On an icy, 13-degree Saturday morning in January, Jos\u00e9 Hern\u00e1ndez sat in his pick-up truck outside a Bensalem church, waiting for his phone to ring.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t take long.<\/p>\n
Calls, texts, and emails have become constant, as Hern\u00e1ndez, a machinist by trade, has become a crucial connection for many township residents who are living in the U.S. without official permission.<\/p>\n
What started as a simple good deed, delivering groceries to a few people worried about attracting ICE attention, has for Hern\u00e1ndez, 61, become a full-time, unpaid job. Worry has hardened into fear amid the Trump administration\u2019s dramatic escalation in immigration enforcement, leaving some people afraid to leave their homes.<\/p>\n
Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019 weekend rounds \u2015 picking up people\u2019s grocery orders at stores, bringing the food to their homes, always with a glance over his shoulder \u2015 ensures sustenance for families for whom discovery would mean arrest, separation, and likely deportation.<\/p>\n
About 14% of the Bucks County<\/a> township\u2019s 63,000 residents are Latino. Among immigrants, everyone has a friend or family member who has been arrested by ICE and not seen again. And many fear that they\u2019ll be next.<\/p>\n \u201cThey come out to pick up their order and you can see the fear in their faces,\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez said. \u201cMany people come out saying, \u2018Please hurry up, los del Hielo can be here any second.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n That\u2019s what some community members call ICE agents, los del Hielo, meaning, \u201cthe iced ones.\u201d There are other names too, like el Escalofr\u00edo, or \u201cthe chills,\u201d and los Helados, which translates to, \u201cthe frozen ones.\u201d<\/p>\n The nicknames come not from anger but from anxiety \u2014 fear that even speaking aloud the words \u201cImmigration<\/a> and Customs Enforcement\u201d could summon danger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe try to only go out when the darkness of the night protects us,\u201d said an Ecuadorian mother, 32, who declined to provide her name for fear of arrest. \u201cIt\u2019s a false sense of safety, but we must hold on to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez recently delivered two bags of groceries and a birthday cake to her home, as her son was turning 12.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I am in school,\u201d the boy said, \u201cthe only thing I think about is if dad will make it home today. I wait all day, and then he comes, and I am happy he is still here. I am learning that being an American means that I have to be worried for the people I love.\u201d<\/p>\n A third of his immediate family \u2015 an uncle and two cousins \u2015 was arrested in November and December.<\/p>\n Today an estimated 14 million people live in the United States without government permission<\/a>, including about 76,000 in Philadelphia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Intensified ICE enforcement in the region and the nation has altered their lives \u2015 exactly as the Trump administration intended when it promised to carry out the largest deportation program in U.S. history.<\/p>\n For undocumented residents, freedom is no longer guaranteed by living quietly, obeying the law, and staying off the government radar. Now, discovery of having entered the country without approval, a civil violation, often means the end of an American life built across years.<\/p>\n As a result, people are staying indoors.<\/p>\n Many have stopped going to the doctor. And to church. They keep their children home from school when news of ICE activity surges. Businesses have had to temporarily close when workers stay away.<\/p>\n ICE officials did not reply to requests for comment.<\/p>\n In 2025, the agency detained 307,713 people in the U.S. \u2015 detentions closely mirror arrests \u2015 compared to 93,342 in 2024.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a 230% increase.<\/p>\n Today more and more of those arrested face no criminal charges, even as the Trump administration pledges to deport \u201cthe worst of the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez didn\u2019t plan to be doing this work, spending his weekends traversing Bensalem.<\/p>\n A decade ago he founded a group called Movimiento Guadalupano, a committee to organize Catholic activities. That grew into a broader support group for Latinos, and now he\u2019s one of four volunteers who have become a central source of assistance and information on ICE activity.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t go out today,\u201d the Movimiento website warned on a recent weekend. \u201cVolunteers will deliver your groceries from Hispanic stores to your home free of charge.\u201d<\/p>\n Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019 is a U.S. citizen, born in this country. He carries no fear of ICE, but plenty of worry that people in the Latino community will struggle without reliable food deliveries.<\/p>\n In the truck, Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019s phone rang.<\/p>\n Soon he was parked and walking through the doors of a Bensalem store stocked with traditional Mexican foods. He looked around, to be sure he wasn\u2019t followed, but also so he could update Movimiento\u2019s Facebook page if he saw ICE agents.<\/p>\n A married couple shopping at the store recognized him and said hello \u2015 Hern\u00e1ndez had brought groceries to their home, bags of chorizo, tortillas, milk, cereal, and coffee.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving the groceries delivered has been a huge relief,\u201d said the man, Ivan, 44, who declined to provide his surname for fear of being identified to ICE. \u201cWe don\u2019t have to choose between risking ourselves and feeding our children.\u201d<\/p>\n Bensalem has been their home for 24 years, the couple explained, but their efforts to obtain legal status have failed. Meanwhile personal disaster has crept close.<\/p>\n In December, at a construction site where he worked, Ivan said, two coworkers left for lunch and never returned. He later learned they had been arrested by ICE.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s just very difficult to be in a country that we know isn\u2019t ours,\u201d said Ivan\u2019s wife, Connie, \u201cbut we love it as if it were.\u201d<\/p>\n A clerk interrupted: Hern\u00e1ndez\u2019 food order was ready. He grabbed the bag and headed out, Ivan watching him as he left.<\/p>\n \u201cHe could be at home with his family, instead, he is helping,\u201d Ivan said. \u201cHe brings a little bit of peace in this environment, like we still are a community.\u201d<\/p>\n Ten minutes later, Hern\u00e1ndez slowed his truck near a row of houses, looking for anyone who might seem like they were waiting.<\/p>\n A woman at a doorway froze when their eyes met.<\/p>\n \u201cDid you order a delivery?\u201d Hern\u00e1ndez called to her from the truck, watching relief come over her face. <\/p>\n \u201cYou scared me,\u201d she said, explaining that his car looked like one driven by a man who phones ICE to report people.<\/p>\n