RAID

Israeli forces raided a Palestinian wedding ceremony in occupied East Jerusalem, firing live ammunition and stun grenades at attendees. Several men, including the groom, were detained.

Images showing an MH-6 Little Bird taking part in today’s operation to seize the runaway Russian-flagged oil tanker Marinera, hundreds of miles away from the nearest land, were widely met with befuddlement. This is a relatively tiny special operations helicopter that cannot be refueled in flight and has a short range. However, its small size and incredible transportability means that it can appear from virtually anywhere, on land or at sea. These are among the capabilities that have long endeared the type to the U.S. Army’s elite 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), better known as the Night Stalkers.

Readers can get up to speed on the operation targeting the Marinera with our reporting here.

Russian news outlet RT first published imagery said to have been taken from the deck of the reflagged Marinera, showing at least one MH-6 Little Bird approaching the ship. Fox News and CBS News have now reported that helicopters from the 160th SOAR brought in U.S. Navy SEALs to board the ship as it sailed in the North Atlantic. TWZ has been working to independently confirm the employment of the Little Birds, specifically, as well as other details about the operation. U.S. aviation assets, especially various special operations types, had been spotted pouring into the United Kingdom amid reports that an attempt to seize the tanker, formerly known as the Bella 1, looked increasingly imminent. The Night Stalkers had already had a monumental past week with their role in the operation to capture Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro over the weekend.

U.S. Navy SEALs flown by TF 160 (“Night Stalkers”) commandeered the oil tanker previously named Bella 1 at sea between Iceland and Britain, officials say.

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) January 7, 2026

Marinera (IMO 9230880) formally Bella 1 made a sudden southbound turn at 11:26 UTC near 60.9386N, 16.37014W, slowing from ~9 kn to ~8 kn.

US special operations aircraft are heading north pic.twitter.com/u44FqyfjHG

— Faytuks Network (@FaytuksNetwork) January 7, 2026

The 160th SOAR currently operates a fleet of what are formally known as Mission Enhanced Little Birds (MELB), produced by Boeing. The MELBs are heavily modified with specialized avionics built to help with flying at very low-levels in complex environments and at night, as well as defensive systems and other capabilities that increase the egg-shaped helicopter’s survivability.

The MELBs can be readily configured and reconfigured as either MH-6 or AH-6 subvariants. The MH-6 is described as an “assault” configuration with planks on either side for special operators to ride on. The helicopters can land to insert those operators, or they can use the Fast Rope Insertion Extraction System (FRIES) to rappel down to their objective.

The AH-6 is a light attack configuration that swaps the personnel planks for mounting systems enabling the helicopter to carry an array of weapons, including Gatling-type machine guns, Hellfire missiles, and 70mm rockets.

Where the Little Birds that took part in the Marinera boarding operation launched from is still unknown. As noted, 160th SOAR’s AH/MH-6s cannot refuel in flight and have relatively limited unrefueled range (officially stated to be 250 miles, per the 2025 edition of U.S. Special Operations Command’s Fact Book). Night Stalker Little Birds can be fitted with various types of range-extending auxiliary fuel tanks. Even so, whether they would have been able to fly to the tanker from a base on land in the region is unclear, but it seems unlikely, especially with special operators strapped to their outsides.

As already mentioned, the helicopters more likely flew from the decks of one of the vessels that supported the mission, which included a U.S. Coast Guard Legend class cutter and the British Tide class replenishment tanker RFA Tideforce. It is possible the Little Birds could have already been embarked on the Coast Guard cutter for a prolonged period before the actual operation today, and the 160th has trained for such operations in the past.

You don’t need Ocean Trader for this, they can go anywhere. You also stuff half a dozen in the Cutter’s hangar bay.

— Tyler Rogoway (@Aviation_Intel) January 7, 2026

Regardless, the tanker seizure operation puts a spotlight on the unique operational independence and flexibility that the 160th’s Little Birds offer.

“It is your street fighter,” Paul Kylander, the product manager for the AH/MH-6s within U.S. Special Operations Command’s (SOCOM) Program Executive Office-Rotary Wing (PEO-RW), told TWZ and others at the annual SOF Week conference last year. “When the operators want to get to your front door, this is the aircraft that they’re going to use. Very surgical strike, very precision attack, is what you’re going to get from these platforms.”

The Night Stalker’s nimble Little Birds excel at getting in and out of extremely tight spots where no other helicopter can go. They are often seen dropping commandos off on building ledges and landing in very confined areas, or even flying down the streets of huge cities.

Though they have limited reach on their own, the small size of the Little Birds means significant numbers of them can be carried inside fixed-wing transport aircraft. Air Force Special Operations MC-130 tanker-transports can carry two in a near ready-to-fly configuration at once, while larger C-17s can transport at least five at a time. The helicopters have folding rotors and other features specifically designed to allow personnel on the ground to roll them off of larger aircraft and then get them operational very quickly. This is measured in minutes, not hours.

Transport aircraft can carry the AH/MH-6 helicopters across distances of thousands of miles, directly to forward operating locations far closer to their intended objectives. Those destinations could include far-flung sites with little, if any established infrastructure, including rough landing strips. With far less requirements for fuel and other support compared to the MH-60 Black Hawks and MH-47 Chinooks in the 160th’s inventory, the Little Birds also offer a different degree of ability to operate independently for prolonged periods after arriving in a forward area. AH/MH-6s do, of course, also regularly operate directly together with other Night Stalkers helicopters in highly integrated, seamless formations, as well as with other U.S. military aircraft, to a lesser degree.

The benefits that the Little Birds offer apply to operations from ships, as well as bases on land. AH-6/MH-6s require much less deck space than most other helicopters in service across the U.S. military, and more of them can also be tucked into hangars or in the holds on vessels that were designed to accommodate larger types or even no aircraft at all. They can also just be stowed in an area on the deck of a ship. They just need enough room to takeoff from. This unlocks a near endless list of vessel types they can operate from, which drastically expands their operational flexibility and can spell real trouble for an adversary.

Some of the diminutive helicopters famously operated from U.S. Navy warships, as well as barges turned into floating bases, during the so-called “Tanker War” sideshow to the Iran-Iraq war during the 1980s. In that instance, then-new “AH-58” Kiowa Warrior armed scout helicopters operated by conventional U.S. Army units eventually took the place of the Little Birds. Last year, TWZ explored the particular value of the 160th’s AH/MH-6s in maritime operations in more detail after one of the helicopters emerged wearing a blue camouflage wrap.

In addition, all of this allows for the employment of Little Birds, in general, with a very different level of discretion, as they can more readily be concealed even after being deployed. There have been claims that the 160th’s repertoire of tactics, techniques, and procedures has included being prepared to bring the helicopters to forward locations clandestinely inside civilian trucks, which we will come back to in a moment.

There is a long history of the use of members of the extended Little Bird family by U.S. special operations forces and intelligence agencies to support covert and clandestine missions, as TWZ has explored on several occasions in the past. With non-military style paint schemes, the helicopters can even blend in to a degree in the open. Versions of the Little Bird continue to see widespread civilian and commercial use globally, with the helicopter type being made famous after starring in Magnum, P.I. in the 1980s.

In his 2015 book Relentless Strike, author Sean Naylor offers a Little Bird anecdote that is especially relevant in relation to planning for a covert operation into Laos to rescue Americans captured during the Vietnam War, which was ultimately aborted. He writes:

“JSOC [Joint Special Operations Command] rehearsed extensively in Hawaii for the mission, which would involve a task force launching from the tiny Pacific island of Tinian in the Northern Marianas and using an abandoned and overgrown U.S. military airfield in Thailand as a forward staging base. With the airfield under control, C-5 transport planes would have landed, bearing JSOC’s own version of a Trojan horse: white, civilian-style eighteen-wheel trucks, each hiding two TF 160 [Task Force 160; another term used to refer to the 160th SOAR] AH-6 Little Birds with folded rotor blades. As Delta operators made their way overland to the prison camp TF 160 personnel would have driven the trucks close to the Laotian border, before stopping and launching the helicopters. TF 160 kept this rarely used technique known in JSOC as ‘Smokey and the Bandit’ after the 1977 trucker comedy starring Burt Reynolds up its sleeve for decades, because it offered a clandestine way to move a lethal capability close to a target. ‘Our guys were trained and even had the truck licenses,’ said a TF 160 veteran. The unit had its own trucks, but locally obtained vehicles would suffice ‘with maybe a couple of days’ work and some welding,’ he said. When the time came to launch the aircraft, the crew would roll them off the back of the truck and have them flying within three minutes. ‘You have to be really well trained,’ the TF 160 veteran said. ‘It’s absolutely an incredible capability.’

Go160thSOAR USASOAC Night Stalkers AH-6

While TWZ cannot confirm the details in Naylor’s book, specifics about the planned prisoner of war rescue operation, nicknamed Operation Pocket Change, including the expected use of Little Birds, have been reported elsewhere over the years. The prospect that Americans remained in captivity in Southeast Asia for years or decades following the end of the Vietnam War has been and continues to be a controversial topic.

Regardless, Little Birds can be trucked clandestinely in commercial vehicles or shipping containers, even behind enemy lines, something other helicopters within the 160th SOAR’s stable can’t come close to doing.

All this speaks to why the 160th SOAR has continued to operate Little Birds long after non-special operations units with the U.S. military stopped flying other versions of the helicopter. Night Stalker AH/MH-6s now look set to remain in service even longer than might have been expected following the cancellation of the Army’s Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program in 2024. There had been plans to replace roughly half of the Little Birds with a special operations variant of the FARA aircraft.

It’s also worth noting here that Boeing announced its intention to shutter its Little Bird production line and “transition to a focus on sustainment and support for the platform’s customer base.” Separate production of versions of the Little Bird will continue through MD Helicopters.

Overall, much is still to be learned about the U.S. operation today to seize the tanker Marinera, and the role played by the 160th SOAR. However, what has already emerged has highlighted the ability of the Little Birds to do things, go places, and hide in areas that no other Night Stalkers helicopters can.

Contact the author: joe@twz.com

Israeli forces raided Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank, firing live ammunition to disperse students during a protest and film screening. At least three students were injured as troops entered the campus and classrooms.

Dec. 31 (Asia Today) — South Korean police investigating lobbying allegations involving the Unification Church raided the home of Jeong Won-ju, a former chief secretary to church leader Han Hak-ja, on Wednesday, authorities said.

The National Police Agency’s National Investigation Headquarters special task force carried out a search and seizure at Jeong’s residence in Gapyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with allegations that former Democratic Party lawmaker Jeon Jae-su accepted bribes, police said.

Investigators also searched the office of the special prosecutor handling a case involving former first lady Kim Keon-hee in Seoul’s Jongno district, police said, adding they secured materials related to the bribery allegations.

Jeong was sent to prosecutors the previous day on suspicion of violating the Political Funds Act over what police described as split donations to politicians from both major parties in early 2019. In the Jeon case, police are treating Jeong as a witness, according to the report.

Jeon is accused of receiving 20 million won (about $15,000) in cash and a luxury watch worth 10 million won (about $7,700) from the Unification Church in 2018 along with requests tied to church-related issues.

Police previously summoned Jeon as a suspect on Dec. 19 on allegations including violating the Political Funds Act. Investigators executed search warrants on Dec. 23 targeting Bulgari Korea and Cartier as they sought to verify the timing and value of the alleged gifts, the report said.

Police are expected to summon Jeon again after reviewing materials seized in the latest searches, it said.

Separately, police began questioning a former chair of the Universal Peace Federation, a Unification Church affiliate tied to the Korea-Japan undersea tunnel project, as a witness Wednesday, the report said. The tunnel project is considered one of the major issues the church lobbied for in political circles.

— Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI

© Asia Today. Unauthorized reproduction or redistribution prohibited.

At least six suspected ISIL fighters and three Turkish police officers were killed in a shootout after police raided a home in northwestern Turkiye. It was part of a massive security sweep across several Turkish provinces targeting alleged hiding spots for ISIL operatives.

What comes next is a mystery, but I’d like to share a note of appreciation as 2025 fades into history.

If you came to Greater Los Angeles from Mexico, by way of Calexico, Feliz Navidad.

If you once lived in Syria, and settled in Hesperia, welcome.

If you were born in what once was Bombay, but raised a family in L.A., happy new year.

I’m spreading a bit of holiday cheer because for immigrants, on the whole, this has been a horrible year.

Under federal orders in 2025, Los Angeles and other cities have been invaded and workplaces raided.

Immigrants have been chased, protesters maced.

Livelihoods have been aborted, loved ones deported.

With all the put-downs and name-calling by the man at the top, you’d never guess his mother was an immigrant and his three wives have included two immigrants.

President Trump referred to Somalis as garbage, and he wondered why the U.S. can’t bring in more people from Scandinavia and fewer from “filthy, dirty and disgusting” countries.

Not to be outdone, Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem proposed a travel ban on countries that are “flooding our nation with killers, leeches and entitlement junkies.”

The president’s shtick is to rail mostly against those who are in the country without legal standing and particularly those with criminal records. But his tone and language don’t always make such distinctions.

The point is to divide, lay blame and raise suspicion, which is why legal residents — including Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo — have told me they carry their passports at all times.

In fact, thousands of people with legal status have been booted out of the country, and millions more are at risk of the same fate.

In a more evolved political culture, it would be simpler to stipulate that there are costs and benefits to immigration, that it’s human nature to flee hardship in pursuit of better opportunities wherever they might be, and that it’s possible to enact laws that serve the needs of immigrants and the industries that rely on them.

But 2025 was the year in which the nation was led in another direction, and it was the year in which it became ever more comforting and even liberating to call California home.

The state is a deeply flawed enterprise, with its staggering gaps in wealth and income, its homelessness catastrophe, housing affordability crisis and racial divides. And California is not politically monolithic, no matter how blue. It’s got millions of Trump supporters, many of whom applauded the roundups.

But there’s an understanding, even in largely conservative regions, that immigrants with papers and without are a crucial part of the muscle and brainpower that help drive the world’s fourth-largest economy.

That’s why some of the state’s Republican lawmakers asked Trump to back off when he first sent masked posses on roundups, stifling the construction, agriculture and hospitality sectors of the economy.

When the raids began, I called a gardener I had written about years ago after he was shot in the chest during a robbery attempt. He had insisted on leaving the hospital emergency room and going back to work immediately, with the bullet still embedded in his chest. A client had hired him to complete a landscaping job by Christmas, as a present to his wife, and the gardener was determined to deliver.

When I checked in with the gardener in June, he told me he was lying low because even though he has a work permit, he didn’t feel safe because Trump had vowed to end temporary protected status for some immigrants.

“People look Latino, and they get arrested,” he told me.

He said his daughter, whom I’d met two decades ago when I delivered $2,000 donated to the family by readers, was going to demonstrate in his name. I met up with her at the “No Kings” rally in El Segundo, where she told me why she wanted to protest:

“To show my face for those who can’t speak and to say we’re not all criminals, we’re all sticking together, we have each other’s backs,” she said.

Mass deportations would rip a $275-million hole in the state’s economy, critically affecting agriculture and healthcare among other industries, according to a report from UC Merced and the Bay Area Council Economic Institute.

“Deportations tend to raise unemployment among U.S.-born and documented workers through reduced consumption and disruptions in complementary occupations,” says a UCLA Anderson report.

Californians understand these realities because they’re not hypothetical or theoretical — they’re a part of daily life and commerce. Nearly three-quarters of the state’s residents believe that immigrants benefit California “because of their hard work and job skills,” says the Public Policy Institute of California.

I’m a California native whose grandparents were from Spain and Italy, but the state has changed dramatically in my lifetime, and I don’t think I ever really saw it clearly or understood it until I was asked in 2009 to address the freshman convocation at Cal State Northridge. The demographics were similar to today’s — more than half Latino, 1 in 5 white, 10% Asian and 5% Black. And roughly two-thirds were first-generation college students.

I looked out on thousands of young people about to find their way and make their mark, and the students were flanked by a sprinkling of proud parents and grandparents, many of whose stories of sacrifice and yearning began in other countries.

That is part of the lifeblood of the state’s culture, cuisine, commerce and sense of possibility, and those students are now our teachers, nurses, physicians, engineers, entrepreneurs and tech whizzes.

If you left Taipei and settled in Monterey, said goodbye to Dubai and packed up for Ojai, traded Havana for Fontana or Morelia for Visalia, thank you.

And happy new year.

steve.lopez@latimes.com

Interior Ministry says the raid killed Mohammed Shahadeh, describing him as one of ISIL’s senior commanders in Syria.

Syrian authorities say security forces have carried out a second operation against ISIL (ISIS) fighters near Damascus, killing a senior figure described as the group’s governor of Hauran.

In a statement on Thursday, the Ministry of Interior said the raid killed Mohammed Shahadeh, also known as Abu Omar Shaddad, calling him one of ISIL’s senior commanders in Syria and a direct threat to local security.

Officials said the operation followed verified intelligence and extensive surveillance and was carried out by specialised units, operating in the Damascus countryside, that conducted a targeted raid in the town of al-Buweida, near Qatana, southwest of the capital.

The operation also involved the General Intelligence Directorate and took place in coordination with international coalition forces, the ministry said.

‘Crippling blow’

The announcement came a day after Syrian internal security forces arrested another senior ISIL figure in a separate operation near Damascus, according to the state-run SANA news agency.

SANA reported that forces arrested Taha al-Zoubi during what it described as a “tightly executed security operation” in the Damascus countryside. The agency said officers seized “a suicide belt and a military weapon” during the arrest.

Brigadier General Ahmad al-Dalati, head of internal security in the Damascus countryside, told SANA that the raid targeted an ISIL hideout in Maadamiya, southwest of the capital.

ISIL, which considers the current authorities in Damascus illegitimate, has largely focused its remaining operations on Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria.

At the height of its power, the armed group controlled vast areas of Iraq and Syria, declaring Raqqa its capital.

Although ISIL suffered military defeat in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, its cells continue to carry out attacks in the region and beyond, including in parts of Africa and Afghanistan.

OXNARD — A father who has become the sole caretaker for his two young children after his wife was deported. A school district seeing absenteeism similar to what it experienced during the pandemic. Businesses struggling because customers are scared to go outside.

These are just a sampling of how this part of Ventura County is reckoning with the aftermath of federal immigration raids on Glass House cannabis farms six months ago, when hundreds of workers were detained and families split apart. In some instances, there is still uncertainty about what happened to minors left behind after one or both parents were deported. Now, while Latino households gather for the holidays, businesses and restaurants are largely quiet as anxiety about more Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids lingers.

“There’s a lot of fear that the community is living,” said Alicia Flores, executive director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Family Center. This time of year, clients usually ask her about her holiday plans, but now no one asks. Families are divided by the U.S. border or have loved ones in immigration detainment. “They were ready for Christmas, to make tamales, to make pozole, to make something and celebrate with the family. And now, nothing.”

At the time, the immigration raids on Glass House Farms in Camarillo and Carpinteria were some of the largest of their kind nationwide, resulting in chaotic scenes, confusion and violence. At least 361 undocumented immigrants were detained, many of them third-party contractors for Glass House. One of those contractors, Jaime Alanis Garcia, died after he fell from a greenhouse rooftop in the July 10 raid.

Jacqueline Rodriguez, in mirror, works on a customer’s hair as Silvia Lopez, left, owner of Divine Hair Design, waits for customers in downtown Oxnard on Dec. 19, 2025.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

The raids catalyzed mass protests along the Central Coast and sent a chill through Oxnard, a tight-knit community where many families work in the surrounding fields and live in multigenerational homes far more modest than many on the Ventura coast. It also reignited fears about how farmworker communities — often among the most low-paid and vulnerable parts of the labor pool — would be targeted during the Trump administration’s intense deportation campaign.

In California, undocumented workers represent nearly 60% of the agricultural workforce, and many of them live in mixed-immigration-status households or households where none are citizens, said Ana Padilla, executive director of the UC Merced Community and Labor Center. After the Glass House raid, Padilla and UC Merced associate professor Edward Flores identified economic trends similar to the Great Recession, when private-sector jobs fell. Although undocumented workers contribute to state and federal taxes, they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits that could lessen the blow of job loss after a family member gets detained.

“These are households that have been more affected by the economic consequences than any other group,” Padilla said. She added that California should consider distributing “replacement funds” for workers and families that have lost income because of immigration enforcement activity.

An Oxnard store owner who sells quinceañera and baptism dresses — and who asked that her name not be used — says she has lost 60% of her business since the immigrant raids this year at Glass House farms.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Local businesses are feeling the effects as well. Silvia Lopez, who has run Divine Hair Design in downtown Oxnard for 16 years, said she’s lost as much as 75% of business after the July raid. The salon usually saw 40 clients a day, she said, but on the day after the raid, it had only two clients — and four stylists who were stunned. Already, she said, other salon owners have had to close, and she cut back her own hours to help her remaining stylists make enough each month.

“Everything changed for everyone,” she said.

In another part of town, a store owner who sells quinceañera and baptism dresses said her sales have dropped by 60% every month since August, and clients have postponed shopping. A car shop owner, who declined to be identified because he fears government retribution, said he supported President Trump because of his campaign pledge to help small-business owners like himself. But federal loans have been difficult to access, he said, and he feels betrayed by the president’s deportation campaign that has targeted communities such as Oxnard.

“There’s a lot of fear that the community is living,” said Alicia Flores, executive director of La Hermandad Hank Lacayo Youth and Family Center in downtown Oxnard, on Dec. 19, 2025.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

“Glass House had a big impact,” he said. “It made people realize, ‘Oh s—, they’re hitting us hard.’ ”

The raid’s domino effect has raised concerns about the welfare of children in affected households. Immigration enforcement actions can have detrimental effects on young children, according to the American Immigration Council, and they can be at risk of experiencing severe psychological distress.

Olivia Lopez, a community organizer at Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, highlighted the predicament of one father. He became the sole caretaker of his infant and 4-year-old son after his wife was deported, and can’t afford child care. He is considering sending the children across the border to his wife in Mexico, who misses her kids.

In a separate situation, Lopez said, an 18-year-old has been suddenly thrust into caring for two siblings after her mother, a single parent, was deported.

Additionally, she said she has heard stories of children left behind, including a 16-year-old who does not want to leave the U.S. and reunite with her mother who was deported after the Glass House raid. She said she suspects that at least 50 families — and as many as 100 children — lost both or their only parent in the raid.

“I have questions after hearing all the stories: Where are the children, in cases where two parents, those responsible for the children, were deported? Where are those children?” she said. “How did we get to this point?”

Robin Godfrey, public information officer for the Ventura County Human Services Agency, which is responsible for overseeing child welfare in the county, said she could not answer specific questions about whether the agency has become aware of minors left behind after parents were detained.

“Federal and state laws prevent us from confirming or denying if children from Glass House Farms families came into the child welfare system,” she said in a statement.

The raid has been jarring in the Oxnard School District, which was closed for summer vacation but reopened on July 10 to contact families and ensure their well-being, Supt. Ana DeGenna said. Her staff called all 13,000 families in the district to ask whether they needed resources and whether they wanted access to virtual classes for the upcoming school year.

Even before the July 10 raid, DeGenna and her staff were preparing. In January, after Trump was inaugurated, the district sped up installing doorbells at every school site in case immigration agents attempted to enter. They referred families to organizations that would help them draft affidavits so their U.S.-born children could have legal guardians, in case the parents were deported. They asked parents to submit not just one or two, but as many as 10 emergency contacts in case they don’t show up to pick up their children.

Rodrigo is considering moving back to Mexico after living in the U.S. for 42 years.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

With a district that is 92% Latino, she said, nearly everyone is fearful, whether they are directly or indirectly affected, regardless if they have citizenship. Some families have self-deported, leaving the country, while children have changed households to continue their schooling. Nearly every morning, as raids continue in the region, she fields calls about sightings of ICE vehicles near schools. When that happens, she said, she knows attendance will be depressed to near COVID-19 levels for those surrounding schools, with parents afraid to send their children back to the classroom.

But unlike the pandemic, there is no relief in knowing they’ve experienced the worst, such as the Glass House raid, which saw hundreds of families affected in just a day, she said. The need for mental health counselors and support has only grown.

“We have to be there to protect them and take care of them, but we have to acknowledge it’s a reality they’re living through,” she said. “We can’t stop the learning, we can’t stop the education, because we also know that is the most important thing that’s going to help them in the future to potentially avoid being victimized in any way.”

Jasmine Cruz, 21, launched a GoFundMe page after her father was taken during the Glass House raid. He remains in detention in Arizona, and the family hired an immigration attorney in hopes of getting him released.

Each month, she said, it gets harder to pay off their rent and utility bills. She managed to raise about $2,700 through GoFundMe, which didn’t fully cover a month of rent. Her mother is considering moving the family back to Mexico if her father is deported, Cruz said.

“I tried telling my mom we should stay here,” she said. “But she said it’s too much for us without our dad.”

Many of the families torn apart by the Glass House raid did not have plans in place, said Lopez, the community organizer, and some families were resistant because they believed they wouldn’t be affected. But after the raid, she received calls from several families who wanted to know whether they could get family affidavit forms notarized. One notary, she said, spent 10 hours working with families for free, including some former Glass House workers who evaded the raid.

“The way I always explain it is, look, everything that is being done by this government agency, you can’t control,” she said. “But what you can control is having peace of mind knowing you did something to protect your children and you didn’t leave them unprotected.”

For many undocumented immigrants, the choices are few.

Rodrigo, who is undocumented and worries about ICE reprisals, has made his living with his guitar, which he has been playing since he was 17.

While taking a break outside a downtown Oxnard restaurant, he looked tired, wiping his forehead after serenading a pair, a couple and a group at a Mexican restaurant. He has been in the U.S. for 42 years, but since the summer raid, business has been slow. Now, people no longer want to hire for house parties.

The 77-year-old said he wants to retire but has to continue working. But he fears getting picked up at random, based on how abusive agents have been. He’s thinking about the new year, and returning to Mexico on his own accord.

“Before they take away my guitar,” he said, “I better go.”