Season 2. Episode 9. The Harbor Area Peace Patrol

Transcript

INTRO (HOST NARRATION)

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 Hey folks, welcome back to the Harbor Area Podcast.

Over the last several months, a lot of us in Los Angeles, and especially here in the harbor, have been feeling something different in the air. Reports of ICE activity have gone from rumors to daily reality: day laborers picked up outside Home Depot, workers taken from car washes and restaurants, and federal agents staging on Terminal Island before fanning out across Los Angeles County, Orange County, and beyond.

Families are changing their routines. Parents are checking Instagram stories before letting their kids walk to school. People are wondering if it’s safe to stop for gas or even go to work. And while our elected officials and agencies debate what is or isn’t technically happening, neighbors on the ground are watching something very real unfold: raids that are tearing people away from their jobs, their homes, and their loved ones.

Today’s episode is about how a community decided not just to scroll past the fear, but to organize against it.

In June 2025, as ICE became a daily presence here, a group of teachers, parents, faith leaders, and neighbors came together to form Harbor Area Peace Patrol—HAPP—a volunteer effort built around three simple ideas: observe, document, and share information.

This isn’t a think tank. It isn’t a big nonprofit with a big budget. It’s people in cars at six in the morning checking grocery stores, schools, churches, day labor corners, and yes, Terminal Island, to help keep their neighbors safe and informed.

In this conversation, you’ll hear from Tina and Nada of Harbor Area Peace Patrol about how HAPP started with a scare at a daycare, how it grew into daily patrols and rapid response, and what it’s like to face down raids, intimidation, and burnout while still trying to build a culture of care, mutual aid, and hope.

This episode talks frankly about ICE raids, kidnappings, and trauma. It also talks about courage, community, and the belief that we don’t have to accept this as normal.

Let’s get into it.

INTERVIEW

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Joel: So folks, today we’re having a conversation with Tina and Nada about the Harbor Area Peace Patrol—an organization made up of community members in the harbor area that was established in June of 2025. I’m going to go ahead and pass the mic over to them so they can introduce themselves.

Nada: Hi, I’m Nada. I’m with Harbor Area Peace Patrol. Thanks for having me.

Tina: Yeah, I’m really happy to be here. My name is Tina.

Joel: Awesome. Thank you both so much for coming to the Harbor Area Podcast to talk about this subject matter. While it’s not new to the area—this has happened here historically—today the Harbor Area Peace Patrol is covering it in real time.

So I’m going to start with some questions, and then you, Tina and Nada, can decide who wants to respond. To begin: in regards to Harbor Area Peace Patrol, or HAPP, so we don’t get tongue-tied, what does your day-to-day work look like? How often are you patrolling, what are your areas of focus, and who participates?

Tina: Sure. So we’re all about three things: observe, document, and share information with the community.

We patrol primarily in San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island—the Harbor Area—and we patrol every morning. We’re a group of community volunteers: teachers, parents, retired people, just neighbors, people who live in the community.

Every weekday morning, starting at 6:00 a.m., we meet up at an agreed-upon location and divide up into cars. We go over our protocols first. We make sure each car has the materials we need for patrols, and we decide who’s going to cover which route.

Joel: What are you looking for when you’re out there?

Nada: Our group is really focused on trying to make sure ICE is not in our community, and on helping community members understand when it’s safe to go out and do their regular day-to-day activities.

Another part of our work includes going to Terminal Island, where we know for sure ICE is there, because they stage there and drive out from Terminal Island every day before raids across L.A. County, Orange County, and sometimes even San Diego or Ventura.

Tina: That’s really how our group developed. Harbor Area Peace Patrol started in June when ICE became a fixture here and really began terrorizing our community. Our group came about to monitor and observe what they were doing.

When Nada was describing the community patrol, it’s really about making sure ICE isn’t there so our families and friends feel like they can go out. We post alerts on Instagram so that other neighborhoods across L.A. and Orange County can be on the lookout for these ICE vehicles if they come into their communities.

Joel: Was this an organization that sprouted from another organization? How did you all come in contact and agree to form HAPP?

Tina: The founders of HAPP came from different organizations. We have teachers from the teachers’ union in L.A. We have folks affiliated with Unión del Barrio, which is a grassroots immigrant community advocacy organization in California and beyond. We’re affiliated with them.

And then our local group, San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice, is an organization that initially sponsored HAPP and still sponsors HAPP.

I can talk about how we started in June.

Joel: Yes, please.

Tina: We all knew ICE was coming to L.A. in a major way. I’m a parent in LAUSD, and I have friends who are teachers. Our founder is a teacher and a parent. I had heard that ICE was showing up on the last day of school in June. ICE was showing up at graduations.

Then I heard through a teacher friend that another teacher decided to start this group because she had gotten a tip from her kids’ daycare that ICE was coming there—coming to go after workers or whoever was at the daycare.

She called friends from San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice, and folks showed up ready to do whatever they had to do to protect the children and workers at the daycare. It ended up being a false alarm, but it was extremely scary and extremely alarming for the people involved and the community at large.

As a result of that, our founder decided to spread the word—just word of mouth: “If you’re interested in doing something about protecting the community, let’s get a meeting together and train patrollers.” She was connected with Unión del Barrio, and they’ve been doing these kinds of patrols for decades. They came out and trained us at that initial meeting: how to observe for ICE, what ICE vehicles look like, what to look for.

So again, we’re all about observe, document, and share information with the community. That’s what they trained us to do, and that’s how it initially got started.

Joel: What are the goals of HAPP?

Nada: The goals are really to observe, document, and share what we’re seeing relative to ICE activity in the Harbor Area. The ultimate goal is to protect our community and help people feel safer.

We don’t want to see ICE. We often say we’re looking for “not ICE.” We’re not hoping to see them; we’re looking to make sure the shopping center is clear so people can get their groceries, go to the laundromat, live their lives. We’re driving all over town, and when we haven’t seen them, we want to let people know: “Hey, we haven’t seen them.”

So it’s like marking places as clear, marking them as safe.

Tina: I would say our goals have evolved a bit. When I started, it was all about patrolling for a couple of hours every morning and letting people know what we see and don’t see. That was pretty much it.

Things have really evolved. We might mark a place as clear, and then we find out that ICE has come to that location. Home Depots are a big one we didn’t mention earlier. Home Depot is a huge part of our patrols because they’ve been such a big target.

So we might clear it in the morning and then find out that ICE has shown up later at, say, the Wilmington Home Depot. What we’ll do then is put out that information to our group and see if anyone is in the area and can go and document. We’ll go out and try to document if they’re actually there.

That’s evolved into rapid response. We’ll find that our patrollers show up and maybe ICE has just left—but they’ve left people traumatized. They’ve kidnapped somebody. They’ve left their family members or coworkers behind. Their vehicle is left, their belongings are left, and nobody knows what to do.

So we’ve evolved from just patrolling to also doing some rapid response. A subset of us does rapid response and aftercare.

Joel: Aftercare?

Tina: Yeah. Aftercare includes letting people know what resources they have. We’ve raised money for people whose family members have been kidnapped and can’t keep working. They’re not able to sell fruit, or whatever they were doing. We’ve done fundraisers for community members.

Nada has done more rapid response and aftercare than I have, so she can talk more about that.

Nada: That part is pretty emotional and mentally draining. There’s a lot of work with families to make sure they can find their kidnapped family member. It’s been really challenging to find out what detention center someone might be in—Is that downtown L.A.? Victorville? Somewhere else? Did they get deported already?

We help them get legal resources, free legal help when possible. And that’s led to mutual aid as well. From our outreach with day workers at Home Depots or car washes, we find out, “Hey, they’re not eating well. They don’t have funds to make rent.”

So we might help them find resources to get what they need. There was a situation where somebody’s home fridge had broken down and someone in the community found a replacement fridge in 24 hours. We just band together and figure out how to solve these problems for our neighbors.

Joel: How do you figure out among your team which part of town you’re going to surveil first?

Nada: We usually have two to three people per car. We decide which zone each car will cover—part of San Pedro or Wilmington. Because we all live in and know the area, we don’t sketch out a rigid, prescribed route.

We hit the areas commonly visited by our neighbors: grocery stores, car washes, schools, parks. We drive around and we hope we don’t see ICE. When we don’t, we mark those areas as clear, and that goes up on our social media so neighbors and community members know we didn’t see ICE staging or preparing for operations that morning in those locations.

Tina: We thought we’d be patrolling for a few weeks—maybe just through the summer. It’s now been six months, and ICE is still here. Our group is only more motivated and more committed to continuing to be a presence that makes ICE’s work harder and protects our community.

Joel: Thank you for participating in this type of work. How did you become involved, or what inspired you to get involved? This isn’t an easy volunteer job. This isn’t something typical people sign up to do.

Tina: No, it’s not. I started following Harbor Area Peace Patrol’s Instagram pretty much when they started in June. I was literally googling and searching for ICE activity: “Where is it happening? What’s going on?” and their Instagram was suggested to me. I started following it.

Even then, it still took me about two months to get up the courage to actually reach out, DM them, and say, “Hey, I want to join; I’d like to help.” I also had to rearrange my schedule a bit—waking up early to be able to join them on community patrols.

What really inspired me was one day seeing one of their posts that said: “We don’t see ICE here in San Pedro. Watch out downtown L.A. in MacArthur Park.” That was the day they did a very large raid in MacArthur Park. I thought, “Oh my gosh, these folks really know what they’re doing. They have good intel. There’s something to this.”

That’s when I decided to reach out: “Hey, I’d like to get involved.” I’ve been out at Terminal Island. I’ve done a lot of community patrols. I’m leading my first community patrol tomorrow morning. And we’re doing public outreach and events like this podcast, as well as tabling at other events throughout town.

Joel: What does a “lead” do?

Tina: It’s helpful for each patrol to have one person who’s looking out for everyone—making sure we are adhering to our values, setting the tone in the morning before we separate and do our individual patrols.

Joel: I can definitely see how you’ve gone from notifying people about ICE to becoming a larger resource for these communities. How do you measure success? What does a “win” look like to your organization?

Nada: I think the biggest win would be ICE getting off Terminal Island. We would love to see that happen. We’d love to see our community rise up, and our elected officials take a stand and really get ICE out of that location—and out of L.A. as a whole. They really shouldn’t be here.

We’d like them to be accountable to us as a community, as taxpayers and voters, but also as human beings. No one should be treated this way.

Other measures of success: I’m learning a lot about my neighbors. I’m meeting them. I’ve only lived in San Pedro for a year and a half, and I’ve found this to be a very welcoming community. Everyone is very friendly. This type of community building makes us stronger and has given me a personal sense of purpose as well.

Joel: Given everything you’ve shared, what is HAPP’s thinking about how elected officials could get more involved in this work?

Tina: We’ve reached out and had meetings and communication with all the elected officials we could possibly reach—our councilmember Tim McOsker, who’s very supportive; Supervisor Janice Hahn, who’s very supportive; and our congresswoman’s office, Congresswoman Nanette Barragán. We’ve gone to city council and neighborhood council meetings and talked to people.

There are several things they can do, but what we always say in HAPP is that we’re not going to wait around for somebody to save our community. We can’t just wait around for electeds to do what they should already be doing: protecting their community members.

One thing they could really do is put pressure on local police to actually protect the community instead of protecting ICE—because that’s essentially what we see. We’ve talked to police, and what they say is, “We just have to keep people safe.” But what we’re seeing on videos is that they’re not keeping people safe.

They say, “We’re not collaborating with ICE. We’re not coordinating with them.” But if you do nothing while they’re kidnapping people in your community and engaging in extremely unsafe behaviors, what does that mean? From our observations, ICE agents drive around in unmarked cars. They switch license plates. They wear masks. They don’t have badges or identification. They don’t answer questions about who they are or who they work for. So if something happens and a crime is committed—and it is—who is accountable?

Our electeds could start with real enforcement of safety protocols and laws. But we’re not going to sit around and wait to be saved by our electeds. That’s why we’ve taken things into our own hands: keeping each other as safe as possible, not doing anything illegal, just using our free speech, our freedom to record, social media, and connections with neighbors.

We’re not responsible for what the electeds do or don’t do. We give them information, tell them what we’re doing, and argue our case. People are very supportive in their words, but we can’t wait for their actions. We’re doing what we can within our power to protect our community.

Nada: I’ll add that we share as much as possible the stories we see with elected officials. If they’re not aware of the incidents we see in the community, they’re not able to advocate for us or fight for us.

The mutual aid, the intimidation from ICE, the raids and kidnappings—those are all relevant pieces of information that need to get to our mayor and city council officials. More broadly, I think there are just too many people who don’t believe it’s happening. They think it’s not happening. I’m just going to say it.

Joel: I find it amazing that community members are putting your own lives at risk—whatever that risk looks like—to protect the community. And the Port Commissioners should also be accountable to us as a community. I mean, that’s where ICE is staging—from their land. What has the Port said? What have the commissioners said? Have you heard any feedback?

Tina: We had some meetings with them earlier on. They didn’t like that it was happening. They brought in the Port Police to ask, “What can be done? What’s going on? Are you coordinating? Are you doing something about this?”

The Port Police official made some statements, using what one of our patrollers cleverly called “semantic dodgeball”—just words to say, “We’re technically not coordinating, but we have to do X, we have to do Y.”

Nothing really came of those meetings. I could theorize about why the Port is doing X, Y, or Z, and the politics involved between being the Port of L.A. and the federal government right now. It’s a balancing act for the Port if they need federal funds, which they do.

I don’t want to speculate too much, because I’m not an expert. This is just based on things I’ve heard here and there. Again, I can’t speak for those electeds and officials. That’s not my main concern. My concern every day is: What can I do for my neighbors? What can I do for my community? Do I have time today to patrol? Do I have time tomorrow to patrol?

I don’t have a lot of time to attend endless meetings and hear a lot of hot air. We need to see action, because people are being taken every day. That’s where we come in. We’re trying to be proactive about putting information out there, and as I said earlier, our work has evolved into being reactive and doing the aftercare too.

Joel: Thank you for being vulnerable and sharing that. Are there any memorable stories or moments that have stayed with you from your work?

Tina: Oh my gosh, so many—mainly because they all start early in the morning.

We’re outside, in our community, out in nature early in the morning. Everyone has their favorite crane or seagull or sea lion. People comment on rainbows or the way the harbor looks at sunrise.

I’ll touch on some of the positive ones and let Nada talk about some of the scarier incidents, to the extent she’s comfortable.

We’ve had wonderful orientation meetings in the community. We get together for breakfast. We do breathing exercises sometimes before patrol. We have patrollers from religious institutions—pastors, ministers. We really believe in taking care of ourselves first, as patrollers. This is emotional work, so we want to take care of our mental and emotional health before we can help our neighbors.

We’re starting to do more business outreach—sharing posters that businesses can put in their windows saying ICE is not welcome here, and that they will protect the immigrant community.

When we’re able to fundraise for the families of people who’ve been kidnapped, or when we’ve advocated for someone’s release and they are actually released, those are big, happy days for us at HAPP.

We’ve had some really fun social events geared toward awareness. In the summer we had a “No Ice for ICE” event on Terminal Island—an ice cream social with big signs like “No Ice Cream for ICE.” We recently had a Halloween dress-up party where we all got into costumes—“scare ICE off Terminal Island” energy. So everybody dressed up, we went down to Terminal Island with our signs, trying to make it social. It’s not exactly “fun,” but it’s a way to show ICE they’re not getting under our skin. This is our home. We’re going to be here.

Those are some of my favorite memories—us getting together doing something unique and different that still aligns with our goals.

On the not-so-fun side…

Joel: Yeah, I was going to ask about that. Are there memorable moments that are just not fun?

Tina: I remember the first time we cleared an area and then, 10 minutes later, ICE showed up. We felt like we’d let the community down. Patrollers felt that at first: “We failed.”

But then we remind ourselves we’re doing what we can. We showed up. And as soon as we heard ICE had shown up, a bunch of us shifted into response mode rather than just being proactive.

When we show up and ICE is there, they do not like people recording them. They don’t like doing what they’re doing in front of a lot of people. The more people show up and put that pressure on, the more they want to leave quickly.

So maybe they showed up aiming to take five people and they only took one. While it’s horrible that they took even one person, we take some solace in the fact that they could have taken so many more, but we showed up and made a scene so they left quickly.

The things that really stay with me are when we learn about a fruit vendor who’s kidnapped, then we do mutual aid for their families, and they write us a letter thanking us. That stays with me. Or the messages we get every day—emails, Instagram DMs that say, “Thank you so much for what you’re doing. I check your Instagram stories every day before I let my parents leave the house,” or “My parents check your stories every day before they leave in the morning.” That really, really stays with me.

Joel: What qualities or skills are you looking for in volunteers? How can people get involved?

Nada: We’re looking for more of our own community members to come help us out—especially if you live in Wilmington or San Pedro. We have volunteers from all over the South Bay and beyond some days, but folks who live and work in Wilmington and San Pedro know the community best.

They’ll say, “Hey, there’s a park where kids are going to be later in the day, let’s check that out and make sure it’s clear in the morning.” That’s why we don’t have rigid routes. Folks come up with their own routes in the places they want to protect.

As far as skills, local folks are really helpful. Nada was raised here. I’ve only been here a year and a half, so I’ve learned a lot from her.

We’re also looking for people who can stay calm. You don’t expect to see ICE—you really hope you don’t—but if they do show up, we’re not there to confront them. We’re not obstructing anything; we just want to document. That’s our main goal in those situations.

If they hurl insults at us or threaten us, we don’t respond. We show that we’re there to help our neighbors and observe, but we’re not getting into verbal or physical fights with them. That’s not our goal at all. That’s part of the values we read before each patrol.

We’re also not looking for thrill-seekers or folks from outside our community who just want to confront ICE. That’s absolutely not our goal.

Nada: I’d add that we’re looking for anybody who wants to do something about this problem. If you have an hour a week—maybe an hour and a half—we’ll train you. We’ll make sure you have what you need. We’re never sending anyone out alone, and we have protocols and community agreements. We prepare anyone who wants to join us.

We’re very diverse—people from all walks of life. We don’t vet or screen you. We always say: if you show up to patrol at six in the morning and you do the work, you’re in. If you continue to show up, you’ll continue to be part of our group.

We understand people don’t have a lot of time, but if you even have one or two hours a week, we’ll find a role. And I’d say we’re a very organized group. Beyond patrol, there are other ways to volunteer too. Some people need to be at home while they help—that’s fine. There’s a job for everyone.

Joel: How would listeners contact you?

Tina: Email is probably the best way: HarborAreaPeacePatrols@gmail.com
—“patrols” with an S at the end.

I’d highly encourage anyone to check out our Instagram first so you can see what we’re doing each day. You can DM us there, but email may be faster.

Joel: And what’s your Instagram handle?

Tina: It’s the same: @HarborAreaPeacePatrols.

Joel: Are there any logistical or legal considerations that volunteers should know before joining? I know it’s early…

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Nada: Yeah, 6:00 a.m. is early—and I’m not a morning person.

Tina: Neither am I! It’s hard, but it’s doable. Now that it’s getting colder, you bundle up, grab your coffee, and think of it as a drive with a friend or neighbor—getting to know someone while you help your community.

In terms of legal considerations: we’re not doing anything illegal. We’re not trying to be subversive. We wear bright yellow vests when we’re out there. We’re not trying to hide from ICE; we’re letting them know we’re there and that we’re watching.

People sometimes assume, “Oh, don’t do anything illegal,” but that’s not what this is. We make that very clear to anyone who wants to join us.

Nada: We’re also part of a larger community self-defense coalition across Los Angeles, connected with Unión del Barrio and other organizations. We’ve spoken with legal experts, and if anything were to come up, we as a group would support our patrollers. They wouldn’t be left to their own devices with no legal help. We’re connected to a lot of resources.

The biggest logistical issue is just getting up, getting down to the patrol site, and doing the patrol. That’s really it.

Joel: What are the biggest challenges you’ve faced as a volunteer-driven group?

Tina: Honestly, a lot of the biggest challenges I’ve seen in other groups like this have already been addressed by our leadership. They’re super organized. What really allowed me to come back over and over again is that they made it easy. Someone behind the scenes is handling Instagram, emails, logistics—so I don’t have to worry about how to “create a new group.” I can just patrol.

There’s also a big focus on self-care, which is really nice. Anyone in the group can say, “Hey, you’ve had a lot going on—both with patrol and your personal life—maybe take a step back, take a week off, a month off.” We have those open discussions.

I see other rapid response groups where everybody feels like they have to be at every raid, confronting ICE every single time, and they feel a ton of guilt if they’re not. Here, I think we have enough people and we’ve divided the work so that it’s more sustainable.

Nada: I think that being said, one challenge is longer-term sustainability. We don’t know how long this is going to go on. We don’t know how long ICE is going to be here. There’s no end in sight. They just got more funding. We’re under this administration for another three-plus years.

Those of us who are the core of this group, and whoever can manage it, are in it for the long haul. But there’s burnout. People have to take breaks for family, work, travel, holidays. We really want more people to join us so we can give each other breaks and no one burns out. And when more people join, it spreads into the community—more and more people taking on this responsibility.

When people get involved, it makes you feel like you’re contributing to a solution instead of feeling hopeless. It is a challenge, but once people get involved, it’s really rewarding. We just need more people.

Another challenge is creating boundaries for yourself. Being able to say, “Okay, I’m turning notifications off. I need to focus on my family tonight. I can’t be everywhere ICE is right now. I did my patrol this week; I need to focus.”

You can get sucked in because it’s dramatic, scary, emotional—and it’s your neighborhood. It can get overwhelming. Doing this work means you have to find that balance, and we help each other with that.

Joel: How is HAPP preparing for the holidays?

Tina: We’re expecting to patrol as normal—definitely through Thanksgiving. All the schedules are the same. We’ve made some adjustments based on what we see ICE doing—if they’re coming in earlier or later.

I’d expect that through Christmas and New Year’s, it’ll be the same. We’re geared up for groups to be out there every day to help our community. People still need to work. They still need to make money and support themselves. And we expect ICE is also going to be kidnapping every day. I wish we lived in a world where no one is out there on Christmas or Thanksgiving taking people away, but we can’t count on that.

Nada: We plan to patrol every day through the holidays. We don’t take days off. We’ve patrolled every single day for more than 150 days straight.

Earlier I mentioned we patrol Monday through Friday at 6:00 a.m., and on weekends we start later—8:00 a.m., because it’s the weekend and people get up later. On Sundays, we really focus on churches. So we’re strategic in that way, but we patrol every day.

Something we probably haven’t said clearly is that there have been raids here in San Pedro. Yesterday was a pretty tough day. At least seven people were kidnapped at places we all know—the ARCO gas station at Gaffey and Channel, restaurants along Gaffey, places along Western.

I can remember three really heavy days: one where 13 people were taken in a single day; seven were taken yesterday. Sometimes we get there and we don’t even know how many people were kidnapped.

Joel: The New Yorker article about your group discusses moments of tension or intimidation volunteers have experienced. How do you approach safety and risk management? Anything you want to really drive home here?

Tina: The main thing for our group is safety in numbers. We never patrol alone. The driver focuses on driving. The other person takes photos and documents. If we’re knocking on car doors just to confirm whether they are or aren’t ICE, there are always multiple people involved. That’s our primary risk management approach.

We also communicate and share our experiences. We debrief after patrol every day. That keeps us connected and safe. Communication is key to risk management.

Joel: If you had a crystal ball, where do you think HAPP is headed in the foreseeable future?

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Nada: I want to say upfront that we are focused on ICE. They’re a negative force in our community and we really want to drive that home. We’re taking this day by day—literally. We will patrol every day that ICE is still in this community.

We want ICE out of our community, out of L.A., out of Terminal Island. But while they’re still here, we will be patrolling. I think we’ll also be doing rapid response, aftercare, mutual aid.

Maybe in the next few years—this is speculation—if ICE leaves and things change for the better, maybe we morph into something else. But I think that’s up to each individual. The glue holding us together right now is the demand: ICE out of L.A.

Everyone involved is also engaged in other things—peace activism, anti-war work, food aid, religious communities, various community activities. But beyond that, our mission for the foreseeable future is getting ICE out of L.A.

Joel: What message would you like to share with residents living in neighborhoods where enforcement activity is more common?

Tina: We want them to know there is hope—and that we can win if we band together.

Our outreach with day workers at Home Depots has been really meaningful. They really appreciate that there are other people looking out for them—that their neighbors here are looking out for them. We work with the Hill Network, passing out care packages that include food, whistles, and other things because they’re just out there trying to make a living.

That’s the message I’d give to people feeling fear and not wanting to leave their homes: you’re not alone. And I think they should share their stories too. Sharing their fear—how ICE intimidation in L.A. has affected their families, schools, or churches—can resonate with policymakers and encourage neighbors to get involved with us and patrol.

I think about that a lot when ICE is at car washes and Home Depot.

Nada: I think it’s important for people in vulnerable communities to know their rights. That’s why we pass out “Know Your Rights” cards and other materials. We encourage people to connect with their neighbors, make sure they have important phone numbers for friends, family, neighbors—people they can contact if something happens. And share their stories if they feel safe doing so.

Honestly, I can’t imagine being in their shoes. I feel privileged and relatively safe out in the community doing this activity. I think if we can make sure we’re spreading information and people know their rights, we can show that they can’t scare us into capitulating.

Joel: Are there misconceptions about your work that you’d like to clarify?

Tina: Yes. I want to be very clear: we’re not doing anything illegal. We don’t dox people. We’re not out to harm anyone or ruin someone’s life. We’re out there to protect our community.

Joel: Can you clarify what you mean by “dox”?

Tina: Doxing is when people publish online information about someone they want to harm or expose—their address, their name, their employer, and so on. We don’t do that.

I think ICE agents wear masks because they don’t want their identities known. They fear us doxing them, but that’s not part of our work.

Given that we’re out in the community with our phones out taking photos and videos, sometimes members of the public think we’re trying to expose them or reveal their private information. We’re not trying to do that either. Where we are, there are fire department officials, Coast Guard personnel, federal prison staff, and other people who are just out and about. Any info we accidentally capture about those community members—we’re deleting it. We’re not interested in that.

Joel: Is there a story from your experience that really captures why this work matters?

Nada: There are so many. We get daily affirmations on our Instagram—people commenting, liking, sharing. The people who manage the Instagram get private messages as well. Sometimes more prominent community members say kind things to us.

The most meaningful messages come from people who’ve been kidnapped or their family members—because this has really torn apart their lives. Hearing from them really means a lot.

There was a father taken at Home Depot, and we got connected with his family. We raised money for his daughters, and they were so appreciative. These are real people with families and lives. That affirmation is powerful.

Tina: I also think about how ICE has clearly noticed us. It seems to make them act differently—maybe more conscientious while driving in and out of Terminal Island because they know we’re documenting them. They’re trying to hide who they are because they know we’re documenting them. Maybe they’re taking different routes, or they have to operate more in secret now because they know people like us are out there watching.

I like to think we’re making their job harder. Maybe we can’t stop them, but we’ll keep trying. When I hear or observe things that show ICE knows we’re there watching, it makes me feel like we’re being effective.

Joel: What can listeners do to support or get involved? Does Harbor Area Peace Patrol have a nonprofit people can donate to, or how does that work?

Tina: We’re always looking for community patrollers, like we mentioned. We encourage anyone interested to email or DM us on Instagram.

We also take donations. We’re not a 501(c)(3), but we do survive on baked goods—that’s a big community-building aspect of our work. Someone always manages to bring cookies or coffee to those early morning patrols.

We also have T-shirts being sold at Kelly Moco. Donations, T-shirts, all of that supports our work. And there are ways to volunteer where you’re not on patrol—assembling folders, care packages, flyers, and all that behind-the-scenes work.

Joel: Last question: is there anything we haven’t talked about today that you want to make sure listeners understand?

Nada: I think we covered a lot. I’d just say this is something anybody can do to make a difference. If you have even one hour a week—maybe an hour and a half—you can be a really helpful asset to your community.

And we’re a really fun group. We’re nice, we’re welcoming, and we have a lot of different characters in our group. We welcome anybody who’s willing to do this work.

Tina: Yeah, we welcome you.

Joel: A point you’ve raised, and a character trait you’ve both shown, is how courageous you are—along with everyone in HAPP that I haven’t met yet. You take time off work or use your free time, sticking your necks out for people you’ve never met. I want to thank you for doing that, and I want to share how inspired I am today to get involved—not just by putting together this podcast episode, but by actually going out on patrol.

Tina: You’re welcome anytime.

Nada: Thank you.

Joel: I’ll be training with the best. And I did want to mention—because I’ve had several episodes about the Japanese Fishing Village Memorial—that this is where you do your Terminal Island work. Knowing the history of that place, where Japanese Americans were taken away from that area and interned elsewhere during World War II, it’s ironic and very sad that it’s happening again now, in 2025. ICE is locating there and kidnapping folks and taking them away from their homes.

Tina and Nada, thank you so much for your time, your dedication, and for coming on the Harbor Area Podcast to share the work that Harbor Area Peace Patrol is doing.

Tina: Thank you.

Nada: Thanks for having us.

OUTRO (HOST NARRATION)

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What we just heard is that these raids are not abstract headlines. They’re happening at places all of us recognize: the ARCO at Gaffey and Channel, Home Depots in Wilmington, restaurants along Western, churches on Sunday mornings.

We heard about days where seven, ten, even thirteen people were taken. Families left standing in parking lots with no answers, no income, and no idea where their loved ones have been taken.

We also heard how neighbors decided that waiting for someone to save us wasn’t an option.

HAPP started as a response to a tip about ICE coming to a daycare. It grew into daily patrols across San Pedro, Wilmington, and Terminal Island—marking spaces as clear so people can get groceries or go to work, rushing to document raids when they happen, fundraising for families whose primary earner has been kidnapped, and connecting people to legal resources and basic necessities.

They’re doing all of this while staying grounded in safety and care: never patrolling alone, debriefing after every shift, building in rest and boundaries, and insisting that this work be sustainable for the long haul.

And they’re doing it in a place with deep, painful history. Terminal Island—where Japanese American families were taken from their homes during World War II—is again being used as a staging ground to remove people from their communities in 2025.

If you’re listening and wondering, “What can I do?” here are a few starting points:

• Follow Harbor Area Peace Patrol on Instagram at @HarborAreaPeacePatrols to stay informed about ICE activity and community needs.
• If you live or work in San Pedro or Wilmington and can spare even an hour a week, consider joining a patrol or helping with behind-the-scenes work like outreach, care packages, or fundraising.
• Talk to your neighbors. Share stories. Make sure people know their rights and aren’t facing this alone.

The through-line of this episode is simple and radical: we can band together. We can document what is being done in our name. And we can refuse to let fear dictate who gets to feel safe in this harbor.

To Tina, Nada, and everyone with Harbor Area Peace Patrol: thank you for your courage, your consistency, and your love for this place. And to everyone listening, I’ll see you out there. I’m feeling more called than ever not just to talk about this work, but to show up and do it alongside you.

This has been the Harbor Area Podcast. Take care of yourselves, take care of each other, and we’ll catch you next time.