Dawn Patrols: San Diego Teachers Track Suspected Undercover ICE Vehicles to Protect Schools

Before sunrise on a fall morning, three teachers in southern San Diego drove slowly through a quiet neighborhood, sipping coffee and talking about the school day ahead. An unmarked Dodge Durango with heavily tinted windows, a faint light strip, and a steel partition behind the front seats passed by — details the educators read as signs of a likely undercover Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vehicle.

High school teacher Marysol Duran switched on her walkie-talkie. “We have identified a potential,” she announced, giving the location and promising to “keep close watch.” The vehicle’s driver then lifted a handheld radio, confirming the teachers’ suspicions.

Duran and her colleagues are members of the Association of Raza Educators, an activist group that conducts early-morning community patrols across southern California to spot ICE activity. When they identify suspected agents — who might be gathering intelligence or preparing to detain someone — they alert neighbors through live social-media updates, encrypted group chats and, at times, loudspeakers.

Why patrols focus on schools

The teachers were patrolling a several-mile radius around about half a dozen local schools. Their efforts intensified after several arrests near schools in San Diego County, including an incident outside a Chula Vista elementary school in which an undocumented mother was detained during morning drop-off as her children watched from the car.

Under U.S. law, children are entitled to a free public education from kindergarten through 12th grade regardless of immigration status. Still, guidance that once limited immigration arrests at “sensitive locations” such as schools and churches was rescinded by the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year, heightening anxiety in immigrant communities. Some districts, including San Diego Unified, have passed resolutions that require ICE to obtain a warrant before entering school property, but arrests and enforcement actions just off school grounds have continued.

On the ground

The trio followed the Durango when it parked; after a few minutes the SUV sped away and the educators pursued it. Duran relayed updates in Spanish and English via live social posts: “We are here reporting from Shelltown, San Diego. We have identified a Dodge Durango, grey, that has been surveilling our community.”

“We live in a state of fear, [whether you’re a] citizen or not a citizen: plumber, professional, mother, grandma, everyone,”

— Juan Orozco, high school counselor and member of the patrol

Patrols are only one response. Teachers, students and local groups also run know‑your‑rights workshops, mutual‑aid networks and rapid-response plans for families in mixed-status households.

Family impact

At a nearby high‑school library — a few miles from where the suspected Durango was seen — 14‑year‑old Azda* sat with her 19‑year‑old sister Guadalupe*. Azda is a U.S. citizen; Guadalupe and their mother are undocumented. The sisters described living with constant worry: they have an emergency plan to seek help from relatives or friends and, if necessary, to leave the country together to avoid family separation.

They try to explain the threat to their four‑year‑old brother in simple terms: “La migra, they do bad things. They take families — se llevan a las mamás.” Videos of arrests shared on social media have left a deep impression: one sister turned her response into a poem titled “La Migra,” closing with the line, “Everything they tell you is a lie. Don’t they know this is our land too?”

Trends, history and policy

Local reporting indicates San Diego saw a sharp rise in immigration arrests in 2025 compared with previous years, with a notable share involving people without criminal convictions. Community organizers say these enforcement patterns — and concerns about racial profiling — are not new. Unión del Barrio, the political organization that founded the Association of Raza Educators, has conducted community patrols for decades.

Councilmember Sean Elo‑Rivera has sponsored a city ordinance that would require federal agents to obtain a warrant before entering any non‑public area of city facilities such as libraries and recreation centers. The draft ordinance does not apply to school grounds, which are already covered by the school district’s resolution, and Elo‑Rivera acknowledged the limits of local power when it comes to federal action on public streets and sidewalks near schools.

The morning ends, vigilance continues

The teachers eventually lost sight of the Durango. As families poured into the neighborhood for morning drop‑off, the educators packed up their mounted cameras, walkie‑talkies and megaphones and headed to their classrooms. The patrols are part vigilance, part community reassurance — and, for the teachers involved, part of their daily work to protect students and families.

Editor’s note: the sisters’ names have been changed to protect their identities.