Every day in the United States, heavily armed and masked government agents, often without a warrant or even a pretense of due process, are raiding worksites, courthouses and other public venues as part of Trump’s ongoing mass deportation operation. These fascistic raids are increasingly being met with resistance from community members wherever they take place.
On May 30, a beautiful Friday afternoon in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood was brutally disrupted when dozens of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Gestapo raided Buona Forchetta, an Italian restaurant that opened in 2011.
Claire Cody, a worker at the restaurant, told CBS8 that agents swarmed in at around 4:30 p.m. Cody said the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents claimed they had a warrant and then handcuffed “all of the employees” before checking their papers.
“There was no stopping them,” Cody said. “There was like 30, 30 ICE… I mean we were just all in shock, they just came at a time when it was so unexpected.”
Through tears, Cody said, “They took people. They took some of our employees.” A manager for the restaurant confirmed at least two workers were kidnapped in the raid.
The wife of one of the workers taken by ICE told NBC7, “I was shocked, the first thing that came to mind was our son, because my husband is the breadwinner for our family.”
The militarized raid drew an enormous and angry response from the community. Over 100 people came to the restaurant as it was being raided to protest the arrests. Community members registered their disgust with the fascist agents, chanting “Shame! Shame! Shame!” “ICE out!” “ICE out!” along with more colorful language.
A man on the scene, who asked to be identified as John Brown, told NBC7, “The entire community was disgusted, infuriated and enraged. They don’t want people in military tactical gear playing soldier, playing like they are in Afghanistan, coming in here and just screwing with people on a nice Friday afternoon.”
As some of the workers were loaded into detention vehicles, community members surrounded the ICE vehicles in an attempt to free their class brothers and sisters. DHS agents responded by deploying multiple flash-bang grenades against the unarmed crowd.
Flash-bangs, also known as stun grenades, are considered “non-lethal” weapons, but the concussive blast issued by the weapon can cause serious, life-long injuries. This includes permanent hearing loss, serious eye injuries, severe burns and lacerations from shrapnel. In 2014, a 19-month old Georgia toddler was nearly killed during a Georgia SWAT raid after a cop threw a flash-bang in his crib which exploded near his face.
While the raid forced the restaurant to close on Friday, on Saturday hundreds of San Diegans frequented Buona Forchetta in a show of support. Some brought signs expressing their support for immigrants and to “Melt ICE.”
In a statement from Buona Forchetta posted on social media, the restaurant confirmed it was the “site of an ICE Worksite Enforcement Operation.
“The way it unfolded was nothing short of traumatic. We are devastated and heartbroken.”
The statement noted: “We are working closely with our attorneys to locate and support our detained employees and their families.”
Massachusetts: 18-year-old Milford High School student kidnapped by immigration thugs
Trump and his Republican allies constantly claim they are going after the “worst of the worst,” “hardened criminals,” etc. But out of the nearly 49,000 people currently in ICE custody, 43 percent, or over 21,000 people, have no criminal record at all, while “many more” only have “minor offenses” such as “traffic violations,” according to Tracreports.org.
One of the 49,000 people currently in ICE custody is Marcelo Gomes, an 18-year-old Milford High School, Massachusetts student. Friends and family have confirmed to reporters that Gomes was taken by ICE agents as he was driving teammates to volleyball practice on Saturday.
Yago Sampaio, a member of the volleyball team with Gomes, confirmed to ABC5 in Boston that three unmarked vehicles pulled over Gomes and demanded to see everyone’s identification cards. Sampaio, who is 17, said, “If I were a year older, I would have been in the back of the car with my friend.”
A student in the vehicle with Gomes described the traumatizing experience to CBS News. “An ICE officer had stepped out of his vehicle, walked over to us, and knocked on the window. And they asked him [for] his documents. That’s kind of when emotion hit, and I began crying. No facial expressions, just tears started coming down my eyes.”
The student said he didn’t recall Gomes running a red light, or doing anything else that was illegal: “We were just on our way.”
In addition to being a member of the volleyball teams, Gomes is a well-liked member of the community. In an interview with the Boston Globe, Milford High men’s volleyball coach Andrew Mainini described Gomes as a “model citizen” who was enrolled in honors classes and an “exceptional musician” in the school band.
Milford Public Schools administrator Dawn Craig said Gomes had attended schools in the district virtually his entire life. “He’s been in the country since he was 5,” she said. “Where is he going to be sent? He can’t function [by himself].”
In an interview with ABC 5, Gomes’ girlfriend, Julianys Rentas, said she was able to speak to Gomes briefly: “He told me he had chains around his ankles, he had chains around his wrists.” She said, “He’s in a cell with 30 other men. He’s the only 18-year-old there, he’s the youngest there. He is not a criminal. He’s a member of this community and has never done anything wrong.”
On June 1, the Milford High School class of 2025 held its graduation ceremony. During the event several speakers, including students, referenced the arrest of their classmate and called for a mass protest following the ceremony.
Social media video shows hundreds of people, including students, teachers and the wider community, participating in the peaceful march. Protesters chanted “Free Marcelo” and held up signs reading “Education not deportation” and “ICE is terrorizing our children and community.”
The growing outrage among larger sections of the population against deportations and the broader attacks against democratic rights is a healthy and welcome development. Trump’s plans for mass deportations and attacks on immigrants are deeply unpopular. Attempts by the ruling class to erect a presidential dictatorship will not proceed without a fight back from millions of people.
This struggle, however, cannot be left in the hands of the Democratic Party, a party of the CIA and Wall Street, dedicated, no less so than Trump, to waging war on immigrants. For decades, Democrats have supported providing billions to build up the immigration apparatus currently being directed by the fascist Trump.
As Trump was campaigning on carrying out mass deportations last year, Biden in his last budget request as president, proposed $25.9 billion for ICE, an increase of $1.9 billion from 2023.
The defense of immigrants—and the struggle to defend the democratic rights of all working people, regardless of race, national origin, gender or any other identity—is the responsibility of the working class. It requires the independent political mobilization of the working class on the basis of a revolutionary socialist program, seeking to unite workers of every country in a common struggle against capitalism.