Photo by Ben Slowey
Alan Chavoya speaks at rally
Alan Chavoya speaking at a community meeting and anti-ICE rally in at Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee (July 1, 2026)
Local organizers held a community meeting and rally on Wednesday, July 1 at Kosciuszko Park during an uptick in Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in Milwaukee last week. Following testimonies from neighbors and leaders, sponsoring organizations Voces de la Frontera (VDLF), Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression (MAARPR), Comité Sin Fronteras, Milwaukee Area Labor Council (MALC), Milwaukee Teachers Education Association (MTEA) and No Kings MKE empowered a community in distress with a march through the streets of Lincoln Village demanding ICE leave Milwaukee immediately.
The Wisconsin Examiner reports that 57 people were arrested by ICE in Wisconsin between June 29 and July 1. “This community stands together and we’re ready to fight back,” Alan Chavoya of MAARPR stated. “Without a strong community, ICE will take all of us, so we have to be strong, we have to be courageous and we have to stand together. That’s the message for today.”
Christine Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of VDLF, shared that Voces has been working with 32 families impacted by ICE arrests. She subsequently welcomed Galo Suárez to the microphone, whose fiance Reyna Elizabeth Garcia and brother-in-law were arrested on June 29. Suárez explained that he, Garcia and her brother had been out shopping last weekend when four unmarked vehicles surrounded their car. Masked agents emerged from the vehicles, broke the windows of Suárez’s car and violently removed them. “My fiance asked “why are you arresting us?” and he said “you have no rights, dog,”” Suárez recalled. “We were then taken to a parking lot where I was told that they were not going to arrest me but they were going to be arresting my fiance.”
Know Your Rights
Photo by Ben Slowey
Luz Hernandez speaking at rally
Luz Hernandez speaking at a community meeting and anti-ICE rally in at Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee (July 1, 2026)
It is imperative that community members know their rights to protect themselves during ICE encounters. Julie Velazquez, co-chair of the Immigrant Rights Committee at MALC, shared several important tips, noting that ICE cannot enter private property without a federal warrant signed by a judge, one has a right to remain silent when being questioned by ICE, one is not required to sign anything and folks have the right to film ICE agents. “Under no circumstances should you just let ICE into your home or any private area,” Velazquez emphasized. “They will try to trick you and will try to give you an administrative warrant or lie to you straight to your face - because they are allowed to do that - but that does not count.”
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Luz Hernandez, vice president of MTEA, introduced herself as someone representing everything that President Trump’s administration wants to silence. “I am an immigrant,” Hernandez proclaimed, proudly. “I came to this country when I was six years old, brought by my parents from Mexico. I have been a public school teacher in Milwaukee for the last 29 years. ICE can be here for one week, or one month, but we have one message for them: they will not intimidate us and we will not give them that satisfaction. Education workers know that no child can learn while living in fear that a parent or family member might disappear.”
Earlier in the week, less than a mile from Kosciuszko Park, Lincoln Avenue Elementary School was destroyed in a fire. Hernandez mentioned that MTEA was working with students, families and educators impacted; donations can be made here.
In response to amplified threats of ICE, the Milwaukee Turners have mobilized to train record numbers of legal observers. Emilio de Torre, executive director of the Turners, attests that his organization has trained more than one thousand legal observers in the last year alone, many of whom do routine neighborhood patrols in mornings and evenings. “We have volunteers constantly looking to help,” he says. “It’s not just legal observing; they want to know how they can get involved in mutual aid or how to respond to allegations that ICE is disrupting life in a neighborhood for no good reason. People in Milwaukee care deeply about one another.”
The Turners have worked broadly in coalition with other groups as well as elected officials at the city and county levels to ensure Milwaukee stands united against ICE. Milwaukee County supervisor Caroline Gomez-Tom explains that the county board is exploring legal action against ICE for staging in the Milwaukee Domes parking lot, thus breaking an ordinance prohibiting ICE from staging on County Park property. “We ask that if people see ICE in any park that they document it and share it with Voces and my office.” She adds, “I will continue to stand with my neighbors and we will not be intimidated away from doing the right thing and taking care of one another. ICE only breaks laws and disrespects our Constitution.”
Milwaukee Common Council has accused ICE of violating an ordinance prohibiting agents from wearing face coverings, which passed in April. ICE has said it will not comply with said ordinance.
Meanwhile, Comité Sin Fronteras is training street medics and facilitating family-to-family mutual aid for things like rent and groceries. The group will also be doing free clinics for birthing folks that include doula and midwife services. More information can be found under Comité Sin Fronteras’ Instagram bio.
