When federal immigration agents move through Northeast Los Angeles, residents often hear the sound before they see them: sharp whistles echoing down city blocks, signaling danger.
At the center of those alerts is Vanny Arias, a mother, worker, and community organizer who has become a first responder of sorts as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids intensify across the region.
“If I fall, my children fall with me—and so do these families,” Arias told Parriva. “There is no room to give up.”
Arias’ days begin long before sunrise and rarely end before midnight. She wakes at 5 a.m. to get her son ready for school after going to bed just hours earlier. Between shifts cleaning and bartending at a local bar, she organizes events, sells food on the street, and continues to expand a grassroots food distribution center that serves hundreds of families each month in Northeast Los Angeles.
When Parriva first reported on her work last October, Arias was scaling up the operation largely on her own. Months later, the project continues—despite growing pressure from stepped-up immigration enforcement.
Her activism now extends beyond food. Arias has become part of a loose but coordinated network of volunteers who monitor ICE activity and respond in real time.
“We’re several organizations working together,” Arias said. “We communicate through a messaging service to coordinate support and send warnings when ICE is expected to arrive.”
She does not hesitate when alerts come in—day or night.
“If there’s a call, I go,” she said. “Neither the government nor big organizations are going to help us in the moment. This is the only way.”
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has acknowledged the scale of enforcement. According to the agency, more than 10,000 people have been arrested in Los Angeles since immigration raids began in June.
Independent data supports those figures. TRAC, a research project at Syracuse University that compiles DHS arrest numbers obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, reports that roughly 7,000 arrests occurred in the Los Angeles region between June and September alone. Data for the final months of the year has not yet been released, but researchers say the DHS total aligns with arrest trends seen earlier in 2024.
Years of on-the-ground experience have taught Arias and her volunteers to anticipate enforcement patterns.
“If there’s a big celebration—like Thanksgiving—the next day they come out harder,” she explained. “That’s why we believe raids will increase during Christmas.”
She rejects the idea that enforcement has slowed.
“They’re taking 15 to 20 people every other day in the area where I work,” Arias said. “People think it’s over because that’s the impression being given. But it’s not fear we’re spreading—it’s precaution.”
Across cities facing aggressive ICE operations, a low-tech tool has become a symbol of resistance: the warning whistle.
In some neighborhoods, businesses distribute them freely. In others, bags of whistles hang from utility poles, ready for anyone to grab. Their effectiveness has been acknowledged even by federal officials.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary at DHS, said in a statement that officers are “highly trained” and “not afraid of loud noises and whistles.” Still, the sound has become part of daily life in communities targeted by raids.
Los Angeles was among the first cities to see an expanded federal presence this year, followed by Washington, D.C., Chicago, Portland, and more recently New Orleans under Operation Catahoula Crunch. New York has also seen a growing footprint.
All are major cities. Most lean Democratic. And in each, residents have had to adapt—learning how to document arrests, warn neighbors, and respond to what advocates describe as increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics by ICE and Border Patrol agents.
For Arias, the work is exhausting—but nonnegotiable.
“We need people to understand this isn’t ending,” she said. “It’s escalating.”
As long as the calls keep coming, she says, she will keep answering them—whistle in hand, phone charged, moving through the city one alert at a time.
