‘Liberty Vans’ appear across US to help immigrants – and document ICE raids | ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

AAs ICE operations have ramped up across the United States over the past year, vans emblazoned with images of the Statue of Liberty have been deployed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and, most recently, Minneapolis. Vans Liberty, or freedom truck in Spanish, are tasked with defending vulnerable communities in the crosshairs of federal law enforcement.

Volunteers in the small fleet of three vans — named after World War II Liberty Ships that delivered supplies to Allied forces — offer moral and legal support, show visible solidarity with families and document ICE operations so people can see the human impact of the military-style raids that have become a daily part of American life.

The vans are powered by a politically diverse coalition, demonstrating how bipartisan anger against ICE has become and how anti-ICE sentiment can serve as a broad mobilizing force. Led by Mary Corcoran, a former public relations executive who worked in Democratic politics, and Steve Schmidt, a former Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump group the Lincoln Project, they say they view ICE’s tactics as a fight “of good versus evil, not right versus left.”

“Americans are waking up and realizing it is possible to protest, organize and mobilize,” Corcoran said. “I am so encouraged to see Americans coming together, organizing and peacefully sharing videos and content so we can all see with our own eyes the horrors this administration is inflicting on our country.”

Corcoran and Schmidt, co-founders of the nonprofit Save America, or Sam, movement, designed the Liberty Vans to help people understand how daily raids affect communities. When the vans head to a new city, Sam calls on local networks of trained attorneys, faith leaders, videographers, and veterans – who represent a wide range of political backgrounds – to staff the vans and offer legal resources, spiritual support, and solidarity.

They have also partnered with local organizations such as the National Day Laborer Network, VC Defensa and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, which provide legal defense, organizing and advocacy to immigrants under attack. A recent poll shows a drastic decline in support for ICE since they began carrying out violent raids in Los Angeles in June 2025. Today, a majority of Americans would support abolishing ICE, and a recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll found that 65% of registered voters think ICE has “gone too far” (an 11-point jump from June). Sixty percent of voters think ICE should get out of Minneapolis.

Liberty Van volunteers go to places like Home Depots, exchanges, grocery stores and neighborhoods that have been impacted by ICE. Clergy prayed with people, while immigration attorneys shared helpful “know your rights” information with day laborers and other immigrants they encountered. Van staff offer people water and snacks and connect with local organizers so they know they are there to help.

“When you have a veteran in a van, that person will command greater respect,” said Fabian Núñez, a former California Assembly speaker and Sam steering committee member who traveled in the vans, “and pastors appeal to the best sides of people. We needed to protect Latinos and other immigrants with people who understand the higher calling.”

Although they don’t officially track their aid efforts, Sam estimates that Liberty Vans has provided assistance to thousands of people over the past four months.

The vans also provide another essential service: documenting immigrant stories, ICE actions and potential violations with high-definition cameras, with the goal of holding people, agencies and the Trump administration accountable.

“The footage is really important when the gavel is in another hand and in another house after November 2026,” said Corcoran, who hired a war zone videographer to capture footage in Minneapolis in recent weeks in hopes it could help with future prosecutions. “We plan to turn everything over to the committees as evidence when they hold these people accountable, which will happen. »

In less than six months, they captured shocking scenes of ICE firing pepper balls at peaceful protesters, first-hand accounts of raids, an ICE agent pointing a rifle directly at a Liberty Van photojournalist while others deployed smoke bombs, and people sharing their stories about the impact of the Trump administration’s anti-immigration rhetoric. Liberty Vans also documented agents, including U.S. Border Patrol, violating an amended temporary restraining order from a federal judge in Chicago by deploying gas and force.

They also share images with news offices and organizations as well as on social media.

“These images are very powerful and can capture a violation in a way that galvanizes the public and convinces people that not only are these things happening, but they are important,” said Stephen Lee, a law professor at UC Irvine who writes about immigrants and immigration law. “The footage is useful because it quickly discredits the government’s narrative, which can thwart its prosecutorial efforts and discredit victims of violence and others who witness it. Even the fact that officials and immigration agents wear masks speaks to the power and threat of a camera.”

The politically diverse Sam was conceived by Corcoran, who was disturbed by the direction the Trump administration was taking the country in early 2025. “I was watching our democracy being dismantled piece by piece,” said Corcoran, who worked for the Democratic National Committee and the liberal political action committee America Coming Together, in the early 2000s. opposition, we will not reach the mid-term elections.”

His first call was to a former colleague, Schmidt, known for his aggressive approach. After some cajoling from Corcoran, Schmidt, who left the Lincoln Project in 2021, rejoined and launched the nonpartisan Sam Project last summer with the goal of defeating the Maga movement and restoring democracy to the United States.

Sam’s Núñez, who organized undocumented immigrants before serving in the California assembly, immediately joined Corcoran and Schmidt’s movement. “[The federal government] tries to break the spirit of an entire community. It’s a psychological battle that they fight even with children,” Núñez said.

“When we arrive on scene, sometimes the officers have already left, and then there’s all the damage they leave behind. That’s why we have high definition images, so there’s no doubt about the human impact of what’s happening.”