A Vigil for Victims of ICE, and my comments to the Henderson City Council
This Fall, Disappeared in America in partnership with Detention Watch Network and a coalition of other organizations championed a nationwide campaign for Día de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a Latin American holiday rooted in Indigenous traditions and celebrated on November 1st and 2nd. The movement aims to remove ICE from our communities, redirect their funding and shut down detention centers.
Due to one of, if not the most important elections of our time, it was an extremely busy week for activists across the nation. Nevertheless, I signed up to host a vigil after our local city's council meeting, with an invitation for attendees to make public comment. Henderson is home to 1 of 3 detention centers in NV and the local police department helps keep it full, excuse me, overcrowded, by alerting the agency when they have a suspected non-citizen detained.
Henderson City Council has often insisted that their Memorandum of Understanding does not equate to a 287 (g) agreement, as if we're suppose to believe that is any less harmful. Henderson residents and other community members from our neighboring city of Las Vegas, alongside many advocates and organization leaders, gathered months before to voice their concerns and demand that the agreement cease. City officials have since voiced their concerns, but no action has been taken to reverse the decisions.
Last night, I was the only person to make comment, but didn't stand alone. Two other community members came to show solidarity, both have previously made public comments on the ICE, as well as others. These were my comments.
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Good Evening Mayor Romero and City Councilmembers,
My name in Naomi Joy. I am a Henderson resident, minister, life-long activist and a proud Two-Spirit, Latinx person. This past weekend, Latino and Hispanic community members celebrated Día de Los Muertos, a holiday honoring the dead. We gather with family, friends and neighbors. We celebrate the lives of deceased loved ones, ancestors, activists and martyrs.
Among those honored are fathers, mothers, daughters and sons; sisters, brothers, relatives and friends. Colleagues, neighbors, elders and leaders. Some were parents, some were children. Some were teachers, others were nurses.
Among them are those who died naturally and those who tragically. Many we honored this weekend, at least 39 lives, were killed by Immigration and Custom Enforcement. Some died in detainment, others were murdered in our streets.
I am here today because we have a national crisis in our country. From asylum seekers to American citizens, our community members are being collected in mass and erased one-by-one. This current "administration," has leveraged our already broken systems to their fullest extent. These latest deaths are just a fraction of the injustice our nation has had to bear.
Centuries of Indigenous genocide still echo in our native communities with over 10K missing in 2025 alone. Our Black community members, after decades of horrific abuse, are still finding their loved ones hanging from trees, burned and drowned, while local law enforcement agencies continue to dismiss these deaths as suicides.
And here we are today in 2026, with over 65K individuals in detention and at least 39 lives, THAT WE KNOW OF, lost to a rogue agency that has yet to be accountable for their brutality. YOU our elected leaders should have NEVER agreed to cooperate.
I know some of you think our city's M.O.U. has protected us from mass federal enforcement, but that is a lie you have chosen to believe. This pseudo-safety plan has done nothing but create division, foster fear, condone racial profiling and cost tax-payers the hard-earned money they need to provide for their families.
There is no longer an excuse for complicity. We now have a majority of leaders, ready to fight back, in Congress, in the Senate and in the offices of our Governors. I urge you to use your power and influence to do something now. Ignorance, money and this corrupt regime, will NOT save you from accountability. me and others this evening, at 6:30pm, just outside this building, to learn about the 39 lives taken by ICE this year.
Know their names, their ages, where they came from, where they called home....and how they died.
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Our gathering was small, as expected, but people passing by stopped, looked around and accepted resources. The few who attended represented multiple local chapters of national organizations, all championing human rights and accountability of the Trump regime. One individual worked closely with and marched along side renowned labor rights activists, including the late Dolores Huerta, an American labor and feminist leader.
We shared stories, our reasons for hope and the ways in which we could best support each other. It was intimate and reverent, solemn, but uplifting. Our work continues, and now it is time to hold our leaders accountable. We will remind them that they work for us, and continue to pressure them until action is taken.
We The People, will NOT tolerate fascism, nor an abusive government that seeks to destroy our diversity, kidnap our neighbors and erase our most marginalized community members. WE make America great, and we are not going anywhere.
With Love and Solidarity for The People,
Naomi Joy
P.S. - You can support ICE OUT of our cities by sharing and supporting this petition for Las Vegas and sign here for Henderson. If you are a Henderson resident, you may also contact your city councilmember directly. For more local stories and daily, practical actions you can take to fight for the people, please subscribe for free on Substack.