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ICE protest at Mexican Heritage Plaza in San Jose May 30th 2026

ICE’s practices are notorious
Protesters
Many community members and organizations were in attendance


On May 30th, 2026, in San Jose, hundreds of people were demanding to stop the proposed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) concentration camps in Gilroy and Dublin. There have been up to 51 immigrants that have died in detention, which is too many! The Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) Dublin was closed last year because of survivor-led organizing after years of horrific staff sexual abuse, retaliation, and medical neglect. All Rights Reserved


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ICE Out of Elmwood

The 46 shoes represent the ICE detainees
In unity with the 46 ICE detainees

Melt ICE





On Wednesday, March 4, 2026, a local coalition of community groups, held a spirited rally and march in front of the Elmwood County Jail in Milpitas, California, denouncing ICE. Forty-six people have been detained by ICE for over six months since their release from Elmwood County Jail. ICE immediately re-arrested them when they were released from Elmwood Jail. ICE continues to target immigrants who wish to return home to their families, and law enforcement authorities often cooperate. The Santa Clara County Counsel and County Sheriffs said that rearresting people leaving Elmwood does not violate the community’s sanctuary policy. However a San Jose NAACP spokesperson speculated that the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office probably notified ICE about the release of the 46 detainees. All Rights Reserved

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Venezuela Emergency Protest

Venezuela emergency protest at Mexican Heritage Plaza San Jose January 4th 2026 guassian blur filter
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Hands Off Mass Mobilization Saturday April 5, 2025 San Jose

A common theme at the demo


ICE violently and illegally arrested Ulises, a 30-year old husband, father, and resident, on Friday, Feb. 21, 2025, after he was leaving for work, resulting in hospitalization. ICE officers verbally abused Ulises, smashed in his car window with a baton, and violently dragged him out of his car. He is now at risk of being transferred to ICE custody instead of allowed to go home to his family. For questions, please contact the Santa Clara County Rapid Response network at rrninscc@amigosdeguadalupe.org and Elena Hodges at elena@pangealegal.org.

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Defending Our Communities, Schools, Neighborhoods, and Healthcare Against the Autocratic Billionaire Coup February 28, 2025 Palo Alto

Starting point of march
Immigrant women fighting to become citizens
Immigrant worker speaking out
Marching to the Tesla Building
Rally in front of the Tesla building in Palo Alto

Trumpland where fantasy clashes with reality but it’s not Disneyland

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Rapid Response Network Volunteer Training SJ January 11, 2025

Jesus Ruiz RRN & Pangea Legal Services
Training participants
Entire audience


On January 11, 2025 over 125 people participated in a San Jose Japantown training by the Rapid Response Network (RRN) of Santa Clara County. The RRN in Santa Clara County defends immigrant families against threats of deportation and assists with the arrest or detention of a community member. The Rapid Responder Volunteer Trainings initially started during the Trump administration starting in 2017. Immigrant deportations only victimize and criminalize people without really solving the immigration issue. The training was organized by San Jose Nikkei Resisters and co-sponsored by PACT: People Acting in Community Together, Asian Law Alliance, Nihonmachi Outreach Committee, San Jose and Sequoia chapters of the JACL, Wesley United Methodist Church and the San Jose Buddhist Church Betsuin.


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Nikkei Lantern


The Nikkei Lantern was created for the perseverance of Japanese Americans. The Lantern is made of white steel, stands over 36 feet high, and it is lit from within by LEDs. This symbol is located on the corner of 5th Street and Jackson in San Jose Japantown. The light at the top the lantern represents eternal hope and serves as reminder of the hardships the Nikkei faced. The lantern inscription, February 19, 1942 represents the date when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066 that interned over 100,000 Japanese Americans to internment camps. The Nikkei Lantern was part of a project funded by California State Senate Bill 307 and the City of San Jose to commemorate the Japanese American experience and was completed in 2008.



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Free Palestine Encampment UC Berkeley 5-2-2024

Why students are protesting

Sproul Plaza UC Berkeley in Berkeley, CA
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San Jose Japantown Pinoytown Mural

 

 

Pinoytown mural finished February 13, 2024
Analyn (Ana) Bones & Jordan Gabriel
Picture of Jordan, Analyn, and Abraham Menor using slow shutter & rear curtain synch
Jordan Gabriel close up
Analyn & Jordan posing in front of mural with their painting tools
Mural outline on the 2nd day of mural project

 

 

The beginnings on Pinoytown started from a 1887 Chinese immigrant settlement in San Jose that was also burned down in 1887 due to racial discrimination. Because of those reasons John Heinlein formed Heinlenville Chinatown on North 6th Street between Jackson and Taylor Streets in San Jose as a means of protection against hostility. Later on the first wave of Filipinos immigrants came to America in 1920s to the 1930s. Then during 1942 the Japanese-Americans were shipped to internment camps so some buildings and vacant buildings were filled by Filipinos and became Pinoytown. During the height of Pinoytown there were Filipino businesses and residences on both sides of 6th Street from restaurants, pool halls, barber shops, grocery stores, laundries, a church, barangay organizations, and a Filipino Youth Club. But Pinoytown declined in the 1960s due to demographic changes.

 

 The Pinoytown mural artists are Jordan Gabriel and Analyn (Ana) Bones. They were supported and assisted by Rene Munoz, Abraham Menor, and Robert Ragsac. The mural is located in San Jose Japantown on the corner of 6th & Jackson in San Jose Japantown (Kogura’s). Assistance of the mural came from Empire Seven Studios & Kogura Company and sponsored by Filipino American National Historical Society Santa Clara Valley.

 

 

https://www.fanhs-scv.org/

 

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San Jose Guadalupe Interim Housing

Guadalupe Interim Housing entrance & exit LiveMoves San Jose

Robert Smith, a program director of the LifeMoves site, gives Japantown Neighborhood Association (JNA) & other nearby neighborhood associations a public tour

Wider view of Guadalupe Interim Housing facility

Laundry Room (free) at the Guadalupe Interim Housing

Resident is just moving in today

There is a new interim (temporary) shelter for San Jose’s growing homeless population at the approximately $17 million Guadalupe Interim Housing (Guadalupe Parkway & Mission Street) created by LifeMoves. LifeMoves is a nonprofit organization dedicated to finding solutions to homelessness in Silicon Valley. This is a facility for people who have been living in the homeless encampment near Guadalupe River & Spring Street in San Jose. This project is part of the Bridge Program, a project of the City of San Jose that hires homeless people to pick up trash. Residents of the shelter are told to follow rules such as daily welfare checks and weekly room checks. However, the staff is respectful to the residents. At the present time, there are 22 residents in the facility, with a future capacity of 96 residents. There is a community kitchen and laundry room on site. A case management office provides on-site services. The facility will have a friendly 16:1 staff to client ratio. In addition, residents will be offered employment with Goodwill and hopefully transition to permanent housing in the future.

https://www.lifemoves.org/