Houston Advocate Says Immigrants Are In The Civil Rights Fight of Their Lives

Cesar Espinosa has been championing civil rights for immigrants for more than two decades, and the battle is becoming increasingly more dangerous under President Donald Trump’s aggressive approach to deportation, the FIEL Houston leader said this week. 

“I believe to my core that this is the civil rights fight of our time,” Espinosa said. “Just like other people before us gave it their all to make sure that their community was respected, that is what we are willing to do for our immigrant community. Unfortunately, there is some worry about myself and our families, but at the end of the day, I’m fighting for a bigger cause and we’re fighting to make sure other people don’t have to suffer.” 

Undeterred by a federal government shutdown announced Wednesday morning, it appears Texas and U.S. leaders are more committed than ever to deporting undocumented individuals, whether or not they have violent criminal histories. 

Tension geared toward Immigration and Customs Enforcement has mounted since President Trump took office in January and tasked officers with removing what he refers to as “illegal aliens” from their job sites and immigration court rather than detaining them as they cross the border. 

Trump has hailed the effort as an initiative to deport violent criminals from the United States, but Espinosa says the government’s approach is heavy-handed and has prompted the immigrant-led FIEL Houston to ramp up its efforts. Last year the organization received one or two calls a month for legal assistance; now they’re getting 15 to 20 calls a day, he said. 

College students have had their visas revoked and people have been placed under ICE holds for minor driving infractions, and in one case, fishing without a license. Houstonians have reported that they are uncomfortable reporting domestic violence situations, even though their lives may be in danger, for fear of being deported. 

“We’re seeing it in real life,” Espinosa said. “Just last week, we had a woman who was suffering from schizophrenia. [Her family] called the police to try to get help for this woman, and she was just deported, with no regard for her mental health. She had no criminal convictions. She should have been taken to a hospital.”

More than 70 percent of the people being detained have no criminal record, Espinosa said, citing statistics from Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit research organization that compiles government data on immigration. 

A majority of Harris County residents surveyed earlier this year said they generally support the deportation of undocumented violent criminals, but thousands gathered in June to protest Trump’s immigration policies at a No Kings rally at Houston City Hall. More than 2,000 No Kings protests are scheduled across the country on October 18. 

Shooting at Dallas ICE Facility

Two detainees at an ICE facility in Dallas were killed on September 24 when 29-year-old Joshua Jahn allegedly opened fire from the roof of a building, striking people in a van at the facility’s sally port entrance area. A third detainee was released from the hospital on Thursday and returned to ICE custody. Authorities said Jahn then turned the gun on himself and died at the scene. 

Officials at the time said Jahn fired “indiscriminately,” and left behind handwritten notes indicating he “hoped his actions would give ICE agents real terror of being gunned down.” 

Jahn was a white U.S. citizen who “likely acted alone” and “indicated he did not expect to survive the attack,” authorities said at a press conference after the incident, adding that the alleged shooter did not appear to be affiliated with any political group. 

The Dallas Morning News reported that Jahn was registered as an Independent in Oklahoma. The suspect’s brother told NBC News that Jahn was not interested in politics and had not voiced opposition to ICE. 

That brings up the issue of media accountability, said Harris County Democratic Party precinct chair, blogger and radio host Egberto Willies. 

“Mainstream media has long served as a guardrail for establishment interests,” Willies wrote on his Substack blog, Egberto Off the Record, the day of the ICE shooting in Dallas. “When stories of political violence emerge, this machinery filters which facts amplify, which narratives dominate, and which doubts swirl in public discourse.”

“In this case, early reporting emphasized whether the shooter was left or right, rather than centering [on] victims or demanding complete transparency,” Gillies said. “They omitted details — such as weapon type and race — in the initial framing, knowing that such omissions would direct the viewer’s assumptions.” 

FBI Director Kash Patel said after the Dallas shooting that the “initial review of the evidence shows an ideological motive behind this attack.”

Trump wrote on social media after the Dallas incident: “This violence is the result of the Radical Left Democrats constantly demonizing Law Enforcement, calling for ICE to be demolished, and comparing ICE Officers to Nazis.” 

The divisive rhetoric only deepens the negative feelings that people have toward institutions and agencies, Espinosa said. “As things play out in such a public manner, with social media, of people getting arrested, assaulted, beaten up, kids getting pushed to the ground, it’s going to cement ill feelings toward the government from a lot of people,” he said. 

“We want to say that something’s got to give and we have to find common ground, but unfortunately, this administration is not making it easy to do so,” he added. 

The detainees who died in the Dallas shooting were not violent criminals, their family members told CNN. However, El Salvadoran national Norlan Guzman-Fuentes, 37, had prior arrests for battery, improper exhibit of a firearm or dangerous weapon, criminal mischief, driving while intoxicated, and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 

Miguel Angel Garcia-Hernandez, a 32-year-old Mexican immigrant, had lived in the United States since he was 13 years old. He was arrested for suspicion of driving under the influence in August and was later detained by immigration authorities. A CNN report said Garcia-Hernandez had previous convictions for “giving fictitious information, evading arrest, driving while intoxicated, and fleeing police.”

Espinosa said FIEL Houston does not condone violence and the organization’s leaders are worried that “politics has become so volatile that people on all sides of the aisle are turning to acts of violence to make their voices heard.”

“We have to emphasize that the victims of this shooting ended up being immigrants,” he said. “At the end of the day there are more questions, still, than there are answers. Why were they detained? Should they have been detained? We don’t believe that should be the case, but we need to know more.” 

The politically driven narratives about the shooter have added to confusion and neglected to address gun control and mental health issues, Espinosa added. 

“The constant in all of this is people with mental health issues who have access to guns,” he said. “Yet we as a society and as a country refuse to address that. Whether it’s immigration or politics, anybody can be a victim to one of these scenarios.”

Dallas City Councilman Adam Bazaldua said after the ICE shooting that the country is “spiraling into a place where hate and violence are becoming the answer far too often.”

“We are all witnessing terror each and every day, and we know that our immigrant neighbors are bearing the brunt of it,” he said. “I’m seeing some of our political leaders rush to exploit this tragedy for political gain instead of acknowledging the pain and fear it represents.” 

“I want to be abundantly clear: Here in Dallas — and across this country — immigrants are our friends, our neighbors, our colleagues, and our family,” the councilman added. “At a time when our communities are desperate for healing, leadership, and real solutions, we are instead met with more division and finger-pointing. We cannot continue down this path of hate and violence.”

Hours after the Dallas shooting, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said, “We will not let this cowardly attack impede our efforts to secure the border, enforce immigration law, and ensure law and order. The Texas Department of Public Safety and Texas National Guard will continue our work with the Department of Homeland Security and ICE to arrest, detain, and deport any individuals in this country illegally — without interruption.” 

Abbott held a press conference in Houston on Wednesday, announcing the addition of state police to focus on repeat violent offenders. Neither Houston Mayor John Whitmire nor Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez was there, and those in attendance said the governor, a Republican, bashed Democratic judges for not being tough on crime. 

Neil Aquino, founder of the Houston Democracy Project, said it was clear that “these additional state police are more resources for ICE as they terrorize the Latino working and laboring class and are more resources for Trump to enforce the suspension of civil liberties.” 

Espinosa spoke to the Houston Press prior to Abbott’s press conference but said he expected it would result in more people getting turned over to ICE.

“The Trump administration has made it very clear that because ICE is funded by the Department of Defense that they will not back down in terms of escalating their deportation machine,” he said. “In fact, the opposite has happened. When everybody is worrying about what’s next for our country, they have kept their focus on going after hard-working immigrant people.” 

This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2025.

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