Watch: Hundreds protest Border Patrol’s Central Valley raids at Fresno demonstration
Hundreds of people gathered Sunday for a peaceful demonstration at Fresno’s River Park shopping center in protest of the Border Patrol’s three-day operation in the Central Valley.
Protesters arrived just after 9 a.m. at Blackstone and Nees avenues to voice their displeasure over the raids that began in Kern County earlier this week.
The operation resulted in 78 arrests, and targeted specific undocumented criminals on a list that focused on sex, drug and human trafficking crimes, including child rape, according to Border Patrol officials.
Still, the description of an operation that solely targeted criminals also has been contradicted by numerous accounts from residents and immigration rights advocates who say Border Patrol agents detained dozens more people. An assistant chief patrol agent told The Bee earlier in the week that there were individuals arrested who were not on the list.
Several demonstrators who spoke with The Bee on Sunday said the Border Patrol’s presence in the Central Valley has worried undocumented immigrants and their families of the possibility of more deportation raids.
A Sanger resident held a sign of her grandfather and voiced support for the immigrants who entered the U.S. just like her father.
“It’s not easy,” she said. “And even if they went under the guest worker program, it was a horrible thing for them. It’s just another horrible way for farmers to get cheap labor and exploit workers. They should not be treated like that. The U.S. needs these workers.”
Anthony Gettler of Fresno said “it feels good to be around people who actually are voicing something that’s true to them.”
“I know a lot of people see a lot of the (Mexican) flags and say ‘Well, they don’t respect this country.’ No, it’s not that. This is a culture. This is people. They built this country. Who’s going to pick the crops? Who’s going to mow the lawns? Who’s going to be the nannies to these people’s kids? Every one of these people matter.”
The Fresno Police Department reported no problems at the demonstration, only responding to two traffic collisions that were unrelated to the peaceful demonstration.
This story was originally published January 12, 2025 at 7:48 PM.
