The hour is 5:45 am. Ron Gochez is on the hunt. He slices through the chill of dawn in a car with a sticker on its side that says: “Protecting Communities from ICE & Police Terror.” He is looking for American vehicles: Fords, Chevys, Dodges. “ICE agents have tinted windows, and they usually double park,” said Gochez, the founder of the Los Angeles branch of Union del Barrio.

His car is fully fueled. His phone is fully charged. In case of its seizure, it must contain no incriminating evidence. On the floor in the back is the megaphone he uses to alert a neighborhood of an ICE arrest. His shirt proclaims “Educator Power! Leadership for THIS moment!” He is bald, clean-shaven, and muscular.

“About a month ago or so, the Trump administration was boasting about how they were able to kidnap 5,000 people in Los Angeles ... California has had about 9,000 people picked up. Texas has had a little over 25,000 people,” he said. “How do you explain that big difference in numbers? We believe it’s this, it’s the organizing, it’s the resistance.”

Union del Barrio, an independent political organization, charges its volunteer base with a goal to struggle on behalf of “la raza” -- the people. The organization, which keeps secret the number of its members and states where it operates, teaches immigrant communities about their rights and provides a safety network during times of crisis.

This October’s increase in ICE’s budget fueled a spike in the organization's presence both on and offline. Tongue-in-cheek ICE video edits (tracked to the tune of Zack Bryan’s “Survival”) went viral on social media as the agency pushes the goal of its $30 billion budget: hiring 10,000 new ICE agents.

Francisco Romero, a member of Union del Barrio for over 30 years, said ICE, with its new budget, is expanding operations further and wider than ever before.

Romero, or “Chavo,” meaning “little boy” in Spanish, as his grandmother called him, greeted Gochez with their own special handshake. He calls Gochez his “compañero” (“comrade”), a common moniker in communist and socialist organizations.

Between them, they boast around 60 years of experience resisting government overreach in their barrios.

“What was happening the whole summer: they were training people [in L.A.], so that they could go and command in other locations,” said Chavo. “They’re not just in Los Angeles now, they’re in the Bay Area, they’re up north in Sacramento, we saw them in Chicago.”

The Barrio Watch: Inside Union del Barrio's "ICE Patrols"

Union del Barrio gets tips about ongoing raids from a WhatsApp group consisting of community members keeping watch for suspicious activity. The numbers are the same. According to Romero, federal agents in L.A. conduct 40 raids a day.

“So we have just about the same amount of people out there. Thirty to 40 community people - teams - all over the city, also patrolling,” he said. “We are actually increasing the number of patrollers we have. Every two weeks, we are bringing hundreds of people into this.”

As Union del Barrio monitors ICE operations throughout L.A. County, the federal government tries to halt its patrols by threatening the operation. Chairman of the Subcommittee on Crime and Counterterrorism Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, sent cease and desist letters to organizations resisting ICE’s conduct on June 11, 2025.

Gochez said the letter accused him of “financing and materially supporting the coordinated protests and riots that have engulfed Los Angeles in recent weeks.”

Gochez rejected the letter as nothing more than a fear tactic. In his eyes, Union del Barrio engages in no illegal activity whatsoever, made evident by the lack of viable charges levied against members who are detained.

Amanda Treebach is one of those members. A citizen and an organizer at Harbor Area Peace Patrol, she was holding a sign that called ICE agents “Nazis” when she was detained for “impeding” the work of federal agents. Amanda says she was accused of cussing at them and jumping in front of their car - claims which she denies.

Detained Without Charges

“They had me handcuffed with real handcuffs. They didn’t read me any rights, and they took me back onto the non-citizen side of Terminal Island,” Treebach said.

She said a Homeland Security agent interrogated her in front of the ICE agent - an encounter she called “traumatizing.” She described her whole experience as chaotic. “They were very disorganized, like they couldn’t figure out where to fingerprint me. So they had to get someone else there to help them. They were going to charge me and they did not charge me as of yet. They’re just making them up as they go.”

After being detained overnight, Treebach was released without charges. To this day, ICE has yet to return her phone. With cases like hers on the increase, local organizers are finding it more and more difficult and costly to conduct their protests. Ron Gochez believes that, in this era of free speech crackdowns, protesting itself is a privilege that might be lost.

“Protesting is legal now but the Trump administration is fascist in nature so we anticipate that it won’t be legal for long,” said Gochez. “Here in L.A. they tried to do those big raids in Paramount and Compton, and they caught bricks through their windows. People fought back…We’re not going to allow these fascists to attack us without facing serious consequences.”

Gochez’s use of the word “fascist” stems from their witnessing federal officers, such as ICE agents, apply undue force and racial profiling to meet their quotas.

“They do not respect the rule of law. We see that here plainly, by the fact that they mask themselves, they don’t identify themselves, they’re picking up anybody and everybody, including U.S. citizens. They’re using violence and beating people up.”

Gochez, a high school history teacher, said the merging of these qualities creates a political system known as “fascism.” After he reached that conclusion, the solution arose naturally.

“You can’t protest your way out of fascism. You can’t vote your way out of fascism. You have to fight them.”

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Union del Barrio hold a press conference for Benjamine Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz, who was detained by ICE in September (Photo by Union del Barrio).

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Ron Gochez (left), founder of Union del Barrio in Los Angeles, and three unidentified members (right) standing on a street they patrol. (Photo by Union del Barrio).

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Sticker on a Union del Barrio member's car that reads "Protecting Communities from ICE & Police Terror.” (Photo by Carl Massad)

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Ron Gochez (left) and Francisco Romero (right) being interviewed by Belgian journalists about Union Del Barrio's anti-ICE patrols. (Photo by Carl Massad)

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Ron Gochez, of Union Del Barrio, attaches a sticker to the side of a car before a morning ICE patrol in Los Angeles. (Photo by Carl Massad)

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Gochez and his members don’t only “fight” by doing morning drives. They also provide real-time assistance to those being detained by ICE. Once an ICE raid occurs, they are notified and swarm the area with at least three cars, a megaphone, and fully charged phones, ready to record the incident and take down the contact information of the person being detained.

All members attend safety meetings regularly where protocols are reviewed. If they feel so inclined, members will then register and, after an intense vetting process, join Union del Barrio. This ensures discipline and uniformity among members whenever there is a policy change. For example, when a Home Depot was raided in July, Union del Barrio showed up to announce a boycott .

To Gochez, Home Depot appears to cooperate with ICE.

“When we had a press conference at the Home Depot, the security team informed members of the media that they were not allowed to be on Home Depot property, because it was private property,” said Gochez. “At the same time, we have seen over 100 ICE raids at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. We have also witnessed ICE agents running down the aisles inside of Home Depot stores chasing after members of our community. Did the Home Depot try to remove those federal agents from their private property? No, they did not. For that reason I believe that the Home Depot as a corporation is complicit and a supporter of the ICE raids.”

Three Members of Union del Barrio stand with masks to protect their identity. (Photo by Union del Barrio)

Home Depot spokesperson Beth Marlowe said the stores are not aware of when an ICE raid is about to happen and that they are required to follow federal law in every market that they operate. No law allows federal agents on private property without a warrant.

Originally from El Salvador, Gochez said resistance against injustice is in his blood. He said his days will get longer as ICE’s budget skyrockets and its agents grow more aggressive.

“We know that there will be a lot more immigration raids and a lot more repression against our people,” said Gochez. “What we also know is that our resistance will also increase and that ICE will not be able to enter our communities without confronting a fierce resistance.”