Protesters' quest: 'No Sleep for ICE'
Crowds make noise outside LA hotel
By: Victoria Valenzuela
USA Today
..... The clanging of pots and pans. the steady thud of beating drums. The honking of passing cars with waving flags sicking out the window. Bands playing shouting into megaphones, Chants form dozens of people.
..... All unfolding into the middle of the night outside the Home2 Suites by Hilton in Montebello, California, in late June. [2025]
..... The protests were part of a nightly "No Sleep for ICE" campaign in and around Los Angeles County. The goal: Make as much noise as possible to keep U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices from sleeping and put pressure on hotel staff to kick ICE out.
..... Verita Topete, a leader of the immigration committed with Centro CSO, took part in the protest. She said she arrive by 8:30 PM. on June 20, [2025] and before she knew it, a crowd began to show up on the sidewalk outside the hotel.
..... "they were just making noise, playing music and some people were dancing," Topete said. "A lot of people were holding sings saying 'ICE is not welcome here.' "
..... By 10 PM., dozens more protesters joined the group, and they didn't disperse until 3 AM. Topete said that the next day they returned with enough people to take over the two-lane street to block people from going into the front of the hotel.
..... Some protesters came with their families. A band showed up with drums and guitars and many people were dancing to traditional Mexican songs like "Caballo Dorado" and "La Chona.""It was a very peaceful protest, just very noisy," she said.
..... Topete said the protest is important "to apply pressure and let city and state officials know that we don't agree with this" at a time when "ICE agents are hunting down our working-class community members as if they're criminals, throwing them to the pavement and taking them away form there workplaces."
..... An ICE spokesperson pushed back on the pretests when asked for comment about the demonstration outside of the hotels.
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"This violence is fueled by a misinformation campaign, which includes dangerous rhetoric by local elected officials," the ICE spokesperson said. "Our brave offices are out there every day enforcing the laws set by Congress, removing public safety threats from communities."
..... A spokesperson for Hilton hotels did not return a request for comment.
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The noise protests began in early June, [2025] including one on June 8, [2025] two days after ICE began its raids in Los Angeles. Community members rallied outside of the AC Hotel in Pasadena, about 1o miles form Los Angeles, to protest ICE agents' staying there.
..... Hundreds of people showed up in the early afternoon after a photo of ICE vehicles parked outside the hotel circulated on local group chats and social media pages.
.... When some of the first protesters arrived, they learned that many of he hotel workers had left in fear. they chanted "(Expletive) la Migra" and "Fuera ICE," and by the evening, the agents were kicked out of the hotel.
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Since then, protesters have continued rallying together outside hotels every night.
.... "the point is to drive ICE out of these hotels and make their existence impossible here," said Andrew Guerrero,a law student at UCLA and Ph. D. candidate at Harvard University who said he has attended multiple protests outside hotels in Los Angeles County. "We don't want them to be able to access these amenities. We don't want our local neighborhoods to be harboring what a lot of us consider kidnappers."
..... He attended a protest outside the Hilton in Montebello the day before Topete. He said he brought pots and pans, a speaker and a case of water for the protesters.
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"It's like a little community building around it,' Guerrero said. "Folks are going to multiple protest in one night and sharing resources and knowledge about what's happening."
..... Guerrero said the protests have drawn support from those staying at the hotel. He said one man who came out of the hotel was nodding at the protesters, and another family going into the hotel gave them a thumbs-up. He said that he sympathizes with anyone staying there who might feel like "it's creating a hostile environment" but he believes there is "a legitimate and just reason that this disruption is occurring."
..... "If feels like we're under an occupation, and you just hear back-to-back stores, like, "They took this person, they took this person,' " Guerrero said. "they're literally disappearing people/"
..... Some protest have been met with law enforcement resistance.
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When Kuali Aleman, an indigenous organizer and artist, arrived at a June 11 [2025] protest outside the DoubleTree by Hilton in Whittier, she saw many people marching up and down the street with flags and signs. Other protesters stood huddled by the entrance of the hotel, chanting. People were blasting music through speakers and their cares or revving their motorcycles.
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Soon, Aleman said, Whittir police came out of the hotel and began launching less-lethal weapons into the crowd. She said the protesters ran for cover. But no long after, they came back and resumed the protest.
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The Whittier Police Department did not respond to requests for comment.
..... Aleman said the decisions to send federal agents to hotels in Los Angeles is a waste of resources that could have been put into community activities.
..... "It just doesn't make any sense to concentrate all our resources and manpower or people power on capturing hard-working people, people who are just trying to survive, selling fruit on the street or working in construction or on the fields or working anywhere, just not committing any crimes," Aleman said.
..... Topete said it is "crazy to see how many cities are allowing ICE agents' to stay in their hotels. However, she said she is proud to see people taking to the streets to protest peacefully.
..... "I love seeing that the community is coming out and speaking up, Topete said.