The Watsonville Law Center and Indivisible Salinas teamed up with the Undocu-Success Center as well as El Centro recently to bring opportunities for students to learn and share resources in the face of rising ICE activity.
This rising national presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement is a part of the Trump administration’s campaign to execute “the largest domestic deportation operation” in U.S. history, increasing the scope of influence that the Department of Homeland Security has on the population by allowing mass sweeps of detainment and deportations without court hearings.
Monterey County is one of the many counties in the nation that has seen increased detainment. In 2024, 11 inmates were transferred and there were 21 transferred in 2025.
“I’ve seen it where people have confessed to me that, ‘I am undocumented.’ And, I like to just try to get them to connect with the resources and Undocu,” said Eduardo Cazarez, a fourth year business major. “But of course, there’s always a hesitancy where you never feel safe anywhere. To me, as a citizen, I feel like it’s a part of my responsibility to help protect those and then give a voice to the voiceless and just making sure that we are checking in with our community.”
Indivisible Salinas, a branch of the National Indivisible group, brought Whistlemania to Cal State Monterey Bay (CSUMB), an event set on creating whistle kits. Each baggie includes a whistle used to alert that ICE agents are present, a guide explaining the meaning of different whistle durations and patterns as well as “know your rights” cards.
“We’re making these little packs with whistles and just information for people on things like legal resources and immigration resources in English and Spanish,” said Martin Gill, a fourth year environmental studies major.
“Indivisible Salinas has been working against the illegal, inhumane, cruel acts of the Trump administration,” said Candy McCarthy, a representative of Indivisible Salinas. “One of the things that we are watching is things like the ICE movement in Minneapolis. Out of what horrible things happened on the streets there, came neighboring. The term is being used to describe how people in the neighborhoods just took to the streets and organized themselves.
“They started using whistles. And I don’t know if you remember that Renee Good’s partner said, ‘we had whistles, they had guns.’ We decided that we would do Whistlemanias. And we have a goal of 100,000 whistles distributed in Monterey County,” said McCarthy.
With around 20 students present, they assembled and packed the kits but were also allowed to take kits with them to spread the resource with friends and family members.
“The Whistlemania event teaches people because a lot of times what ends up happening is people record the apprehensions happening…what the whistles essentially do is make everyone aware and see what is going on,” said Cazarez.
The Watsonville Law Center partnered with El Centro to provide legal resources and networks for undocumented students or their family members. A representative came to the affinity center and gave a Power Point presentation for around seven students.
“I think it is important, just so people can know that there is a center for you. There are resources here for you, use them, your tuition is paying for this. So might as well take advantage of those resources,” said Cazarez.
The representative explained that the line of what police and ICE can and can not do is getting “blurry” but all citizens have constitutional rights. That gives them protections, such as the ability to remain silent and protections from unreasonable searches and seizures.
Throughout the presentation students were asked various questions to verify knowledge of their personal information that they need to be aware of. The question, “how many numbers do you have memorized?” brought about a number of different answers, from two to five. The representative noted that in the event of detainment a person is allowed a phone call, but will be refused access to their cell phone.
While answers varied, the representative recommended two numbers to memorize, one is an available family member and the other is a rapid response attorney.
Information for undocumented citizens continues to be available through El Centro and the Undocu Success Center at CSUMB.
“You know, it’s really cool to see it here on campus and not like some other location, like nondescript. It’s like, it’s cool that this is being officially supported by the university,” said Gill. “It is terrifying what ICE is doing to these communities.”