Last Saturday morning, during the Los Gatos Anti-Racism Coalition vigil on the Civic Center Lawn, two easels displayed the names of those “Who We Have Lost.”
It was a respectful and peaceful gathering of 50-60 adults, mostly Los Gatans. A vigil is defined as a period of keeping awake during the time when one is usually asleep, especially for the purpose of keeping watch or praying.
By those who we have lost, the group was acknowledging those known to have died in federal custody or were shot and killed by federal agents in violent immigration enforcement operations.
Those gathered went silent for 20 minutes. As cars drove by, an occasional honk, maybe a shout out echoed through the crowd. Long-stemmed white and orange roses were handed out.
“Will we grow numb to this violence and accept this as the new normal?” asked LGARC President Jeff Suzuki in his email prior to this event. “No. We know what we have witnessed. We will not forget what we saw.”
Suzuki added, “We stand for the safety of everyone detained.”
The LGARC is calling for “swift justice” for those who are responsible for the deaths.
“In 2021 I met Jeff when we were both appointed to the Planning Commission,” Emily Thomas, a current Los Gatos Planning Commissioner, stated at the event. “I find it unacceptable the way that these protests have been reported on, or the lack of coverage of the protests in Minneapolis. These have been some of the largest in American history.”
The Daily Beast reported that five people died while in ICE custody—or were shot to death on the streets during relevant federal activities—during the first 15 days of 2026.
In 2025, this federal agency reported 30 deaths of people in its custody.
A recent estimate from the Department of Homeland Security reports tens of thousands of detainees in the immigration detention system.
The internal DHS data also reports that the ICE’s detainee population has reached about 73,000 nationwide. That’s a record high for the agency, according to a CBS news report.
The Guardian reported last February that senior ice officials Russell Hott and Peter Berg were reassigned over the “slow rate of deportations and arrests.”
The Washington Post reported that Trump officials have now directed senior ICE officials to increase arrests to meet daily quotas. Each field office has been instructed to make 75 arrests per day.
Reports to the American Civil Liberties Union told of detainees enduring physical and sexual abuse, medical neglect and intimidation to self-deport while in custody. Detainees describe being kept in inhumane conditions.
“Individuals with serious conditions report going days or weeks without prescribed medication or having medical requests ignored until someone collapses,” the organization stated in a Dec. 8 blog post about dozens of accounts of abuse at the immigration detention site at the Fort Bliss military base in El Paso, Texas
Four more vigils are planned for February: on Saturdays, from 10-11am, on the Civic Center lawn, in front of the Los Gatos Library.
