Raiding the Heartland

Chronicles the devastating impacts of immigration raids—and the enduring resistance of immigrant communities in the aftermath.

Across the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) upends small towns and rural communities by staging dramatic raids and rounding up hundreds of people in a single day. These worksite raids fracture families, devastate local economies, and spread fear and trauma that lingers for years. Yet in the wake of these devastating raids, immigrant communities exhibit resistance, resilience, creativity, and an extraordinary determination to rebuild.

In this powerful follow-up to his best-seller Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid, William D. Lopez brings us into the heart of communities targeted by large-scale ICE enforcement under the Trump administration. These are places where immigrant workers, many of whom have lived in the United States for decades, are suddenly torn from their families and livelihoods. Based on extensive fieldwork, this book highlights the voices of those who have endured these raids: the teachers left to comfort traumatized children, the faith leaders who opened their doors to families in crisis, the organizers who mobilized relief efforts overnight, and the workers and their families who fought for their right to remain.

As raids continue to increase across the country, this book is an urgent and deeply human portrait of what these raids leave behind—and the fierce, often unexpected ways communities come together across class, race, and immigration status in their aftermath.