, who was part of a congressional delegation to tour the facility, reports “these people are being caged,” 32 people per cage with three toilets--though often the toilets don’t work. The private contractors staffing the facility, which Frost characterizes as part of a situation where “people are getting rich off the internment of immigrants in the Everglades,” prevented Frost from talking to any of the people being held there, and have been doing their best to prevent detainees from getting in touch with their lawyers or family members.
Frost described his experience: “[I was].... hearing from hundreds of people, ‘Help me! Help me!’ — one guy was yelling, ‘Call my family! Tell my wife I’m OK!’ He started yelling a phone number. I couldn’t necessarily make it out because it was too loud.”
Frost said, “I saw myself in those cages. It was a lot of people my age that look like me. And when I was walking out of the facility — and I don’t like to call it the name that they’ve given it. They’re doing it to make light of it and sell merch. I’m not going to be part of that. As I was walking out, though, it hit me that I’m one of — you know, I’m the first Afro-Cubano in Congress. I’m walking out of there, thinking to myself, ‘I’m going to be one of the only people that looks like me, that is Latino, that will walk into this facility and walk out on my own accord.’”
At the same time, the Miami Herald has published a list of what they believe to be the names of all the people being held at the facility, because ICE and the state have refused to do so.
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Farm worker dies a day after chaotic immigration raid at California farm
Sustaining fatal injuries that occurred while fleeing from ICE, Jaime Alanis, a Camarillo, CA farmworker, was killed this past weekend at a raid at a central CA cannabis farm. His is at least the 13th ICE-related death in 2025, and the first known one to happen as a result of the raids that have been going on in southern California since ICE and the National Guard began their military occupation of Los Angeles.
While we probably have to wait for the dust to settle more to get the full story on the Camarillo and Carpenteria raids, we do know that these operations caused fear, chaos and death. We know that Jaime Alanis was attempting to hide from immigration agents before he decided to flee. And we know that he fell 30 feet off of a greenhouse roof not long after calling his wife in Mexico to tell her ICE agents were at the farm.
We mourn the death of Jaime Alanis and the thirteen other people who have died in ICE custody in 2025. We will never stop dreaming of justice and possibility and a better future for every immigrant on Turtle Island.
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Leaked Documents: Operation Excalibur in Los Angeles Was Political Theater
Remember last week, when a bunch of ICE Agents, CBP, and National Guard mounted a heavily armed ground assault on…a public park in Los Angeles? It turns out, despite ICE claiming there was a high threat level at the park, the grotesque show of force mostly encountered bewildered park goers, having already scared away children playing there.
The Trump Administration staged the whole thing as a show of force, bringing along camera crews to record the scene. They were hoping to strike fear, but instead they became a laughingstock. Internal documents turned over to investigative journalist Ken Klippenstein reveal both the overblown hysteria of the threat assessment, as well as the consensus of National Guard participants that the whole thing was a farce.
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Action items:
- Support Bail funds. One low-risk way to support immigrants and activists is to donate to bond and bail funds. Immigrant bond funds allow immigrants to await their court dates with their families and communities rather than in a cell. Bail funds help immigrants and activists who have incurred jail costs and legal fees as a result of standing up for themselves and their neighbors. Here are some great ones to support:
- National Bail Fund Network - allows you to find and support bail funds in your area
- Immigration Bond Freedom Fund
- Detained Immigrant Bond Fund
- Since ICE and the regime are continuing to go all-in on their invasion of LA, we recommend supporting the LA-based Coalicion de Autodefensa Comunitaria/Community Self-Defense Coalition
- Protect yourself and your community. Check out resources from the powerful organizers at the Ruckus Society and Across Frontlines about how to keep each other safe. If you're already an NAA member, you already have access to our complete virtual, password-protected Member Resource Hub with resources on everything from action tactics to deportation defense.
- Support Never Again Action’s organizing by making a donation today. You can make a tax deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor at this link, or you can donate directly to our 501(c)(4) organization at this link.
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If you have questions, comments, or suggestions for next week’s roundup, drop us a line at neveragainaction@gmail.com.