{"id":81220,"date":"2026-05-27T00:14:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:14:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=81220"},"modified":"2026-05-27T00:14:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-27T07:14:20","slug":"ice-raids-target-home-of-pro-immigrant-activists-in-ventura","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/?p=81220","title":{"rendered":"ICE Raids Target Home of Pro-Immigrant Activists in Ventura"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By<\/span>Araceli Martinez<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Leo Martinez, founder of VC Defensa in Ventural County. Immigration agents raided Martinez’ home May 13 in what he says is part of an intimadation campaign targeting pro-immigratn activists. (Credit: Araceli Martinez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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It was 3 in the morning on May 13 when Lara Valdez, 70, woke up terrified by a deafening sound. Federal immigration agents were trying to enter her home in Ventura County, California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was in a deep sleep, and I remember hearing what sounded like a bomb in my bedroom,\u201d said Valdez in Spanish. \u201cI got up shocked, and at that moment my son, Leo [Martinez] came in and said, \u2018I\u2019m turning myself in. They\u2019re coming for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Valdez barely had time to put on a robe when she heard the agents cocking their weapons.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey broke our door down, then pointed two rifles at me as they took me outside. They put me in a van and had an agent keep watch over me,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After a few seconds, she saw agents taking her son out, his hands zip tied at the wrists. The two, mother and son, were placed across from each other in the van.<\/p>\n

That same morning, Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents conducted raids on the homes of two other individuals. Both \u2014\u00a0like Valdez and her son \u2014 are known in the community as pro-immigrant activists. Agents also raided her son\u2019s business.<\/p>\n

All four are U.S. citizens and members of VC Defensa, which Martinez founded in November 2024. The rapid response network organizes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) patrols. It also operates a hotline and other community support efforts for immigrant families in the county.<\/p>\n

\u2018It was a disaster\u2019<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Sitting in the van that morning, Valdez saw that her entire street had been cordoned off. Through the partially drawn curtains of her bedroom window she saw agents ripping through her belongings.<\/p>\n

They rummaged through every nook and cranny of her small home. Laura estimates that there were nearly 40 agents outside her house, and about 14 inside.<\/p>\n

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On the night of May 13, Laura Valdez, a US citizen, was woken by the sounds of federal agents storming her home and that of her son, Leo Martinez. The two are well-known pro-immigration activists. (Credit: Araceli Martinez)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cThey left our house devastated. The mattresses were overturned, clothes torn out of closets and thrown everywhere. It was a disaster. They even went through bottles of vitamins,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

Eventually, agents left with Valdez\u2019 cell phone and that of her son\u2019s, as well as her computer. From her son\u2019s business, agents also took with them expensive translation equipment used as part of know-your-rights workshops that VC Defensa conducts.<\/p>\n

Valdez says the aggressive overnight operation was an invasion of her privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI felt like the worst kind of criminal, but despite the excessive violence they used to search the house, they won\u2019t intimidate us,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Valdez oversees food distribution for needy migrant families at VC Defensa.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey shouldn\u2019t be subjected to so much violence. The only crime many of these people have committed is migrating, which at worst is a civil offense, not something that warrants treating them like terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n

Repeated arrests<\/strong><\/h2>\n

This is not the first time that Valdez\u2019 son, 43, has been targeted by federal agents.<\/p>\n

On October 16 he was detained in the city of Oxnard, about two hours north of Los Angeles, while patrolling an industrial area where he encountered several ICE vehicles. Video released by VC Defensa shows one of the ICE vehicles ramming into Martinez\u2019 truck.<\/p>\n

Martinez was subsequently taken to the Downtown Los Angeles Detention Center. While there he was held inside an SUV for hours before being released, pending charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey hit me and later tried to say that I was the aggressor,\u201d said Martinez.<\/p>\n

In a statement, ICE said agents were \u201cconfronted by a group of agitators,\u201d who proceeded to film while verbally assaulting the agents.<\/p>\n

On March 10, Martinez was again detained by federal agents in Simi Valley, in southeastern Ventura County. He had arrived to help VC Defensa members who were alerting the community to ICE\u2019s presence. When he was spotted, he says, between four and five federal vehicles struck his car to force them to stop.<\/p>\n

After being arrested, he was taken to Los Robles Regional Medical Center in Thousand Oaks, where he was released hours later.<\/p>\n

Nothing to hide<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cIf, at the end of the day, they were to have access to all the messages and files from the inception of our organization, they wouldn\u2019t find anything criminal,\u201d said Martinez, \u201cbecause there is nothing we have to hide.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cEvery violent arrest they make against us demonstrates agents\u2019 frustration because we won\u2019t let them do whatever they want in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for VC Defensa \u2014\u00a0which, according to Martinez, counts around 1000 volunteers \u2014 for every member of the network detained or deported, including himself, someone else will be there to take their place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they lock me up, that won\u2019t affect the organization,\u201d Martinez said. \u201cIf I disappear, the patrols and workshops will continue providing support to families.\u201d Besides, he added, \u201cIf they truly had something against me, they would have arrested me by now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Targeting activists<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Juan Jos\u00e9 Guti\u00e9rrez, director of the Coalition for Full Rights for Immigrants in Los Angeles, says the Trump administration has unleashed war against undocumented immigrants using repressive tactics that are increasingly being used on American citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only have they arrested and deported undocumented immigrants \u2026 but two Americans were also killed in Minneapolis, Minnesota, by immigration authorities for the audacity of having stood in solidarity with the immigrant community,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat occurred in Ventura,\u201d he added, referring to the raid on the home of Valdez and her son, \u201cis extremely grave.\u201d<\/p>\n

A\u00a0New York Times report<\/a>\u00a0published in March revealed the existence of a DHS task force investigating groups including VC Defensa, seeking to build criminal cases against the group.<\/p>\n

Across the country, hundreds of immigrant advocates have been arrested on charges of assaulting and obstructing federal agents. Prosecutors in most cases have failed to secure convictions as agent testimony has often been contradicted by video recordings made by protestors or bystanders.<\/p>\n

A coalition of lawyers, meanwhile, is preparing a lawsuit challenging the searches conducted in Ventura.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese raids have been taking place ever since the Trump administration decided to terrorize our communities. They rarely result in arrests or formal charges, and when they do, the government fails to meet the burden of proof,\u201d said Reem Yassia, an attorney for VC Defensa.<\/p>\n

She described the May 13 raids on the home of Valdez and Martinez as intimidation tactics designed to suppress freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

VC Defensa is preparing a federal civil lawsuit targeting the agencies responsible and those who issued the orders.<\/p>\n

\u201cVC Defensa operates within the confines of the law, and [agents\u2019] intimidation tactics have failed to yield results over the past year. They will not work now, nor will they work in the future,\u201d said Yassia. \u201cWe are strong in Ventura. We are strong in California, and we will not back down.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story is part of \u201cAqu\u00ed Estamos\/Here We Stand<\/a>,\u201d a collaborative reporting project of American Community Media and community news outlets statewide.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ByAraceli Martinez May 24, 2026 Leo...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81220","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ca-local"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81220","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=81220"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81220\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":81221,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81220\/revisions\/81221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=81220"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=81220"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lapost.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=81220"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}