The Dominican political party Fuerza del Pueblo in Puerto Rico has called a community vigil for Sunday at 6:00 PM at the corner of Borinquen Avenue and San Antonio Street in Barrio Obrero, Santurce, in San Juan, in solidarity with compatriots affected by immigration raids and to reject what it calls disproportionate use of force, arbitrary detentions and racial profiling by accent or national origin during U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations on the island. In a statement, the group invited Dominican and Puerto Rican communities, churches, community organizations, human rights groups and Dominican political parties, regardless of political affiliation, to join in defense of human dignity, due process and family unity.
Dominicans living in Puerto Rico have witnessed interventions in Barrio Obrero, Villa Palmeras, Río Piedras and Puerto Nuevo in San Juan, as well as in Canóvanas, Bayamón, Cabo Rojo, Aguadilla, Guayama, Lajas and Toa Baja, among other parts of the island. The party cited an incident two weeks earlier at the San Antonio de Padua parish in Río Piedras, which it said raised grave concerns over the intimidating presence of armed agents, threats to observers and arrests without individualized grounds.
It demanded an independent investigation into the October 22–25 operation carried out by agents sent from Florida to Puerto Rico. The demands add to complaints from the Municipality of San Juan, San Juan Archbishop Eusebio Ramos Morales and the ACLU of Puerto Rico about intimidation, racial profiling, family separation and obstacles to exercising rights. The party also demanded effective access to legal representation and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) records in immigration proceedings, dignified detention conditions, fair hearings and reasoned decisions.
ICE has not provided a total number of detainees; the Deportation Data Project identified 1,079 arrests in Puerto Rico from January 2025 to July 2026, including 157 immigrants arrested in July alone, the month with the most cases since Donald Trump returned to the U.S. presidency. Under the slogan "silence is not an option," the group will meet in Barrio Obrero, a sector affected by the increase in ICE operations ordered by Trump. The vigil will be civic, peaceful, supportive and within the law, the call states.