{"id":437160,"date":"2026-08-19T09:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437160\/"},"modified":"2026-08-19T09:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T09:24:09","slug":"south-kern-sol-mutual-aid-event-collects-donations-for-people-released-from-detention-centers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/437160\/","title":{"rendered":"South Kern Sol | Mutual Aid Event Collects Donations for People Released from Detention Centers"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Center and Valley Watch Network with Faith in the Valley partnered for a mutual aid event to collect donations to help people being released from detention centers. Abigail Rodela said that since January, over 1,000 people have been released in Kern County; however, they typically lack access to resources and are at risk of homelessness, so Valley Watch Network is there to help.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re released with a red onion bag that holds all of their paperwork and all their belongings, and usually they\u2019re released with the clothes they had on the day that they were detained. So that could be weeks ago to a year or more ago. And so these people are not just at risk of being stranded; they\u2019re also at risk of becoming unsheltered because people get released without a cell phone or their cell phone doesn\u2019t have service, and there\u2019s a language barrier, or they don\u2019t have money, let\u2019s say, or a place to stay,\u201d said Rodela.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She continued, explaining that they stand outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) office in Bakersfield on Tuesdays to assist people. Along with mutual aid, Rodela said they provide emotional and spiritual support and help people get food and a room to stay when needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there\u2019s some people who are in shock, and they seem fine, but once they start talking to you, it\u2019s like you hear very dark things about what they experienced. There\u2019s other people who they\u2019re just in a daze. They don\u2019t really want to speak much, but you can tell that they\u2019ve been through a lot. There\u2019s other people who start telling stories, and they start crying. And so we have people who just really lean on their faith. Others, they lean really on their family or their culture, and so we\u2019re able to see that strength too. But it\u2019s been a traumatizing experience for really almost every person that\u2019s passed through there,\u201d explained Rodela.<\/p>\n

When listening to their stories, Rodela stated that people are being denied medical care, facing retaliation for wanting better conditions, and being served food that is bad. She added that there is a rumor in the detention center that women are also being punished for crying.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI remember speaking to a woman who came out of Cal City who told me that when she was in detention, there was rumors among the women there that women who would cry too much when they had first been brought there were at risk of being sent to solitary confinement and being given sleeping pills to stop that. And so there\u2019s just a lot of violations happening, not just violations of ICE\u2019s own standards, but also just state standards,\u201d said Rodela.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

During the event, there was also a space for attendees to write letters to Carlos Mendoza. Mendoza was shot by ICE in April seven times in Patterson, California<\/a>, when he was on his way to work and was transferred to several facilities afterward, causing even more stress for his fianc\u00e9e and family. His attorney even lost track of him at one point before he was located in Taft and later transferred to California City Detention Center.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t even supposed to be there while having bullets still lodged in his body. And so really the only medical attention he was given was he was given ibuprofen pills. That was it. And it wasn\u2019t until, I believe, a few weeks ago, a couple weeks ago, that he actually went through surgery. They took out the bullets,\u201d said Rodela, adding that there were still concerns about if she was receiving adequate care.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Rodela, he is currently waiting for a hearing because he was accused of weaponizing his vehicle against the ICE officers by trying to escape. Prior to being detained, Mendoza had no criminal history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis sister shares how to stay just distracted or just encouraged while in detention; he does art, he does crafts,\u201d said Rodela. \u201cI know that he speaks to his family through FaceTime. He has a 2-year-old daughter right now. And so he also reads letters that people all over the country and California are sending to him. And so we wanted to dedicate this space especially for him, considering that we\u2019re like his siblings from the Central Valley and just reminding him that he\u2019s not forgotten and that he\u2019s always in our minds.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fry Friend, the Youth and Young Adult Coordinator with the Center for Sexuality and Gender Diversity, said they hope people who attended the event learned about the different opportunities to volunteer and the multiple organizations doing this work. They added that it is on the community to step up and help during these times.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we also want this to be a space of education for folks to learn more about what\u2019s happening in ICE detention centers, what\u2019s happening when ICE is targeting and kidnapping our community members on the streets and in their homes,\u201d said Friend. \u201cAnd I think also a big component of this is the mutual aid aspect, where we are trying to facilitate a space where folks can come and bring donations and help us assemble those donations that go directly to people recently released to show how simple it can be to help our neighbors and to help our community members and to show that everyone does have a role and everyone can be part of the movement to support our neighbors and our immigrant siblings.\u201d<\/p>\n

One attendee, Nick Verdin, spoke about his family\u2019s history, saying it is part of why he cares so deeply about these issues, and he was excited to learn about the work Faith in the Valley does.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cMy grandparents came over here, and it took them forever to get, like, their green card. I think my grandpa got his just a couple years before he passed, I believe. And, you know, on top of, you know, everything horrible that\u2019s happening with ICE detention centers and everything, people say, why don\u2019t you do it the right way? And, like, it\u2019s so hard to do it the right way. And they\u2019re making it, you know, harder. It\u2019s getting to the point where being born here is on the chopping block of potentially not keeping you safe,\u201d said Verdin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He explained nobody should have to live in fear of being taken and separated from their families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can look at it as you can be next, or you look at it as no one deserves to have it happen to them at all. And I think that\u2019s, you know, where we should be coming from. No one deserves to have this happen to them at all. And there\u2019s no reason we can\u2019t all live comfortably, be happy, and be peaceful and be legal. Not that it should matter,\u201d said Verdin.<\/p>\n

To elected officials, Verdin stated that they need to be looking out for and caring about the community they were elected to serve.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDo what you were elected to do. Look out for us,\u201d said Verdin. \u201cBecause, you know, even as someone who\u2019s legal, I\u2019m still affected by someone who\u2019s been detained. No, not that it\u2019s about me, but you\u2019re affecting your citizens. People who you\u2019re claiming to protect and want to serve, we don\u2019t want it. We don\u2019t want these people treated this way. We don\u2019t want people ripped from their homes. So no matter how you look at it, it\u2019s not what we want. I\u2019m sure there are some people who have whatever reason they want, but I think the majority of people don\u2019t want this. And I think we\u2019re seeing more of that. So yeah, if you\u2019re an elected official, if you want to be, you want to be here still, prove it and listen to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tags: Bakersfield<\/a>, Detention centers<\/a>, Immigration<\/a>, Kern County<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Center and Valley Watch Network with Faith in the Valley partnered for a mutual aid event to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":437161,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,86379,14,735],"class_list":["post-437160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-detention-centers","tag-immigration","tag-kern-county"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=437160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/437160\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/437161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=437160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=437160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=437160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}