BY XIMENA LOEZA
CV Journalism Collaborative
Modesto residents – on foot and even horseback – were among the thousands of people who took to the streets nationwide over the weekend, as outrage continues to grow over the recent killings of American citizens at the hands of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers.
Dozens of protestors Saturday lined the intersection of East Hatch Road and Crows Landing Road, chanting repeatedly in unison, “ICE out of the Valley! ICE out of everywhere!”
During the more than two hour demonstration, organized by Central Valley BIPOC Coalition (CVBIPOCC), their chants were met with a symphony of supportive honks and waves from passersby in cars. The protest was joined by a handful of riders on horseback.
Just 10 minutes away, another group of about 100 protesters lined the overpass on K Street near downtown Modesto. They hung a large banner on the fence overlooking the freeway, with a message stating “No oaths to Trump.”
This mobilization organized by Visibility Stanislaus, was also met with a constant slew of honks from cars and semi-trucks traveling down Highway 99.
Organizers like Amy of Visibility Stanislaus, are demanding that ICE leave the Central Valley, citing fear, violence and the growing impact of federal immigration enforcement on local immigrant communities.
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Amy declined providing her last name to The Modesto Focus out of fear for her safety.
Amy said while she and others have been holding protests consistently since July, the recent Minneapolis shooting death of Renee Nicole Good prompted her and others to come out Saturday.
“It’s a response to the overreach of ICE in this country. There’s a lot of fear by a lot of people around immigration enforcement, and their actions all over the United States, and especially here in this part of the Valley,” Amy said. “There’s just so much fear in our communities.”
Deaths increase concerns over ICE tactics
While Visibility Stanislaus and CVBIPOCC have been organizing anti-ICE rallies consistently over the past few months, Saturday’s protests were held in response to the homicides of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis and Keith Porter in Los Angeles who were shot and killed by federal agents.
Good, 37, was a mother of three children, who was fatally shot by a federal immigration agent in Minneapolis on Jan. 7. Keith Porter was a 43-year-old father of two and killed by an off-duty ICE agent on New Year’s Eve.
Critics say the deaths of Good and Porter are indicative of ongoing violent tactics by ICE and Border Patrol under the leadership of the Trump administration. According to the ACLU, in 2025, 32 people were killed in ICE custody.
Organizers said those enforcement actions have intensified fear, trauma and uncertainty among immigrant and Latino communities, particularly in Stanislaus County, where a large portion of the population is foreign-born. Protesters emphasized that the demonstrations were intended to raise public awareness, honor those who were killed, and call for accountability and an end to aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
According to data from the Deportation Data Project, through the months of July through September 2025, ICE averaged about 1,520 deportations per month, a 200% increase compared to the beginning of the year. With 20% of the population of Stanislaus being foreign-born and 51.5% being Latino, protestors have taken notice of how their immigrant and Latino neighbors have been living in a constant state of fear since the start of the immigration crackdown by the Trump administration.
“We have a really big immigrant population, especially Latinx, people who are very vulnerable to being targeted by ICE, whether it’s through racial profiling or because of their immigration status,” said Learkana, an organizer and protestor with CVBIPOCC, who declined providing her last name, out of fear for her safety.
“Immigrant rights are human rights, and these people are not monsters. They are our neighbors, they are our loved ones, they are our family, they are our community members. And any attack on them is an attack on me.”
Efron Diaz Jr., an organizer with CVBIPOCC, emphasized how important it is to provide a space for community members to voice their concerns, frustrations, and protests with the ongoing administration.
“A lot of immigrants live here in Stanislaus County, right? They live here. They work here. A lot of those who are documented and have the privilege to have citizenship rights, they benefit from having immigrant workers here, right?” Diaz said.
“So, for us to turn a blind eye when they’re being kidnapped, when citizens are being executed and when undocumented people are being murdered, is definitely not OK. We definitely want people to come out, let them know that this is going on, and there are ways to be involved and to make change here.”
— Ximena Loeza is the bilingual communities reporter for The Modesto Focus, a project of the nonprofit Central Valley Journalism Collaborative. Contact her at ximena@cvlocaljournalism.org.
