The sound of an ICE agent shattering a car window sounds like a gunshot.
At least it did to Veronica Olivo on the morning of Feb. 2, when ICE agents arrested her husband, Alejandro, and their oldest son, Bryan. Alejandro called Veronica right before the window shattered.
The worried mother of five heard a loud boom.
“Then he hung up,” Veronica said in Spanish.
A few minutes later, one of Alejandro’s co-workers called Veronica to say that ICE had taken her husband and son away. It was a little before 8 a.m., and she had just gotten home from dropping off the younger kids at school.
Alejandro and Bryan are among thousands of San Diegans who’ve been arrested during President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign. The Olivo family decided to share their story in hopes that it would help other families going through the same disruption.
Alejandro is undocumented, and Bryan has legal status through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known as DACA. Neither of them have violent criminal records.
Veronica said the weeks following the arrest were filled with tears, confusion and anger. But the family of seven never gave up.
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The first thing she did was call everyone she knew, from their kids’ schools, soccer teams, work and old family friends.
“Within an hour the house was full of people,” Veronica said. “And it stayed that way all day.”
People called immigration lawyers, dropped off food, and even helped raise some money to cover the family’s rent and utility bills while Alejandro, the primary earner, was held at the Otay Mesa Detention Center.
The following weekend, the family set up a pop-up Mexican restaurant to raise more money. Veronica and her friends cooked and one of her sons worked the cash register while the family’s only daughter ran the plates. The two youngest boys cleaned up the dirty dishes.
Different coping methods
At home, each family member dealt with it in their own way.
Beckhams, the second-oldest, was initially in a state of shock. He said he didn’t want to believe that his dad and brother were gone. But he knew that denial was not an option.
“I pulled myself together,” he said. “I saw myself as kind of like the head of the family, since our actual head of the family was not with us. I knew I had to step up.”
Beckhams set up a GoFundMe page that has, so far, raised nearly $20,000.
He said this whole experience has taught him not to take anything for granted.
“During these times especially, even something small like someone coming home safely from working is a blessing,” he said. “It’s important to hug your family every time they leave the house.”
Alejandro’s and Veronica’s only daughter Charline is a sophomore at Lincoln High School She said she felt her father’s absence most during her high school soccer games.
“When he left and I had my last few games, it was really hard,” she said. “When I didn’t see him there (on the stands) it really did affect me.”
After Charlene told a teacher at Lincoln about the arrest, the entire school community mobilized. Complete strangers showed up to the Olivo house with donated food and clothes.
Seeing the community rally around their family was particularly reassuring to Ian, the family’s second-youngest.
“It felt really good to know that some people actually did care about us,” he said.
Ian said he struggled to process his emotions, and he wants other young kids to know that it’s OK to be a little different.
“I was sad, I didn’t cry, but I was still sad,” he said. “I felt something broken inside. My dad is the greatest person I know.”
Ian helped the family’s youngest sibling through the difficult period. The two would try to cheer each other up by playing video games.
Veronica said every member of the family is talking with therapists, which she said has helped everyone process the trauma.
She also said it’s important to stay positive and avoid letting negative thoughts win. For example, when the family was raising money for lawyers, a few people told her not to bother.
“They said why pay all of that money, they’re just going to deport him anyway,” she said. “But we did not give up.”
Soccer a welcome distraction
Because of his DACA status, ICE released Bryan the day after his arrest.
According to a DHS report, federal agents arrested 261 DACA recipients during the first 10 months of the Trump administration and deported 86 of them.
When Bryan got out, helping his mother and siblings became a full-time job, on top of working extra shifts at work to help bring in more money.
One of the few welcome distractions was watching his favorite soccer team, San Diego FC (SDFC).
Bryan is affiliated with Riptides, one of the team's supporter groups. They show up hours early to tailgate, bring drums and flags into the stadium, and stand up to cheer on the team the entire game.
“Just being able to yell and get that relief out for a few hours, I’m just happy to be here,” he said during an interview at the Snapdragon parking lot in late February.
On Bryan’s first game back, a few supporters turned their backs to the field during the national anthem. It was a small act of protest against ICE enforcement in San Diego. Other members wore anti-ICE shirts.
Bryan appreciated the show of support. But he did not turn his back on the anthem. He loves the U.S., and as a DACA recipient, feels the need to show his support as much as possible.
But one line of the anthem nearly broke him that day.
“When they sang, ‘Land of the Free,’ I’m like, my dad’s not free,” he said. “That’s the only sentence out of the whole anthem that I had to put my head down and I wanted to start crying.”
Riptides rallied around the Olivo family. They shared the GoFundMe online and regularly checked in with the family.
“Everybody is part of our community and our family, really,” said Matt Buse, one of the group’s cofounders. “And if something happens with our family, we’re going to act.”
Although he’s a U.S. citizen, Buse was stopped by immigration enforcement in the 2010s when he lived in Phoenix, under Arizona’s “show-me-your-papers” law.
Buse said other SDFC supporters are afraid of being the targets of ICE enforcement.
“We need to make sure our community is safe,” he said. “These are scary times.”
After a month, and with the help of a lawyer, the Olivo family secured Alejandro’s release. He still faces deportation, but he can fight it from home with his family.
During his bond hearing, a judge cited multiple reasons why Alejandro shouldn’t be detained. He runs a business, contributes to the community and is raising multiple U.S.-citizen children.
Alejandro was working the day KPBS visited his family.
Veronica said he still doesn’t like to talk much about his time in detention. When he came home, she noticed that he’d lost a lot of weight. And his face, which is usually tan from his landscaping job, was unusually pale.
The Olivo family wants others going through ICE enforcement to know that they are not alone. That they shouldn’t be afraid to ask for help because there are a lot of people in San Diego willing to step up.
“Our family is stronger than ever,” she said. “We can take on anything.”
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