Resist Without Rage: How this LGBTQ+ Leader Is Fighting ICE’s Terror Tactics
Richard Zaldivar on the ICE Raids and Protesting Peacefully
Richard Zaldivar was pumped, proudly walking hand in hand with his husband Joselito Laudencia, waving to cheering bystanders as The Wall Las Memorias contingent marched down Hollywood Boulevard in the June 8 LA Pride Parade. But, he tells me, a number of marchers didn’t show up. They were terrified that uninhibited militarized masked ICE agents might sweep them up and disappear them in an unannounced raid, just because they’re Latino.
The terror is real and warranted. The same day of LGBTQ+ jubilation, anti-ICE demonstrators swarmed several streets outside the federal detention center in downtown LA where ICE held their loved ones. In fact, many of those unidentified detainees arrested Friday and Saturday were surreptitiously hustled into ICE buses, driven to a private charter airline hangar at the Hollywood Burbank Airport, “immediately loaded onto Saab 2000 planes owned by Freight Runners Express / ACE, a cargo and passenger charter airline” and flown to San Antonio, Texas, according to the Burbank Leader.
On LA Pride Sunday, while most of the city partied or enjoyed their day off, scores of regular folks, US citizens, documented and undocumented and their allies, political and apolitical swelled into an angry protest against the surprise cruel ICE raids launched on Friday – not on known criminal drug dens but on Ambiance Apparel clothing manufacturer in the fashion district searching for workers with “fictitious employee documents” and a Home Depot parking lot in the Westlake district where day laborers sought work.
Panicked relatives and community protesters desperately tried to block arrests and stop cars that Friday. They knew what was going to happen. Unidentified masked men without warrants had been scooping people off the streets, out of courtrooms, out of cars, out of school classrooms with children watching as a parent or parents were handcuffed or restrained with zip ties.
Disappearances have become normal in America - despite many detainees having legal status or having lived and worked in a community for years, paying taxes, with no criminal record. The usurpation of the constitution right to due process was apparently ordered by White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller who told ICE officials to detain 3,000 migrants a day or be fired.
Among the more than 40 immigrants detained Friday was Service Employees International Union California (SEIU) leader David Huerta, 58, who was “federally charged with felony conspiracy to impede any officers, according to court documents. The crime carries a maximum penalty of up to six years in federal prison,” according to NBC News. He was subsequently released after having access to an attorney – a right denied most detainees.
On Saturday, Donald Trump poured gallons of fuel on the small protest fire by federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops, defiantly ignoring the protocol of first being asked for federal help by Gov. Gavin Newsom, LA Mayor Karen Bass or LAPD Chief Jim McDonald, who said the move was made totally unnecessary by activating LA’s mutual law enforcement aid agreement with 88 other cities in LA County.
Denied the power to shoot Black Lives Matter protesters during his first term, Trump conflated peaceful protesters with a handful of agitators and acted as if the entire city of LA was on fire instead of a few cars on a few graffitied blocks in DTLA Sunday night to escalate the conflict and create dramatic made-for-TV visuals.
By pretending the demonstrations are riots, Trump called up 2,000 additional National Guard troops and 700 Marines, a ruse to invoke the Insurrection Act and gain unchecked power.
I asked Richard Zaldivar to explain what’s happening and offer advice to LGBTQ+ activists.
“Originally, Mr. Trump had said he was going after the hardcore criminals who were here with no documentation,” Richard says. “We know it's not happening because innocent people who may be documented and some people who are citizens have been apprehended by ICE and taken into custody.
“I think that is a problem that has been a catalyst for a lot of the protest,” he says. “This cannot happen in the United States of America. This is very scary. It is scary to me and my husband and to the staff and my community.”
I asked Richard what we should do if we are among the peaceful demonstrators and we see an anarchist. Walk away and call 911, he said, adding that he has refrained from going to protests because he fears he might not be able to keep his anger in check.
“I stayed away because I know my temperament,” he said, suggesting that not engaging with police or ICE or the Guard or the Marines denies Trump the visual images he craves to propagandize his power grab.
“Be focused in on our freedom to be able to protest and share our disgust and anger with those folks [who] deserve that anger. Call that out. But don't get involved with the anarchists and provocateurs - and they're here. They've been around for many years. They go from city to city and from issue to issue, trying to disrupt the system, the institutions,” Richard says.
“Democracy works and it works if everybody participates in it. And when there is a bump in the road, it takes us off the game plan. Our job is to stay focused, making sure that our liberties are still protected. We have a right to free speech. We have a right to protest - but we do not have a right to destroy property,” he says.
“We know that under this administration, everyone is affected,” Richard says. “It's important to know what our rights are and what ICE can do legally and illegally. And when we go places -- because we can't just stay shut in, that's what this administration wants us to do! They wanna shut us down! Go with friends. Go outside. Take a walk. Walk the dog. Go to the park. Let's breathe some fresh air and rejuvenate….And if that's our intention on a daily basis, we will get through this. And if we do it with our friends and our partners and our family members, we will get through this as a coalition.
Please watch the video above to connect with Richard’s passion.