Many people seem to expect me to draw this comic forever. You’ve seen the amount of hate that I get for it. Anyone who googles my name will be terrified to even speak to me. Every bit of the person I am is being shred and crushed and mocked. It’s practically destroying my life and any hope that I do anything else in the future, as well as affecting me on physical and mental levels.
Now why am I still doing it? Part of it because making comics is everything I wanted in my life. I guess I could make comics that would make the majority feel good or that aren’t political, but that would feel like betraying my readers. Another part is because those readers are amazing and give me life. People have been sharing their stories with me in a way that would make any creator jealous.
The fact is that I am doing all of this by myself. I never got any help or support from publishers, editors, media, government or visible person of any kind. I’m putting everything in your hands. I trust my readers to keep this project alive. It might make my anxiety peak, as I know that as soon as you grow disinterested in my silly stories, I won’t have any other choice to survive than change my name and return to school.
So please, keep reblogging those stories, like them, comment on them. That’s the reasons why they’re out there. ❤
This is horrific that a young person has had to live with racism all his life and now has to protect his family and others from a racist gang of thugs who only want to hurt brown people like him. He is doing a great thing but he shouldn’t need to do this in the land of the free. Hugs.
Cesar Vasquez, who has supported families of undocumented immigrants since age 14, has become a community lifeline – and a known ICE target
While most 18-year-olds worry about college papers and spring break plans, Cesar Vasquez drives through coastal California farm towns scanning for unmarked SUVs before dawn. He flips down his driver’s seat visor to look at a taped list of license plates he has already identified as Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicles, and jots down a few new ones he suspects could be. His phone buzzes constantly – tips from neighbors, text chains from volunteers alerting to ICE activity – all in an attempt to keep his community safe from being swept up in federal agents’ widening dragnet.
This is what organizing looks like for this son of undocumented immigrants. In his home town of Santa Maria, a small farming town on California’s central coast where over 80% of farm workers are undocumented, Vasquez has become both a crucial community lifeline and a known target of federal immigration enforcement.
Outside the ICE office in Santa Maria, California, Cesar Vasquez and a group of activists gather to decide who will patrol each neighborhood.
Vasquez began volunteering with the 805 Immigrant Rapid Response Network as a high school senior. Last August, he was hired full-time as a rapid response organizer, covering North Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, overseeing volunteers, supporting families and tracking ICE activity.
Routinely, he visits the families of detained immigrants. “There have been so many occasions where I walked through the door, and a kid was expecting their father or mother,” Vasquez said wistfully. “And it was just me, and I had to explain what happened to their parents.”
Other times, for Vasquez, the reality is personal. He recalled in December, speaking with families waiting for news about their detained relatives outside the immigration enforcement office in Santa Maria, when an ICE vehicle slowed down in front of them. The agent’s voice crackled from the car’s speaker, loud enough to carry through the open window: “How’s your mother, Cesar? We’ll go visit her soon.”
Vasquez drove straight home and found his mother washing clothes.
“I took her car keys and told her to stop everything she’s doing. My hands were shaking,” Vasquez said. “I then moved her to a secret location that I have precisely for this moment.”
As the sun rises in Santa Maria, Vasquez continues monitoring ICE activity in his neighborhood. The 18-year-old says he spends more time in his car than anywhere else these days.
Growing up as a birthright citizen of undocumented parents
Vasquez’s mother is one of the thousands of undocumented farm workers in Santa Maria whom he is trying to protect. She left her home in a tiny town in Mexico to cross the US-Mexico border at age 13 in search of a better life. Vasquez’s biological father was one of the first people she encountered – a Guatemalan American whose family was settled in California and who held US citizenship. He was also abusive and never legally married her, keeping her from accessing US citizenship, Vasquez said. When Vasquez was an infant, his mother ran away with her three children to Santa Maria, a town about 150 miles (240km) north of Los Angeles, where she found work in the strawberry fields. She has been trying to secure documentation for more than a dozen years now.
Vasquez distributes flyers on immigration rights to farmworkers in Santa Maria on 6 February.
Strawberry picking is physically demanding work, and the pay is minimal. Pickers spend hours bent over in the fields under the California sun, with no benefits, no sick days and no guaranteed work once the season slows between October and March. Climate change has made the labor even more precarious, disrupting growing cycles and shrinking paychecks. Rising costs of living – rent, food, transportation – have squeezed families further. In Santa Maria, where a two-bedroom apartment can cost $3,000 a month, many families crowd into single rooms or garages.
Built on an economy of strawberries, lettuce and wine grapes, Santa Maria has long depended on undocumented labor while rendering those workers largely invisible. Many arrived during waves of Mexican migration in the 1980s and 90s, settling into a community where immigration enforcement and workplace exploitation became routine. Before Donald Trump’s recent immigration priorities, ICE enforcement in the region tended to be more targeted – focusing on people with criminal convictions or referrals from local jails, rather than broad community sweeps. ICE didn’t even have a holding facility in Santa Maria until 2015.
But since 2025, enforcement has intensified dramatically with rapid‑response trackers documenting more than 620 immigration arrests across Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties, with Santa Maria often at the center of daily apprehensions. These high‑profile raids – often carried out with unmarked vehicles and tactical gear, drawing protests and criticism from community leaders – reflect a broader national surge in immigration enforcement under Trump.
Vasquez holds his mother along the river in Santa Maria. He keeps a feather with him, which he says brings spiritual cleansing when he burns sage.
When Trump was first elected, Vasquez was only nine years old. He was already well-acquainted with the repercussions of growing up in a mixed-status household.
“I mean, it’s common for most children of immigrants to be doing things for their parents like filling out their legal forms, right?” Vasquez said. “But in fourth grade, I had to learn what a warrant looked like and what rights I had.”
He was in a Halloween costume shop, age 14, when it clicked that his fears and concerns weren’t just his own. He overheard a woman at the register, saying she had saved all year to buy her son a costume, but it didn’t fit. The store wouldn’t take it back. Her shirt was stained with strawberries, her exhaustion visible. He’d seen his own mother do the same thing countless times, so he offered to buy the woman’s son the costume.
Building a network at 14
At age 14, Vasquez founded La Cultura Del Mundo, an entirely youth-led organization that eliminates what he calls the “red tape” associated with traditional aid. They prioritize direct, unrestricted support to families in need, asking, “How much do you need?” rather than requiring forms. The group then rapidly mobilizes whatever the family requests, whether that’s cash assistance, groceries, rent help or other essential support.
In August, La Cultura Del Mundo drew national attention when Vasquez organized La Marcha De La Puebla, a national protest against ICE raids that involved nearly 30 cities across 17 states, drawing about 10,000 participants.
Seventeen-year-old Claudia Santos is one of the many young people Vasquez has inspired. “My sister and I heard about a school walkout and just decided to go. After that, Cesar told us about a meeting at city hall, and that’s how I got involved,” Santos said. “I did it because I feel like the kids coming here from Mexico deserve a good future too.”
Vasquez packs up flyers to hand out to the immigrant community as they head to work in Santa Maria.
While Vasquez was organizing in high school, he was simultaneously struggling with his own mental health. He commuted by bus an hour each way to a school in a predominantly white neighborhood with good academic prospects.
When he told his counselor that he had anxiety, “she couldn’t understand that I was uncomfortable because I was brown in a white school, where the principal was racist and the students were racist. It led me to become really suicidal.”
Being misunderstood drove him closer to his community. He transferred to his local school and graduated early. Despite being accepted into San Diego State University, he deferred enrollment.
Most kids who grow up in Santa Maria look forward to leaving. One of Vasquez’s older sisters became a teacher in Los Angeles, the other a graduate student in the UK. But Vasquez likes that the impact of his work is immediate.
Tina van den Heever, one of his teachers from Santa Maria high school, said it was clear Vasquez was a leader with great potential: “To be honest, I worry about his safety, because as we’re seeing, the United States tends to silence people who stand up in the way that he does.”
‘I think about the kids being left behind’
During a four-day raid in late December, Vasquez’s uncle was among the 118 people detained.
“I think about the kids being left behind,” Vasquez said. “The children home for winter break whose parents never returned because of the December raids. And there was no way to know what happened to them because school didn’t reopen until days later.”
Vasquez distributes flyers on immigration rights to parents.
During the raids, flower vendors disappeared from the streets. When Vasquez later visited the area, the children of a family he had gotten close to told him they had gone inside after hearing his warning. They were safe.
The work – the constant alertness, the phone calls at all hours, the weight of knowing families depend on his network – has taken a toll. But he sees no alternative.
“I’m continuously preparing for the worst,” Vasquez said. He keeps a “to-go bag”, extra clothes and cash in his car.
Every time ICE picks up someone in the Central Coast valley, Vasquez plays the same song in his car: Hasta La Piel (Down to My Skin) by the Mexican American artist Carla Morrison. The lyrics speak to having and losing, wanting and not being able to say, intense love and desperate fear of loss – an homage to those who have been detained.
“They want us to be afraid,” he said. “But fear is what keeps people isolated.”
In the back seat of his car, a whiteboard filled with encouraging messages for Vasquez sits alongside an American flag.
Jennifer Chowdhury reported this story while participating in the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s Kristy Hammam Fund for Health Journalism
Horrific abuse of civil rights. ICE is trying to scare people. People have legal right to protest and to follow / record ICE gang thugs. The ICE gang thugs have no authority to arrect citizens as they do not have police powers. Again are we a free people, do we have rights anymore? Hugs
The video played shows how ICE gang thugs narrated a scenario they hoped the courts would believe, but the videos show they rammed the woman, shot her in 2 seconds with no warnings or words, just rammed her car and then shot her five times. The video shows they lied about being boxed in as no one was in front of them. The wanted a legal kill because they were pissed at the people honking their horns at them, with the driver saying it is time to get aggressive. ICE are gang thugs with anger issues who think they have the right to do to people what ever they want. So another couple cases taken to court where they claimed domestic terrorists attacked ICE only to have them dismissed because of the ICE thugs and their bosses lies. But the victims are still stuck with hospital bills, lawyers bills, and car repairs that ICE thugs don’t have to pay for but the victims do. Hugs
The video from the scene showed that the ICE gang thugs lied and made false claims about the shooting of the woman. However the woman still had hospital bills and a damaged car she had to pay. These gang thugs wanted to kill a Hispanic person, wanted to remove a brown person from society. They faked a story, clearly they narrated a story that was not happening at the time so they would have an excuse to attack a person. Hugs
At the end of this clip the guest describes the conditions the kids are being held under in these for profit prisons. Horrible food, prison like conditions which means no freedom of movement, and other things. Remember the boy and his father are here legally like so many others scooped up by these racist ICE goon Gestapo gang thugs and the tRump admin. Hugs
The 2 year old got her hand cut during the attack on him. The father signed his deportation order because he worried they would keep coming back after his daughter and wanted to spare her that. The racists got what they wanted. The video also describes how ICE was arresting people, detaining them, and then releasing them in other parts of the country. Hugs
Trigger warning. This is difficult to watch. ICE threatens a woman who stands up to them and threatens her. Lots of yelling and swearing.
An immigration attorney goes after ICE gang Gestapo thugs who pretend they know the laws and make claims that the lawyer shoots down with ease. However at the start one of the gang thugs reacts angrily and shoves her, then gets in her face to threaten her claiming she shoved him. She told him she was an attorney which seemed to give him pause even though he ran his mouth at her making threats to detain her or take her down, which is a euphemism for a beating. Hugs
Witness testimony at a congressional hearing. I will post clips of their testimonys from MS Now. But please watch this. These are US citizens who committed no crime but being of Hispanic ethnicity. The agent who shot one of the witnesses bragged about it. These descriptions are something we wouldn’t believe it couldn’t happen here, but they are under the fascist government of Stephen Miller. These gang thugs do not think of these people as humans. This is no different from the way Jewish people were treated in Nazi Germany. The thugs were laughing at the disabled woman with a brain injury. They were totally willing to let this woman die. Plus currently there is no way for these assaulted people to recover lost / damaged property and income, and when taken to the hospital for emergency care due to their being assulted / shot by ICE gang thugs the people assaulted have to pay the cost of their treatment, not ICE or the government! Hugs
ICE is a white supremacy white nationlist / Christian nationalist group that is driven to remove nonwhite people and non-Christian people from the country. They are driven by hate and malice. They are former / current gang thugs that live to terrorize those they disagree with or hate. In their minds might makes right and so they always go around in packs picking on easy prey. Hugs
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is investigating allegations that agents left “racist death cards” in the vehicles of detained individuals.
“ICE is investigating this situation but unequivocally condemns this type of action and/or officer conduct. Once notified, ICE supervisors acted swiftly to address the issue,” a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson wrote in a statement to Newsweek. “The ICE Office of Professional Responsibility will conduct a thorough investigation and will take appropriate and swift action.”
Why It Matters
ICE is facing growing scrutiny over its tactics amid President Donald Trump’s ramped up immigration enforcement. Support for the agency has dwindled in recent weeks—a recent YouGov poll found Americans are split about whether to abolish ICE. Forty-five percent each said they support and oppose the proposal. It surveyed 1,722 adults from January 16-19, 2026.
What to Know
In Colorado, an advocacy group named Voces Unidas said last week that ICE agents who detained nine Latino individuals left ace of spades cards inside the abandoned vehicles. The cards identify ICE’s field office in Denver and were later found by their family members, according to the organization’s statement.
Alex Sánchez, president and CEO of Voces Unidas, said in a statement the group was “disgusted” by their actions.
ICE agents approach a house before detaining two people on January 13, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
“Leaving a racist death card behind after targeting Latino workers is deliberate intimidation rooted in a long history of racial violence. This is an abuse of power, and it has no place in any society that claims to value human dignity,” Sánchez said.
During the Vietnam War, soldiers used the Ace of Spades card as an intimidation tactic against the Viet Cong, according to HistoryNet.com. Voces Unidas described their use in Colorado as “deliberate psychological harassment.”
The DHS spokesperson also told Newsweek that ICE is held “to the highest professional standard.”
“As our brave law enforcement arrests and removes dangerous criminal illegal aliens, including murderers, rapists, and gang members from our communities, America can be proud of the professionalism our officers bring to the job day-in and day-out,” the spokesperson said.
ICE has ramped up enforcement in states like Minneapolis and Maine over recent weeks. In Minneapolis, two individuals, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, both 37-year-old U.S. citizens, have been fatally shot by federal agents from ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, drawing increased scrutiny toward the administration’s hardline immigration approach. Some agents are expected to depart from Minneapolis as early as Tuesday.
What People Are Saying
Author Seth Abramson wrote to X: “ICE agents in Colorado have been leaving ace of spades cards behind when they detain someone, a psychological warfare technique the United States Armed Forces used against its mortal enemies during the Vietnam War. If you don’t think Trump is at war with his country, think again.”
The Colorado Democratic Party wrote to X: “This is disgusting on so many levels. Families of those arrested by ICE near Vail say agents left behind branded ‘death cards’ after arrests, a racist intimidation tactic, according to advocates and community leaders. Our communities deserve better, and we await the results of DHS’ investigation.”
What Happens Next
ICE operations continue across the country as Trump aims to carry out his campaign pledge of mass deportations. Criticism is also likely to continue, with a government shutdown possible over funding for ICE over the situation in Minnesota.
Cesar Vasquez, who has supported families of undocumented immigrants since age 14, has become a community lifeline – and a known ICE target
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