San Jose Spotlight logo. San Jose Spotlight is nonprofit newsroom covering San Jose, Calif. and cities and communities in Santa Clara County. (San Jose Spotlight via Bay City News)
San Jose Spotlight/San Jose Spotlight via Bay City News
As fears of federal agent encounters grow and immigrant families avoid leaving home, workers in Santa Clara County are finding creative ways to meet clients in safe spaces.
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That community effort has formed an underground support network where social workers shift visits to odd hours of the night, connect with clients in private settings like homes or cars and organize support groups to provide groceries and other necessities in a safe manner.
Since President Donald Trump began his mass deportation campaign last year, Ruby Lopez-Flores, a worker at nonprofit Rebekah Children’s Services, has met with more at-risk youth inside their vehicles. She said the fear of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has lead to an unprecedented amount of students canceling appointments. Lopez-Flores works to support at-risk youth with school engagement, improve family dynamics and provide coping skills.
“I do go extra lengths just to make sure they feel supported, they feel protected and they feel safe so I’ll always be as lenient and flexible as I can with them,” she told San Jose Spotlight. “One week they might be feeling a bit safe to go to like a park. Other times, maybe they’re feeling more afraid, and I’ll offer having a session in their home or in their car.”
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For some immigrants, getting access to basic services and needs have been laced with precaution to avoid encounters with ICE. Not only are they skipping appointments, not showing up to school and avoiding going to grocery stores, families have refrained from visiting parks, places of worship, restaurants and community events, advocates said. Some undocumented residents have chosen to self-deport.
Cecilia De Haro, a social worker at the Department of Family and Children’s Services, co-chairs an employee group committee called El Comite — comprised of employees in the Santa Clara County Social Services Agency who organized to help the Latino community. Everything they’ve done is on a volunteer basis, whether it’s helping families get groceries or fundraising for scholarships.
“We are creative about how we can support when the department has no funds or the county has no funds to help the family achieve their needs,” De Haro told San Jose Spotlight.
El Comite operates like an underground support network. The group helped one immigrant who needed to present himself to the consulate to obtain an identification card. He didn’t have money for the document. Members of El Comite pulled together funds for him.
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Underground support networks like El Comite have been sprouting up across the nation. In Minneapolis, where ICE raids led to federal agents killing two American citizens in January, health care workers are taking more online appointments and meeting people in their homes.
In Santa Clara County, El Comite members have also advocated for more support training for social workers and funds for immigration response. And while county workers have volunteered their time and money to support immigrant families, they want to see more emphasis coming from the county’s executive team.
“We do fundraisers on our own time, through the agency, for scholarships, for things that families need to be able to go to the appointments. Why hasn’t the executive leadership put more focus and some funding into the needs of the families?” Lorena Briones, a social worker for the Santa Clara County Department of Children and Family Services, told San Jose Spotlight. “Why not put some more focus and some education for all the staff in our department?”
The county is already straining its resources due to federal cuts. County leaders are facing a $470 million deficit in the upcoming fiscal year — forcing the largest midyear budget adjustment in more than a decade.
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County Executive James Williams said this region has committed more resources for the immigrant community than any other surrounding county, directing resources to nonprofits that serve immigrant needs.
“In addition, we continue to dedicate considerable resources to training and educating our 24,000 employees on County policies regarding federal immigration enforcement to ensure that protocols are followed and the safety of our community is prioritized,” Williams told San Jose Spotlight.
Briones meets clients at night, including on weekends. She works to place children facing harm into the care of relatives or into the foster system. While her appointments typically occur at home, she’s had to adjust her schedule to meet clients in the evening due to their fears of ICE agents detaining them.
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Santa Clara County provides a high number of services to the Latino community, Briones said. Latinos represent one of the largest ethnic groups in the county, making up about a quarter of its residents, or more than 477,000 people. About 134,000 people are undocumented.
Whether documented or undocumented, Trump’s policies have had a chilling effect on people of color due to ICE’s ability to conduct “roving patrols” and use racial profiling to detain people, following a September 2025 U.S. Supreme Court decision.
Immigrants have also been frightened of going into county hospitals due to reports of agents entering public health spaces across the state and detaining people, or frequenting any public service building in general.
One immigrant who asked to remain anonymous due to fears of ICE said county workers helped her navigate her Medi-Cal benefits renewal over the phone so she didn’t need to visit the social services office. She was able to submit her paperwork electronically and retain her benefits — a necessity given her epilepsy and other health conditions.
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Through a Spanish translator, she told San Jose Spotlight how beneficial she felt this service was.
“She is feeling distrust going around the county buildings,” the translator told San Jose Spotlight. “She felt more secure being able to do the intake over the phone.”
While mass enforcement actions like the federal deployment in Minneapolis haven’t occurred in Santa Clara County, the region is already one of the most impacted areas for targeted ICE operations, according to Huy Tran, executive director of Services, Immigrant Rights and Education Network.
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“Although it is our jobs and our roles to provide these services with our clients and get creative, I just want to highlight that this isn’t normal,” Lopez-Flores said.
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