EL CAJON, Calif. (KGTV) — El Cajon is one of the cities with the highest number of Immigration and Customs Enforcement reports.
That’s according to a social media page and app, that tracks the location and patterns of ICE.
“They're not out in the morning. They don't really get out until like 11 or noon,” said Joanna Benavidez, one of the people that use an app that shows reports of ICE.
Now, Benavidez says she knows the usual routine of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“They were gone on Super Bowl Sunday,” said Benavidez.
The app allows a certain few to report sightings of ICE across Southern California.
Co-founders of the app, Celeste and Kat, said they met on Tiktok in January.
They tell ABC 10News that the app is public on Padlet, and that they have moderators that work with local organizations to try to verify the reports.
Adding that they had over 6 million visitors to the snap map since January.
Each marker represents a reported sighting of ICE.
Benavidez started posting at the beginning of January, and says about 10 sightings are reported daily.
“We specifically say we do not condone violence, we do not want to interfere with policing at all, but, you know, we want to keep our community safe,” said Benavidez.
Some say, it’s doing the opposite.
“We're in this process of trying to rid the country of dangerous gang members and organized crime members, cartel members,” said El Cajon Mayor Bill Wells.
He recently co-authored a resolution vowing that the city will comply with federal immigration authorites.
“We believe that the federal government is on the right track, especially when it comes to deporting people that have committed serious crimes, and people that are involved with the sex trafficking of children. We want to do everything we can to help get those people out of the country,” said Mayor Wells.
The Trump administration has stated their priority is deporting violent criminals, however
Benavidez says undocumented immigrants and even citizens are afraid.
“My mother is an immigrant. She's from Mexico, she's from Juarez, and she has to carry her naturalization papers with her now,” said Benavidez.
And despite backlash from some- she doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon.
“Some people are saying that it's a security violation, which is not true because it's public information, it's crowdsource. It's legal,” said Benavidez.
