Activists Plan to Implement Anti-ICE Strategies in California

A coalition of Ivy League-educated activists and socialist union leaders is gearing up to fully enact California’s strategy against ICE and establish a network of protesters aimed at disrupting federal immigration operations.

Caleb Soto, an attorney from Los Angeles affiliated with the National Day Labor Organizing Network, along with Thomas Malone, a leader in the Democratic Socialists of America in San Fernando Valley, visited New York recently. Their goal was to share militant strategies to resist federal immigration enforcement that targets local businesses.

Soto, who criticized ICE and Border Patrol agents as “armed thugs” at an aggressive rally in New York City, prominently features his sociology degree from Harvard on his LinkedIn. He took part in several confrontations with federal agents back in Los Angeles and graduated from Harvard in 2009, later earning a law degree from Yale in 2014.

In 2015, he became the workers’ rights director at the National Network of Day Labor Organizations, working to improve conditions for day laborers.

Last June, a clash with federal agents in Los Angeles saw chaos erupt, with more than 80 individuals detained and only a handful of attorneys available for legal support. “The disorderly attacks we saw on that day are meant to instill fear, courtesy of the Trump administration,” Soto told Al Jazeera.

He alleged that ICE agents conduct workplace raids in California, arresting immigrants without proper warrants and waiting for individuals to flee before making arrests. “They use that as a reason to start arresting people nearby,” he expressed, labeling these actions as “highly unconstitutional.”

Malone, who is also an activist, works as an external organizer for SEIU Local 721, where he leads labor protests across Los Angeles—including efforts to resist ICE actions in Home Depot parking lots.

Members of the Democratic Socialists of America, particularly from the Bread and Roses Caucus, often share insights from their confrontations with federal agents during protests in Los Angeles.

Malone, who graduated with an art history degree from California State Polytechnic University in 2023, discussed how agents reacted violently to disruptions of their operations. He also described how a Signal chat is utilized to coordinate alerts and keep track of federal activities.

He remarked, “The media and politicians currently push the notion of ‘good’ and ‘bad’ protesters, similar to what happened during the BLM protests.” He believes that the Trump administration disregards this distinction, viewing all protesters as ‘bad’ and subject to prosecution. This, he stated, is a troubling overreach by the federal government that, if unchecked, could result in a constitutional crisis.