Introduction and captions by Hannah Murphy Winter. Photography is by Jake Nelson.

Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) made two high-profile arrests in our region: Alfredo “Lelo” Juarez Zeferino, an Indigenous Mixteco farmworker activist who's been working as a berry picker in and around Skagit County since he was 14; and Lewelyn Dixon, a lab technician at UW Medicine, originally from the Philippines, who moved here 50 years ago. Both of them were transferred to the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma (NWDC)—one of the largest immigration detention facilities in the United States.

These aren't the first, nor the last, people detained by ICE in Washington. While we don't have state-by-state numbers, Homeland Security says they've made 32,809 immigration-related arrests nationwide in the first 50 days of the Trump Administration, and the ICE Seattle X account practically fetishizes their local arrests, posting daily photos of people in handcuffs, facing deportation. But Zeferino and Dixon have drawn particular attention. Zeferino has been an activist for farmworker rights in Skagit County, and friends and colleagues suspect he was targeted for his activism. And Dixon, who is a green card holder who came to the US from the Philippines five decades ago, has been held for more than three weeks. Her family and her union at the university, SEIU Local 925, have been rallying for her release.

Last weekend, hundreds of migrant advocates and union members rallied in front of NWDC for their release and the release of the 1,500 other detainees at the facility. Photographer Jake Nelson went to Tacoma to capture the day for The Stranger. 

Because both Dixon and Zeferino were deeply rooted in their communities, their arrests have brought their worlds together in front of the detention center. 
Dixon was detained on February 28, when she came back to the US through SeaTac. She's been in ICE custody ever since. 
La Resistencia has been calling for regular protests at the facility, starting well before the Trump administration took office. They've called attention to inhumane conditions, suicides, and hunger strikes at the facility.
During the protest, La Resistencia says they called a migrant detainee on a video call during the protest and they told them that "the large public display of support brought tears inside the detention facility."
The protest combined migrant advocates, union members, and allies. In addition to La Resistencia, SEIU Local 925, Tanggol Migrante Washington Network, and the International Migrants Alliance showed up.
Both labor leaders and rank and file members spoke at the protest. 
Chinga la migra.Â