LOS ANGELES — The ICE raids this summer may look different from what they did last year, but outside the federal building in downtown Los Angeles, the message from advocates remains the same: Keep praying and showing up for those detained by ICE.
What You Need To Know
After the deadly shooting of two American protesters in Minneapolis, the Trump administration shook up ICE leadership and ushered in a less public approach to detentions
Despite the change in tactics, in less than one week, two immigrants were shot and killed at the hands of ICE agents during vehicle stop encounters
The Godmothers of the Disappeared is a group of people from several faiths who have gathered every Tuesday since last summer to pray for those detained by ICE
The vigils began by singing and marching outside the federal building in DTLA and ended with those in attendance laying down flowers and saying a prayer
Since the immigration crackdown began in June 2025, ICE raids were very public, often blasted on social media by the federal organization itself.
However, after the deadly shooting of two American protesters by ICE agents in Minneapolis earlier this year, the administration shook up the agency’s leadership and ushered in a new, more quiet approach.
Still, in the first five days of July, the New York Times found immigrant arrests surged. Then, in less than a week, two more immigrants had been shot and killed by ICE agents during separate car stop encounters in Texas and Maine.
It’s these deaths, along with human rights organizations’ reports of inhumane conditions in detention centers, that bring people of all faiths to a vigil in Los Angeles. Since ICE raids began last summer, the group called the Godmothers of the Disappeared have been gathering every week outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, which houses an ICE office, immigration courthouse and a detention center. The group members sing, march, pray and share testimony demanding the release of those detained by ICE.
Modeled after the “Madres de Plaza de Mayo” in Argentina, who peacefully resisted a military dictatorship, the group in Los Angeles also holds white daisies and wears pink bandanas.
On Tuesday, Tahil Sharma, the Faith Work director with the National LGBTQ Task Force, was among those who led prayer.
“For all of those that have been killed at the hands of ice, for those who are being processed, for those who are being deported, and for the uncertainty that it holds for all of our communities. We ask for that forgiveness and mercy,” Sharma said.
He said they have not stopped showing up to offer peaceful resistance despite the administration’s pivot in enforcement.
For Susan Garcia, who has attended these vigils from the beginning, each of the deaths that happen either during encounters or later in detention centers feels personal.
“Well, that could be my son, my grandson. I mean, everybody just needs to see this could happen to you,” Garcia said.
In response to the most recent deaths, the administration initially announced they would be pausing most vehicle stops, but President Trump went back on that order just a day after via truth social saying “We cannot give up one of I.C.E.’s most important and effective crime fighting tools, the traffic stop!”
It was a response Garcia had seen coming.
“They’re just trying to appease us, keep us quiet. It’ll probably happen. Maybe one day they won’t go out there with the car. But I bet tomorrow somebody someplace in some state, they’ll be out there doing the same thing that they’re doing. They got away with it four times in plain sight,” Garcia said.
She said that is why it is important for her to show up every Tuesday.
“I have to do something, if nobody else wants to. I have to. I want my grandkids to know that I did something. Maybe it wasn’t enough, but I did something. And that’s why I’m here,” Garcia said.