Last week, Esmeralda watched scenes from Minneapolis on her phone before school started.
The elementary school teacher is nearly 600 miles away in Indianapolis, but she sees her own students in the face of Liam Ramos, a 5-year-old who was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
More videos show masked men prowling Minneapolis neighborhoods, pulling people out of cars and spraying protesters with chemical irritants. Images shared on social media of protesters and bystanders being shoved, gassed and shot to death have spurred nationwide protests. And they’ve left some people wondering: Is my city next?
On Esmeralda’s Facebook page, people said Indianapolis could be the site of ICE’s next surge. Another post, reaching nearly a million people across Instagram and TikTok, warned of federal agents booking a hotel downtown for the month of February.
Mirror Indy could not confirm that rumor. Neither could Indy Rapid Response, a group tracking local ICE activity and sending out alerts in Spanish and English. Residents can call a hotline to anonymously report agents, and volunteers work to verify the sightings.
The uncertainty in Indianapolis — coupled with the eruption of rumors online — has left some residents wondering what, if anything, they can do to protect themselves and their neighbors. And while sharing reports of ICE sightings may warn the community, advocates said unvetted information can do more harm than good.
“We appreciate our neighbors keeping an eye out,” a Rapid Response member said in a text message to Mirror Indy. “But it’s important to verify sightings prior to spreading information.”
Indianapolis teacher: ‘I’m not safe’
Each morning, Esmerelda checks for unmarked vans before walking into class. Mirror Indy is not fully naming her for fear of being targeted by immigration officials.
The teacher also started carrying her passport on the commute to work.
“I’m a U.S. citizen, but I’m not safe because I’m Latino,” Esmeralda said. “I’m afraid if I get pulled over, a driver’s license isn’t going to be enough proof.”
Her students are also aware of what’s happening beyond school walls.
In January 2025, the Trump administration reversed a decade-old policy that prevented ICE from raiding churches, hospitals and schools. Months later, Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita sued Indianapolis Public Schools after the district refused to turn over a student to ICE without a judicial warrant.
Esmeralda started hearing from parents, including some who kept their children home. “Call me if someone is asking for my kid,” one said over the phone. She imagined the scenario, how to react.
“I would do anything to keep my students safe,” Esmeralda said.
Some of them are already gone, though.
Esmeralda remembered when a little girl came up to her last February. The fourth grader was crying because her family was afraid and decided to move back to Guatemala.
The teacher cried with her student. Two days later, there was another empty desk.
Walkouts, strikes and trainings
On Jan. 27, the Rapid Response team said on Instagram they could not confirm the downtown hotel rumors: “Spread info, not panic.”
Two days later, someone photographed a group of officers near Tarkington Park. Rapid Response confirmed the men were with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, not ICE.
The group is part of a growing community response to ICE activities under the Trump administration. High school students are walking out. Some restaurants and local shops went dark on Jan. 30 for a nationwide strike. Neighbors are learning how to document ICE activity.
Related
Hundreds of students walk out of North Central to protest ICE
Students held a demonstration Feb. 2 at North Central High School on the north side of Indianapolis, blocking traffic along 86th Street.
The agency has been operating in Indianapolis for years, with a field office and a new immigration court. During the second Trump administration, arrests across the state are up — bolstered by new partnerships with local and state law enforcement. The Marion County Jail started holding ICE detainees last year.
“Everybody assumes it will look like Chicago or Minneapolis,” said Josh Riddick, an organizer with Live Free Indiana. “But they’re already grabbing people in their workplaces in this city. It’s just not as flashy.”
Riddick’s group, made up of local faith leaders, protested the Marion County Sheriff’s Office partnership with ICE multiple times in 2025. Now, he’s asking Indy residents to build their own networks.
“We need to staff food pantries and deliver food to our neighbors who are afraid to leave their homes,” he said. “We need a place to submit civil rights and constitutional violations on camera.”
And the rumors?
Riddick sees them as evidence that people are paying attention and are ready to act. “We have to celebrate that our community reacted by spreading information quickly,” he said. “This infrastructure matters for our self defense.”
Burmese community waits for citizenship ceremonies
John Thawnghmung planned to attend a Burmese festival Jan. 31 and watch cultural dances. But the event, he said, was canceled due to fears of ICE.
“People tell me they cannot sleep, eat or work,” said Thawnghmung, the president of the Burmese Community of North America, a local nonprofit supporting about 30,000 Burmese refugees, many of whom have settled on the south side. “They’re just waiting for ICE to come take them away, even with their green cards.”
He’s working with about a dozen community members who passed their citizenship test in Indianapolis, but couldn’t finish the process. That’s because the Trump administration halted immigration decisions and applications in early December from 19 countries, including Burma — also known as Myanmar.
“The fear got a little more intense after the killings in Minneapolis,” Thawnghmung said. Two U.S. citizens, Renée Good, a 37-year-old poet, and Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse, were shot and killed by ICE agents in January.
That kind of violence isn’t unfamiliar to Thawnghmung’s community.
“They escaped those kinds of conditions to come to America,” he said.
Community members aren’t sure when their ceremonies will proceed. Thawnghmung spends many hours fielding calls and trying to calm anxiety.
“Right or wrong, we have no control over what’s going on,” he said.
To stay grounded, Thawnghmung hosts bingo nights for Burmese seniors and helps students apply for scholarships. As a U.S. citizen for over 30 years, he hasn’t started carrying more than a driver’s license yet. But more and more Burmese people are keeping their documents on hand.
“I thought this was the land of the free,” Thawnghmung said.
Mirror Indy, a nonprofit newsroom, is funded through grants and donations from individuals, foundations and organizations.
Mirror Indy reporter Mary Claire Molloy covers health. Reach her at 317-721-7648 or email maryclaire.molloy@mirrorindy.org. Follow her on X @mcmolloy7.
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