Julie Gill, a volunteer legal observer and school patrol coordinator with YARR, speaks to Santa Cruz Local for an interview. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

LIVE OAK >> On a recent Thursday afternoon, Julie Gill stood watch from a sidewalk on Capitola Road across from Live Oak Elementary School. She wore a high-visibility yellow jacket, and a whistle hung around her neck. 

She was carefully watching for immigration agents, as she’s been trained to do as a legal observer and school patrol coordinator with local pro-immigrant rapid response group YARR, or Your Allied Rapid Response.

“ We came here because the immigrant families in this neighborhood requested it. They were afraid to walk in and walk out” of school, Gill said. The group has maintained daily patrols at Del Mar and Live Oak elementary schools and Shoreline Middle School since January. 

Gill was one of close to a dozen volunteers on call that day, monitoring the roads for immigration agents as children got dropped off and picked up from school. 

If immigration agents arrived, she would alert people nearby by blowing on the whistle, a tactic that has spread as activists respond to immigration crackdowns throughout the country. YARR also has a phone list of hundreds of trained legal observers who would be alerted and asked to show up if immigration agents were present.

YARR formed in 2017 during the first term of President Donald Trump as a hotline to call if ICE agents were seen. The group posts on its Instagram and Facebook pages whether reports of ICE are true or false, and has expanded its work to include proactive patrols like the school patrols.

As the school year ends, the group is hoping to grow its capacity over summer to maintain and expand its school patrols at Live Oak and start patrolling schools in Santa Cruz, especially Gault Elementary where many immigrant families send their children. 

A group unaffiliated with YARR had previously established school patrols in Watsonville, Gill said.

To grow its capacity, YARR is seeking more volunteers to get trained and sign up for shifts, and hopes to train parents to volunteer at their kids’ schools.

School patrols have popped up throughout the country in the wake of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on unauthorized immigrants. Under Trump, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security lifted a ban on immigration detentions and raids in schools, hospitals and churches, stoking fear amongst already vulnerable communities.

Gill said she was hardened in her resolve to step up and volunteer with YARR after seeing the federal actions in Los Angeles, Chicago and Minneapolis, including the killing of two Minneapolis residents who were protesting the immigration enforcement surge earlier this year. 

School patrols are meant to serve as an early warning system for families in the event immigration agents, such as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, are present near schools. The fear of detention has many immigrant parents staying home, too fearful to drop their children at school, go grocery shopping or even seek medical attention. 

Volunteer patrols can lead to higher attendance at schools and improved mental health of students, school leaders across California told EdSource in a Jan. 16 article.

YARR’s presence at the two local schools has also served to quickly extinguish false reports of ICE presence at least twice. Misinformation and fake reports on social media can quickly spread unnecessary panic among immigrant communities.

Gill said several months ago, a post on Facebook claimed that ICE was in front of Live Oak Elementary.

“ Nothing was happening. It was just completely fabricated,” she said. “ We were able to knock that rumor down, because we do have a social media and we inform the folks that are scared it’s not ICE.”

Legal observers with YARR where high-visibility vests and a whistle to alert nearby residents in case immigration agents were present. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Being able to inform people that immigration agents are not present has been as important as being ready to inform people if immigration agents were there, Gill said. 

When YARR started patrolling the Live Oak schools, some parents and staff were confused. But after several weeks of consistent presence, they began to greet the volunteer patrollers and several times brought them snacks. It took time, but eventually volunteers gained the trust of families, Gill said.

“ When we started here, we weren’t sure how it was going to go,” she said. “We had reached out to the superintendent and stuff, and they were kinda iffy about it.”

A representative of Live Oak School District didn’t respond to requests for comment by publication.

Two volunteer patrollers that Santa Cruz Local spoke with asked to be identified by their first names only, due to concerns of political repression of activists.

Janet said she started volunteering after hearing of the shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

“This is my neighborhood. This is my community. And I’ll do whatever it takes to protect the parents and the kids,” Janet said. “ Not a lot has happened, obviously, which is a great thing. But I think it’s really great that we all stay pretty vigilant and aware.”

Janet, who asked to only be identified by her first name, patrols around Live Oak Elementary School in Live Oak on May 21. (Amaya Edwards — Santa Cruz Local/CatchLight Local)

Another volunteer, Anita, echoed the sentiment.

“It’s our neighborhood. So [we are] supporting our community and our neighborhood,” Anita said. “ YARR as it currently is, I think has to be really changeable, responsive, and be able to adapt basically to whatever’s gonna come down the line.”

Since the federal surge in Minneapolis and the departure of leadership within the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and Customs and Border Protection, other cities haven’t seen a similar intensified crackdown. 

“I think tactics are going to start to change, and so I think we need to be really adaptive for that,” Anita said. “Long term, I think it’s building community and I hope that goes on.”

One of the next big fights for pro-immigrant groups in the area is the proposal for an immigration detention facility in Gilroy which is under construction and faces opposition from local leaders. 

In the meantime, YARR leaders hope to continue training legal observers, and maintain and expand its school patrols.

“We’re in it for the long haul,” Gill said.

To learn more about YARR and how to get involved, visit their website.

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