ICE raids come with a human cost: empty seats at our quinceañeras

While Atlanta and DeKalb County police departments have stated that they have not assisted federal enforcement with immigration activity this past year, ICE’s official website shows that there are 26 Georgia counties with 287(g) agreements and a couple of counties pending program approval.

The 287(g)program allows state or local law enforcement agencies to perform some tasks of federal immigration.

These policies have been shown to increase social isolation and depression for Latine youth in Atlanta. This form of violence impacts the sense of safety and cohesion for immigrant communities. Ultimately, increasing sentiments of fear and the risk for PTSD and traumatic stress.

Immigration roundups have ramped up under Trump

Credit: The OpEd Project

Credit: The OpEd Project

People have died both in the process of being deported and while in a detention center from suicide, medical neglect, and use of excessive force. Despite the human cost, in Georgia the largest detention center was approved in June, which will be an expansion of the current Folkston detention center.

Less than two hours south, the Irwin ICE detention center was reopened in October, a place with a history of giving women who are detained medical sterilization without their full consent.

ICE raids have ramped up since President Donald Trump returned to the White House this year, and numerous health professionals, including public health experts, clinical psychologists and medical doctors, have highlighted how ICE raids are a public health crisis.

These immigration raids have always been dangerous, but the intentional “rounding up” of immigrants to meet a presidential wish of limiting immigration is the removal of the humanity of individuals.

When Trump entered office in 2025, an estimated 39,000 individuals were detained. As of August of this year, that number has risen to 61,000.

Thousands of Latinas around the nation will be turning 15 this year, and it is estimated that 107,000 immigrants will be detained and potentially deported by the beginning of next year.

In that 107,000, someone’s uncle, aunt, mom, dad, sister, brother, neighbor, or classmate will not be able to attend a quinceañera celebration.

Community members must take care of each other

Immigrants are being hunted down all over communities by ICE using various technologies such as social media monitoring systems, cellphone location tracking, and facial recognition.

As more time goes by, the public will become more normalized to this form of police violence until an individual is killed at the hands of an ICE officer. At this point, abolishing ICE should be the goal.

While we work towards this goal, we should continue taking steps. People are going into hiding, and there is no sense of governmental interference or actual prevention of these public violent ICE raid roundups. We, the community, must take care of each other.

If you witness an ICE raid, several trusted groups have highlighted the use of the SALUTE (Size, Activity, Location, Uniform, Time, Date, and Equipment) to document the incident.

If you are an individual in a people-facing sector, such as a hospital, school, or clinic, ensure your team has an ICE protocol in place if they are targeted. Lastly, if you are Latin, I know you are constantly in fear for our community and may feel a sense of hiding.

Take this moment to publicly celebrate our culture while doing everything in our power to protect it. At my doble quince celebration, I raised over $2,000 for Escuelitas and El Refugio - local organizations that provide political education and/or services to the wider Latine Georgia community.

Turning an event into a fundraising opportunity or providing your community with Know Your Rights cards will not stop the violence the immigrant community is facing, but it could ensure that moments like quinceañeras still happen this winter season.

Yesnely Anacari Flores is an immigrant rights advocate, doctoral student at Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, and a Public Voices fellow of the OpEd Project with the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and Every Page Foundation.