‘If you are going to do something, come at me.’ Community organizer recounts arrest from immigration agents.
Jenaro Ernesto Ayala speaks with The Southlander about the extreme brutality of federal agents and how this impacts the well-being of his community.
Jenaro Ernesto Ayala was working near the Van Nuys Labor Center on July 8, 2025, when his coworkers came looking for him. They wanted his attention to signal that federal agents were approaching the parking lot. It was a parking lot that was shared by the labor center and the nearby Home Depot, an area known for undocumented workers seeking jobs.
When Ayala reached the lot, he observed the agents heading toward a group of women that they intended to take. “If you are going to do something, come at me. Be a man and come at me. Leave them alone,” Ayala recalled telling them on that day.
Ayala, a 43-year-old outreach coordinator for the Van Nuys Day Labor Center, is a community organizer and a candidate running for Los Angeles City Council District 7, which covers Northeast San Fernando Valley areas such as Sylmar, Pacoima, Lake View Terrace, and Mission Hills.
Agents had been patrolling the neighborhood for several weeks, and the community knew who to contact when they returned. Ayala is part of a group of activists who patrol their community looking for ICE or DHS vehicles, in order to inform residents of when they are around and to advise people when to stay inside.
Federal agents claimed that Ayala had a baseball bat and attempted to hurt them. “I didn’t have a bat with me,” Ayala said. After the agents accused Ayala of carrying a weapon, the three men rushed to arrest him. Two tackled him while the other pepper-sprayed him.
“I fell to the floor with my face on the asphalt. I even had burn marks afterward on my face. I had the weight of one guy on the back of my neck, while they were shouting to put my hands behind my back, but I couldn’t because I was being apachurrado (squashed).”
Federal agents claimed that Ayala tried to obstruct law enforcement efforts. But grassroots organizations like CENTRO CSO (Community Service Organization) called for his release. His arrest sparked protests at the Home Depot in Van Nuys, where he is known to the community as an organizer and activist.
Ayala does not regret risking his body to protect the women the agents were trying to detain, “I was able to distract them from taking the others,” said Ayala.
In our interview with Ayala, he reflected on the extreme brutality of federal agents and how this impacts the community’s mental health and the well-being of their families.
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Leo Martinez Update
On Wednesday, federal immigration agents in Simi Valley crashed into the minivan of community watcher Leo Martinez with VC Defensa in Ventura County. According to reporting from LA Taco, Martinez was hospitalized and detained for several hours. He was released later that afternoon.
“[Doing] solid man, the lawyers pulled up and got me out of the hospital,” Martinez said in a text message to The Southlander reporter Abraham Márquez.
This is the third time that Martinez has been brutalized by agents for defending his community. The first occurred on Oct. 16 in Oxnard.
Last year, Martinez spoke with The Southlander about the first time agents rammed into him in his car. You can watch the interview here:
Narciso Barranco’s Deportation Case Dropped
Last month, news broke that a judge dropped the deportation case of Narciso Barranco, a Santa Ana gardener who was brutally detained by immigration agents in July. Two of our reporters, Ben Camacho and Kevin Flores, spent several days with Barranco late last year, filming a mini-documentary that tells the story of how the experience left him and his family traumatized.
The father of three U.S. Marines called the court’s decision a big triumph.
“I thank God that I don’t have to be fearful that (federal immigration agents) will come and get me at any moment,” he said in an interview after the case was dropped.
The Jan. 28 order terminating the deportation case opened a path for Barranco to seek lawful status because of his sons’ military service. Barranco has a pending Parole in Place application, which grants legal status to relatives of veterans.
Watch our mini documentary “Hope is the Only Thing that Keeps You Alive” about Barranco’s arrest and detention below.
Southlander Updates
We have a bunch of exciting updates to share with you!
Last month, we welcomed Zamourad Iqbal to The Southlander team as a social media intern. She joins us thanks to a generous grant from the California Press Foundation. Zamourad has been an outstanding reporter and editor at several student media outlets at Los Angeles Pierce College, including The Roundup and The Bull. She originally comes from India and is living in the U.S. on a student visa. Zamourad will help us build our social media presence while gaining experience in investigative reporting.
We also received a $5,000 emergency needs grant from Tiny News Collective. We will be using the funds to purchase media liability insurance. With the surge of lawsuits targeting journalists and news outlets in recent years, many of them frivolous and designed to silence the press, this is an important step to help protect our reporters and our organization.
🔥 Southlander journalists around the web
Ben Camacho
Ben Camacho wrote about the Santa Ana Police Department looking to acquire drones that were trained and used on Palestinians in Gaza.