“There is just one way to save yourself, and that’s to get together and work and fight for everybody.” ~Woody Guthrie
While the reality of the law and the complexity of immigration policy is widely acknowledged, some see recent actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement—ICE—not as a political issue but as a humanitarian crisis.
One Topangan’s encounter with ICE agents highlights those concerns. The woman, who asked to not be identified by name, agreed to be described through her professional achievements and community involvement.
She is a first-generation Brazilian, born in Italy, and an American citizen. A respected neuroscientist with both a master’s degree and a Ph.D., she is a published researcher whose work focuses on treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s. She has lived in the United States for over 20 years, after being invited by a major Southern California university to work as a research scientist in its department of neurology. Topanga has been home for more than a decade. Neighbors describe her as active in the community, from cooking meals for firefighters during the Palisades Fire, to participating in the annual Memorial Day parade, to regularly volunteering at her daughter’s school, Topanga Elementary Charter.
Despite her citizenship status, she was targeted during an ICE raid at a San Fernando Valley Home Depot last fall. This Topanga resident was in line at the big box hardware store with a cart of soil and plants. Her gardener had insisted she take her passport that day, which she carried in an accessible wristlet wallet.
“I was scrolling on my phone, waiting my turn at the register, when I heard shouting,” she recalled. “They were yelling, ‘get down!’ I didn’t immediately process what was happening, didn’t think the shouting was directed at me and everyone else in the garden center. Suddenly, I felt my phone removed from my hand, from behind. My arms were pulled back behind me, and I was shoved to the ground.”
She recalls locking eyes with a white-haired, blue-eyed Caucasian woman who remained standing nearby, while several brown-skinned men around her were also on the ground.
“The whites were up and the browns were down,” she said. “I held up my passport over my head, following the lead of other people I saw holding up papers.”
“There are people that I tell this story to who don’t believe me,” she says. “They think it was a staged performance (by an anti-ICE group), they tell me, ‘if you’re not happy, go back to your own country.’ They see bruises covering my arms and legs and say, ‘it’s your own fault, you subjected yourself to this, you put yourself in the situation’.”
Despite the ordeal, this Topanga resident remains committed to civic engagement and believes in the ability of communities to challenge what they see as abuses of power.
Concerns about ICE have also reached local schools. Principal Nancy Farish at Topanga Elementary recently sent a message to enrolled families, alerting them to reports of ICE activity near campus. She affirmed “the district’s unwavering commitment to the well-being and education of all students,” and offered on-campus mental health support for those impacted. For now, ICE presence in or near Topanga may be something we see with regularity.
It can be argued that recent enforcement actions contradict stated federal priorities.
President Trump repeatedly pledged to focus deportation efforts on ‘the worst of the worst’ criminals, both during his 2024 campaign and throughout the first year of his second term. The phrase ‘worst of the worst’ was central to his immigration platform. Yet the woman involved in the Home Depot incident says she had no criminal record, no warrant for arrest, not even an outstanding parking ticket.
Data on ICE arrests from January 20 to October 15 2025 shows that nearly 75,000 people with no criminal records were swept up in immigration operations.
It’s difficult to know if this figure tracks with data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s own website, which shows ICE detention data for the fiscal year but is obtuse at best. Interpreting the numbers requires an understanding of specific terminology.
Further, a September 2025 Supreme Court ruling lifted a temporary restraining order, thus allowing ICE to resume using factors such as race, language, and even employment in specific low-wage jobs as justification for investigative stops.
Civil rights advocates warn that the use of racial profiling as a primary criterion for questioning or detention erodes public trust and undermines the very freedoms the Constitution protects. They are calling for a return to respect—of basic human dignity, family unity, and the civil liberties afforded to all. This rings true in Topanga, a place that has long been a refuge for the socially conscious. From the blacklist years of the 1950s, to the civil rights marches of the 1960s, to present day advocacy for immigrant dignity, the canyon has stood at the heart of activism and non-violent resistance.
The righteous fortitude of Topanga artists, organizers, and protesters is well embodied by legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie.
When Guthrie took up residence with Will Geer in Topanga during the McCarthy era, they were not just making music or theater, they were responding to the societal injustices of their time.
They understood that courage didn’t always shout, sometimes it sang. Sometimes it staged a play. Sometimes it just refused to name names.
Some of Guthrie’s most enduring lyrics speak directly to today’s moment. “Deportee” (1948), condemns the dehumanization of Mexican farmworkers, and “This Land Is Your Land” (1940), champions inclusivity and the idea that America belongs to all its people.
In fact, several tunes were penned in a small cabin on the grounds of what is now Theatricum Botanicum. That legacy feels newly relevant.
In a community with a long memory, many people say the moment calls once again for vigilance, compassion, and moral clarity.
Topanga is a mountain, not a volcano; we don’t erupt, we stand, proud and firm. And sometimes, standing there with your values intact is the most subversive act of all.
If you are stopped by ICE:
The Constitution guarantees certain rights to all people on U.S. soil, regardless of immigration status. You can find these rights, as well as information on what to do if you are stopped or visited at your home by ICE, on the ACLU website:
