When ICE Returned, Bridgeton’s Community Was Ready

As an organizer, you always have a dozen things happening at once. One moment, you're networking and searching for opportunities that could benefit your community. The next, you're rushing to alert people that ICE has been spotted in town. And sometimes, you're doing everything you can, including annoying DACA recipients to get them to show up to events that could actually help them.

For a few weeks, Cumberland County was quiet.

Almost too quiet. 

Everyone on the volunteer team saw the silence as a blessing because it meant none of our community members were being taken; it felt as if ICE had disappeared. Or maybe they were simply waiting for the right moment to catch the community off guard. But what ICE didn't know was that Los Tequios had never stopped conducting active patrols.

That first Saturday on July 11th, after several long and quiet weeks, ICE returned. So did we.

Los Tequios was already on the ground. One of our responders discovered ICE agents staging on city property. The moment the responder began documenting them, the agents left. But in footage shared from another day, when ICE returned to the area, we saw that they continued using city property as a staging location.

These weren't just random locations.

City property includes places like the Bridgeton Zoo, the dog park, the basketball courts, and public parks. Many of these areas are hidden from plain sight, meaning that unless you actually go inside, you may never know ICE is there.

These were the places where ICE agents appeared to meet in the mornings before beginning their operations. They would later return to these locations to transfer people they had detained that morning into larger vehicles.

Seeing this raised an important question: Why was ICE able to use public property, owned by the City of Bridgeton, as a staging ground for their operations?

Los Tequios, alongside community members, CATA members, and local allies, came together to plan a day of action at the next Bridgeton City Council meeting. Our goal was to propose an ordinance that would prohibit ICE from staging on city-owned property.

As community organizers, Marisol Soriano and I immediately began going through our lists of contacts and inviting everyone we could. We visited small businesses throughout Bridgeton and personally invited people to attend. 

Every invitation mattered. Whether it was through a text message, a phone call, or an in-person conversation, we took the time to explain what an ordinance was and what a proposal like this could actually mean for Bridgeton.

We didn't want the community to believe that passing an ordinance would magically keep ICE out of the city. That wasn't the promise we were making.

Instead, we wanted people to understand that this was one step toward creating a city that responds to its residents. A step toward showing that when the community organizes, speaks up, and demands action, local government has the ability and responsibility to listen.

On July 21, the day of the City Council meeting, we gathered outside the Municipal Court on Fayette Street. We handed out flyers explaining the proposal and shared key points with community members before the public comment period began. That evening, we were also there to support the Bridgeton Public Library, so there was already a lot of energy in the air.

One by one, community members stepped forward to speak.

Testimonies were shared about fear, about the importance of protecting immigrant families, and about the need for the City of Bridgeton to stand in solidarity with its residents. There was a clear message throughout the evening: the community wanted support, and they wanted to know that the City was willing to respond.

By the end of the meeting, the response from the City Council was encouraging. Council members agreed that they would work hard to place the proposed ordinance on the agenda for the following month.

For us, this felt like the first step toward prohibiting ICE from using city property as a staging ground. But organizing teaches you something very quickly:

A promise is not the same thing as action.

When the agenda for the next City Council meeting was released, the ordinance was nowhere to be found. Once again, we invited our neighbors, explained why their presence mattered, and asked them to show up.

And they did.

On August 18, more than 40 community members returned to City Hall. Young people, men, women, and Black, Latino, and white residents spoke with one united voice: Enough is enough.

Wendy Jimenez, a member of CATA’s team, attended the meeting and was moved by the number of people who showed up:

“At first, I was nervous because I didn’t know what to expect. But when I entered the meeting, it was amazing to see how many people had come to support the community. Hearing everyone’s stories and emotions deeply moved me. I would attend again because it is important to show up for and support our community.”

On September 15, after months of organizing and community pressure, the City Council introduced the ordinance on first reading.

Then, on October 6, the community returned for the final vote. This time, Bridgeton won.

The City Council passed an ordinance limiting how city property, staff, resources, and information can be used for civil immigration enforcement. What began as a response to ICE agents staging on public property became months of neighbors organizing, sharing their experiences, and demanding that their local government act.

This victory did not happen on its own.

It happened because community members kept showing up. Because people invited their neighbors, spoke publicly about their fears, met repeatedly with city officials, and continued pushing through disagreements and difficult conversations. Los Tequios, CATA, community members, and local allies refused to let this issue disappear.

We also want to be clear about what this ordinance means. It does not prohibit ICE from entering Bridgeton or stop immigration operations. It does not erase the threats our immigrant neighbors face. What it does is set clearer limits on the City’s involvement in civil immigration enforcement and give residents another tool to demand accountability.

For those of us who organized from the beginning, this moment brings us back to every phone call, every visit to a small business, and every conversation explaining why attending a council meeting mattered. Each invitation helped build the community power that made this vote possible.

The ordinance is an important achievement. So are the relationships, trust, and commitment we strengthened along the way. We will need all of them as we continue protecting one another and holding our elected officials accountable.

Bridgeton organized. Bridgeton persisted. And Bridgeton won.

Now, we keep building. Volunteer with CATA or make a donation to support our ongoing organizing.