Community groups rally against ICE’s use of Terminal Island as staging area

Hundreds gathered in San Pedro on Friday evening, June 27, to protest against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s apparent use of Terminal Island as a staging area for its operations across Los Angeles County.

The gathering, which took place at Sixth Street and Harbor Boulevard along San Pedro’s waterfront, was hosted by several community groups, including Harbor Area Peace Patrols, Nikkei Progressives, and San Pedro Neighbors for Peace and Justice.

ICE is apparently using a portion of federally owned land on Terminal Island — which houses a federal prison and a U.S. Coast Guard base — to stage their operations in the region, according to representatives from those groups.

Officials from the ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles — which also share portions of Terminal Island — said Friday that ICE isn’t using any of their properties for operations, despite the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s request to LA to do so. DHS representatives did not respond to requests for comment on Friday about using Terminal Island as a staging area.

Los Angeles harbor Commissioner Lee Williams said Friday that while he was confident that port police were not cooperating with ICE — he does believe federal properties are being used for immigration purposes.

Earlier Friday, the community groups hosted a press conference on Terminal Island advocating for ICE to leave the area, noting that the federal government’s current actions parallel those undertaken against the Japanese fishermen and their families who once resided on the island before and during World War II.

The community groups’ calls at the press conference, meanwhile, were echoed during the rally on Friday evening — with attendees once again calling for ICE to leave Terminal Island.