triggering a statewide backlash and coordinated response led by Milwaukee community organizers, elected officials, and immigrant rights advocates.
At Milwaukee City Hall on October 3, speakers delivered urgent warnings, outlined new defense strategies, and called for legislative action in light of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Manitowoc and Madison.
Each speaker addressed a specific escalation or system failure, presenting major announcements and key points drawn directly from the lived experiences of impacted communities. Together, their remarks traced the breadth of the crisis, from early morning arrests to legal challenges and policy demands now moving through local governments in Wisconsin.
Darryl Morin, National President of Forward Latino, said the tactics used in recent ICE activity marked a sharp departure from previous enforcement efforts. He described the use of masks, unmarked vehicles, and the refusal to show identification as a deliberate intimidation strategy aimed at sowing confusion and fear in immigrant neighborhoods.
“We’ve seen immigration enforcement actions where ethnicity – how someone looks – is now the basis for being pulled over or being detained. And that’s happened for immigrants and United States citizens alike multiple times,” said Morin. “Last time we saw a huge immigration enforcement surge, students were left at schools and being taken home by teachers because mom and dad were no longer there. We don’t want to see that happen anymore.”
Morin announced that Forward Latino was opening a new office in Milwaukee to meet increased demand for emergency assistance. He said the organization had upgraded its infrastructure to handle multilingual communication and that it had implemented new AI tools to improve response coordination. He emphasized that their 24-hour hotline — 833-LATINO1 (833-528-4661) — would remain staffed at all times.
“It is not a crime to be undocumented in the United States. It’s a civil violation — like the civil violation someone gets when a parking meter expires. It’s that minor. And those who try to convince you otherwise — they’re lying to you,” said Morin.
Jennifer Maldonado, executive director of Crusaders of Justicia, reported that the largest immigration detention action in Wisconsin took place recently in Manitowoc County. Maldonado said she was recovering from a major brain surgery when she began receiving early morning calls from families in distress. She described a wave of panic as community members were detained without warning.
“I had just come home after a very traumatic surgery — my first day back — and it was so disheartening to find that our community members were being targeted. It has been constant chaos, constant fear running through our community,” said Maldonado. “Many people are asking, ‘Should we send our children to school? Should we go to work?’ This has become an emergency situation — and what we’re seeing in Chicago is now starting to get closer to home.”
Maldonado said that her team, along with clergy and allied organizations, immediately activated a local rapid response network. Volunteers assisted families in locating loved ones and connecting with consular support and legal resources. She emphasized that Manitowoc’s economy relied heavily on immigrant labor and that the disruption extended far beyond those directly targeted by ICE.
Christina Neumann-Ortiz, executive director of Voces de la Frontera, outlined the activation of the statewide Community Defense Network. She described how volunteers were verifying ICE activity, responding to family calls through a centralized hotline, and offering legal coordination on a case-by-case basis. She said their structure had already been deployed in both Madison and Manitowoc.
“They barged into the home, treating it like some cartel operation — when this was a working-class family. Or they grabbed a father who was just taking out the trash. That’s disturbing. Very, very disturbing,” said Neumann-Ortiz.
Neumann-Ortiz confirmed that several detained individuals had already been deported before legal support could be secured. She said that ICE continued to move people rapidly across state lines to disrupt communication and isolate them from legal counsel. She added that some detainees had no charges against them and came from mixed-status families with U.S. citizen children.
“Three of the six workers in Manitowoc have already been deported. Another was moved to a detention center outside Wisconsin,” said Neumann-Ortiz. “ICE is moving fast. They are pushing people into signing voluntary departures before they know their rights.”
Neumann-Ortiz criticized ICE’s financial arrangements with local law enforcement, warning that the secretive partnerships incentivized racial profiling and family separation. She pointed to examples across Wisconsin where immigrant communities had mobilized to expose and dismantle 287(g) agreements between sheriffs and federal immigration agents.
“In Palmyra, Wisconsin, ICE offered $100,000 to local police to join the 287(g) agreement — and $7,500 per undocumented person turned in. That’s not public safety. That’s paying a bounty to separate families,” said Neumann-Ortiz. “When communities organize — like in Ozaukee and Walworth — we’ve forced sheriffs to cancel these ICE agreements. These are signed in secret. People have to demand transparency and accountability.”
Her remarks underscored a broader demand for transparency, arguing that local governments must stop signing federal enforcement agreements without public oversight.
José G. Pérez, president of the Milwaukee Common Council, told families that the threat they faced extended beyond any one city. He said the attacks were political, not procedural, and urged immigrant households to prepare powers of attorney and emergency plans for their children. Pérez reaffirmed that Milwaukee would not cooperate with federal enforcement under any condition.
“An attack on one immigrant for doing nothing except existing is an attack on all immigrants. If we keep that frame of mind, we’ll stay focused and ready when this challenging period is over,” said Common Council President Pérez.
JoCasta Zamarripa, alderwoman and former state representative, addressed the press in both English and Spanish. She reminded Wisconsin residents that they had legal rights — regardless of immigration status — including the right to remain silent, the right to deny entry without a signed judicial warrant, and the right to speak to a lawyer. She urged people to use virtual options when possible and to avoid in-person risks.
“ICE activity in our communities is creating fear. That has no place in a state built by immigrants. Milwaukee is a welcoming city. We will not let fear divide or silence our neighbors,” said Alderwoman Zamarripa. “Immigrants are essential to Wisconsin’s economy — in agriculture, hospitality, and tourism. They are part of our fabric, just as the Polish and German immigrants who built this beloved state were.”
Marina Dimitrijevic, alderwoman and member of the city’s finance committee, referenced a story shared by Neumann-Ortiz about a family affected by a recent ICE raid. She used it to illustrate the suddenness of the arrests and the emotional shock they left behind.
“Could you imagine that woman, that mother, that wife who went out to the truck that her husband had been pulled from by masked men. The truck he was going out to work for that day, a long, hard day of work. She didn’t see her husband, but saw the lunch that she had packed for him,” said Alderwoman Dimitrijevic. “Let’s continue to take that pain and not necessarily live in fear, but live prepared. We are prepared. We’re prepared to continue to be united, to be empowered, and to have the information and know our rights.”
Roberta Clark, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, addressed the broader moral and cultural implications of the raids. She said the use of dehumanizing language like “illegal alien” helped normalize cruelty, and she reminded the public that the concept of human dignity was embedded in American legal and faith traditions.
“No human being is either illegal or alien. If someone commits an illegal act, the action is illegal — not the person,” said Clark. “To support inhumane treatment because of someone’s immutable characteristics is not only hateful, it is un-American.”
Clark reaffirmed her organization’s opposition to expanding federal enforcement power to local police departments, stating that such actions compromised civil rights protections and endangered public safety for all citizens. She called for immigration reform that preserved family unity, offered fair paths to legal status, and respected constitutional standards.
As public awareness of the Wisconsin raids grew, community hotlines began receiving reports of paramedics being turned away, refusing medical care for fear of drawing attention.
Morin described an incident where he was on the phone with a detained immigrant, and heard for himself the pressure tactics being used against.
“I was literally on the phone when an individual, an immigrant who was detained and who had no criminal history, was on the phone with a significant other and was with the ICE official in detention. And that ICE representative was literally screaming at the detained immigrant, saying he needed to sign that self-deportation order,” added Morin. “The violation of constitutional rights is happening right now on a daily basis. That’s just one of many examples we have.”
As the press conference concluded, organizers repeated a simple message: families needed to prepare, communities needed to stay organized, and elected officials needed to stand firm against the normalization of mass detention and deportation. Every speaker made clear that this moment was not temporary — it was structural, it was coordinated, and it would require long-term resistance.
“El pueblo salva al pueblo — the people save the people. That’s the movement now,” added Neumann-Ortiz. “We build community, support each other, and stand in solidarity because we know we’re the only ones who will.”
© Photo
Lee Matz
