Community Self-Defense /// Autodefensa Comunitaria

Report – Volunteer – Learn More – Donate – En Español

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To Report ICE/Migra Activity, Contact Us At:

1-213-444-6562 – Los Angeles, California

1-760-913-0306 – North San Diego County, California

1-619-916-7215 – San Diego, California

1-805-951-3281 – Santa Barbara/Goleta, California

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email – <info@uniondelbarrio.org>

social media – @uniondelbarrio

“How To Identify ICE Vehicles”. Click to download the bilingual PDF.

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Volunteer Your Time To Support Barrio Self-Defense

There are various ways you can volunteer to help build barrio self-defense.

Please note that this type of community work is risky, and Unión del Barrio does not support nor promote any type of illegal activities. Everything we do is protected under the following fundamental constitutional rights:
– 1st Amendment: Freedom of Speech and Assembly
– 4th Amendment: Protection Against Unreasonable Searches and Seizures
– 5th Amendment: Guarantee of Due Process

1. One way to volunteer is to participate in an active Community Patrol in your area and help build Unión del Barrio’s campaign for community self-defense. Below are the locations Unión del Barrio leads daily community patrols:

- Los Angeles, California. Call 213-444-6562 and say you want to volunteer to join an active Community Patrol.

- North San Diego County, California. Areas include Escondido, Oceanside, San Marcos, and Vista. Call 760-913-0306 and say you want to volunteer to join an active Community Patrol.

- San Diego, California. Call 619-916-7215 and say you want to volunteer to join an active Community Patrol.

- Santa Barbara/Goleta, California. Call 805-398-6648 and say you want to volunteer to join an active Community Patrol.

2. Another way to plug in to this work is to contact your local chapter of the Community Self-Defense Coalition (CSDC).

- CDSC Los Angeles, California. Link: <tinyurl.com/csdcla>. Instagram: @communityselfdefensecoalition

- CDSC North San Diego County, California. Email: <CSDC_NorthCounty@proton.me>. Instagram: @CSDC_North County

- CDSC San Diego, California. Email: <CSDCSanDiego@protonmail.com>. Instagram: @sdcommunityselfdefense

3. If your community does not already have an active Community Patrol, you can help establish one. You can start by gathering at least 10-15 additional people in your area who are also willing to volunteer. Once you have a solid group of people, email Unión del Barrio at info@uniondelbarrio.org and request support for an online training session.

4. You can also help the struggle by doing community outreach. To do this, download, print, and distribute the following informational materials:

- “How To Identify ICE Vehicles” 8.5 x 11 flyers. Click to download the bilingual PDF file.
- Informational “Red Cards”. Click to download two bilingual PDF files – File #1 and File #2.
- Community Patrol 11 x 17 posters. Click to download the PDF file.

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Learn More About The Struggle For Barrio Self-Defense:

A brief history of Unión del Barrio’s Community Patrols. In 1992, police brutality became the focus of a national movement after Los Angeles police officers were found “not guilty” in the videotaped beating of Rodney King. It was at that time that Unión del Barrio established our first Community Patrol in San Diego as our answer to the colonial attacks against the Mexicano-Raza working class, specifically the deployment of various militarized police forces against our communities.

Teams of Unión de Barrio and Raza Rights Coalition members were organized into vehicular and foot patrols and deployed across various San Diego barrios to document police and migra brutality, and to inform community residents about their rights. These teams carried bullhorns, informational flyers, and, in the early 1990s, a new consumer technology: full-size portable VHS cameras.

A UdB compa on a 1992 foot patrol in San Diego, at the corner of Imperial Ave and 25th St.

In 2003, our Community Patrols once again became national news when Border Patrol agents began to conduct enforcement operations on San Diego public transportation, particularly the trolley that connects the South Bay San Diego to areas north of the 8 freeway. In response to these attacks against Raza working class people, Unión del Barrio concentrated our patrols around trolley stations from San Ysidro to downtown SD. During one of these patrols near SD City College, a leading member of Unión del Barrio had his camera smashed and was violently detained by a Border Patrol supervisor. After a massive protest, our compa was released, and Border Patrol operations on public transportation were halted.

2003 – UdB compa filming a Border Patrol operation on the San Diego trolley.

Today, the Community Patrols continue as a means of building community-based resistance to ICE/migra attacks. These agencies are trained to profile, harass, detain, arrest, and brutalize our people. We are determined to build “Dual & Contending Power,” so Raza working-class communities can build barrio-centered self-defense and prevent detentions and family separations that have taken place over the last several decades, and have been escalated during recent months.

The objective is to organize our people in every barrio, block by block, to defend our communities from colonial violence and threats to our human and democratic rights. We intend to expose the anti-Raza nature of the colonizer state power that has now openly declared that ICE/migra is a tool to terrorize, repress, and exploit the lives and labor power of the Mexicano-Raza working class.

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