Los Angeles Community Group Proposes Siren System to Alert Residents of ICE Presence: Report

In a neighborhood of Los Angeles, a local group has taken a unique approach to alert residents and business owners about the presence of federal immigration agents by using sirens.

The Highland Park Community Support group, comprising local community members, has successfully raised funds through crowdfunding to purchase air raid sirens for this purpose.

Amanda Alcalde, the founder of the group, expressed her intentions to KTLA, saying, “Our goal is to eventually have these sirens installed along various streets so that people can take shelter.” She added, “I’ve witnessed a lot of fear in people’s eyes. Our ethnic minority communities are noticeably absent in daily activities, which marks a significant change. It almost feels dystopian.”

In preparation for the installation, Alcalde has distributed flyers to inform neighbors about the sirens, which she hopes to have in place by the end of the month, according to the news report.

Alcalde has posted flyers alerting neighbors about the sirens, which she hopes to begin installing later this month, the news outlet reported. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the support group. 

DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin called the initiative “quite literally insane.”

“The residents of Highland Park want to buy an air raid siren—the same device that was used in London when German planes flew over—to alert the community about ICE,” she told Fox News Digital. “Seems like a public nuisance!

Organizers told the news outlet they were working with homeowners and businesses to place the sirens on private property, rather than city-owned spaces. 

A group in one Los Angeles neighborhood is reportedly crowdfunding to install sirens to warn of ICE agents in the area. (Philip A. Dwyer/Bellingham Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty Images and Google Maps)

They were inspired by anti-ICE agitators in Minneapolis, who have confronted federal authorities targeting criminal illegal immigrants in that city. 

On the street, volunteers have distributed ICE alert whistles, encouraging residents to warn each other when enforcement activity is seen.

“We don’t directly get ourselves involved with ICE, but we will get involved in protecting the community to stay in their office or home,” activist David Trujillo told the outlet. 

McLaughlin noted that some of the criminal illegal immigrants in Highland Park being shielded by the siren organizers include Carlos Danilo Barrera, a citizen of El Salvador and member of the Florencia 13 gang, who was previously convicted for second-degree murder in Los Angeles.

Others include Diego Cardona, a criminal illegal immigrant from Guatemala and 18th street gang member, who was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in Los Angeles. Others include citizens of Afghanistan, Mexico and elsewhere with convictions in Caliornia for robbery, driving under the influence and burglary.

Meanwhile. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass recently issued a directive to curtail ICE activity on city property.