Community reflects on one year of federal immigration enforcement

CLEVELAND — Verónica Martínez and her family first immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico over a decade ago, but she said it’s difficult to not be unsettled by President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration.

“We come from Mexico [after] living more than 14 years in El Paso, Texas, and we are a traditional Mexican family,” Martínez said. “…We migrated to this state of Ohio precisely to seek an education – better education for our son.”

Martínez said she and thousands of other Cleveland Heights residents witnessed the impact of federal enforcement efforts firsthand a year ago, when six Cilantro Taqueria workers were arrested and detained without a warrant by ICE officers in Coventry Village. The restaurant said most of them have since self-deported.

“Since this raid by the agents, many members of the community felt a deep indignation and disagreement about these processes that they were carrying out,” she said. “Now that we know that they were detained without having a due legal process, overlooking the rights that all the people living here in America have.”

Dozens of community leaders, including Martínez, expressed their support for these workers and other immigrants in Ohio and nationwide, at an “immigration vigil” in Peace Park on Monday. The event was organized by members of grassroots movement Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights, which formed after the Cilantro Taqueria arrests.

A crowd gathered in freezing temperatures across the street from Mexican restaurant Cilantro Taqueria in Cleveland Heights. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)

“Several community members began organizing and have worked hard throughout the past year to organize petitions to the City Council and the mayor to request that there be measures that legally support these unprotected and vulnerable people,” Martínez said.

The vigil also paid tribute to Renee Good and Alex Pretti, who were shot and killed by ICE agents in Minneapolis, along with others who’ve died in ICE custody since 2025.

Mariamne Ingalls is one of several artists from the Indivisible NEO Arts Committee that constructed tombstones to display at the vigil. She said each of them include the name, age and details of their death.

“The idea is to bring visibility to what’s going on,” Ingalls said. “More attention so more people can get together and reassert the lawful due process in this country.”

The project was led by Kathleen Russell, Co-leader of the Indivisible NEO Arts Committee, which she said plans to create more installations in the future. (Spectrum News 1/Tanya Velazquez)

Rep. Shontel Brown, D-District 11, stood with northeast Ohioans at Monday’s vigil to mourn “over 39 deaths across the country” under the Trump administration.

“But, as it relates to Ohio, I get calls from constituents who are in in great fear,” Brown said. “…People are afraid to go to work. They’re afraid to go to school. They’re afraid to church.”

The Trump administration’s immigration enforcement campaign has divided Americans, according to polling from the New York Times and Siena released Friday, with more than 60% of voters saying ICE tactics have “gone too far.”

Several Republicans have criticized the Trump administration response ICE to the fatal Minneapolis shootings, and has raised questions about state powers and trust in the federal government.

Trump said he wants to de-escalate state tensions in Minnesota, after writing on social media that Americans should “LET OUR ICE PATRIOTS DO THEIR JOB!” earlier this week.

Martínez said she and others will continue showing up in the community with the hopes of sending a message.

“Above all we want to communicate that we are alert, we are active and we are attentive, observing all the actions that are being carried out in all parts of the country,” she said. “And we also want to tell our local, state and federal authorities that we are a people that is organizing, that is organizing to follow the legal paths to be able to recover democracy in our country.”