Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Martinez, a 53-year-old day laborer with a heart that’s begun to fail, was waiting at a Pomona bus stop near a Cardenas market and a gas station when immigration officers found him. A week before, the Pomona resident whose family and friends know him as “Ramiro Pacheco,” was released from the hospital. On Nov. 13, he ran a simple errand to get medication meant to keep that failure at bay. He was looking down at his phone, lost in sending a text message. As immigration officers approached, he “already knew” what would happen next, his daughter Jax Santana said. A passerby stops to watch a Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, vigil calling for the release of Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Ramirez from the custody of immigration authorities. Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval speaks to the crowd in the background. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) 1 of 12A passerby stops to watch a Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, vigil calling for the release of Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Ramirez from the custody of immigration authorities. Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval speaks to the crowd in the background. (Photo by Anjali Sharif-Paul, The Sun/SCNG) Expand “My dad had every opportunity to run,” Santana said. “He could have ran, he could have fought, he could have done anything else, but my dad just stood there because he knew himself.” Now, with Pacheco detained in a desert facility, community members are joining the family and others to speak out on his behalf. They are calling on Immigration and Customs Enforcement to release him because of his poor health and accusing the detention center of not giving him his much-needed medicines for congestive heart failure. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson could not be reached Thursday, Jan. 22, or Friday, Jan. 23, to respond to the allegations or otherwise address Pacheco’s case. Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Ramirez, left, is seen with his son and daughter, Jax Santana, in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Pomona Economic Opportunity Center) 1 of 2Ramiro Santiago Pacheco Ramirez, left, is seen with his son and daughter, Jax Santana, in an undated photo. (Courtesy of Pomona Economic Opportunity Center) Expand Santana describes their father, who has a pacemaker implanted in his heart, as a quiet man with no criminal record who came to the U.S. in search of a better life. Santana and their brother, both U.S. citizens, didn’t feel comfortable sharing personal family details because of their fear. Santana did say two things about that morning. When federal officers took Pacheco, he was fighting pneumonia, a secondary struggle alongside his failing heart. And it was one week shy of his birthday. Pacheco would not be able to take part in a yearly ritual — hearing his daughter sing the traditional Mexican birthday song, “Las Mañanitas.” It would be two weeks before he heard his daughter’s voice again. Stories like Pacheco’s are common and have been playing out across the country. Since taking office a year ago, President Donald Trump has kept a campaign promise to intensify immigration enforcement, saying the actions are essential for national security and describing those arrested as dangerous criminals. In a Tuesday, Jan. 20, news conference about the first year of his second presidency, Trump spoke on the efforts. “They’re apprehending murderers and drug dealers, a lot of bad people,” he said “… Do you want to live with these people?” Robin Hvidston, executive director for the Inland Empire-based group We The People Rising, agrees with the president and said the issue “is about the law.” “People should come to our country legally,” because “there’s a process that they can follow, and then they are protected,” she said. She added that “we are a great nation because we are a nation of laws” and that “for a person to come here illegally, they’re not respecting that.” Alexis Teodoro, worker rights director at the Pomona Economic Opportunity Center, an immigrant rights nonprofit group that is working with Santana to advocate for her father’s release, disagrees. “Day laborers have a constitutional right to look for work in a public space,” said Teodoro, who represents day laborers and domestic workers. Pacheco, a member of the center, has often sought assistance from the nonprofit organization. It joined with his daughter Wednesday, Jan. 21, near the corner of San Antonio and Holt avenues, at the place where her father was detained. Community members, faith leaders, immigrant and labor rights advocates, and political leaders gathered with Santana and her younger brother to demand his release and denounce what they see as the racial profiling and targeting of immigrant workers in Pomona. Pacheco was first transported to the Los Angeles Federal Courthouse-Spring Street, known as “B-18,” then transferred to Desert View Annex Facility. He is currently detained in the Adelanto ICE Processing Center. From the moment of his arrest, Santana worried about her father’s ailing heart. Santana and center officials said they delivered his heart medication to authorities the next day, but he went roughly two weeks without it in custody, Teodoro said. Pacheco’s health deteriorated so badly that an artery near his heart “almost popped,” forcing an emergency surgery he hadn’t told his family about, Teodoro said. It was a procedure they only learned of when he called briefly on Thanksgiving night to say he was being taken into the operating room. The vigil was another in a seires of protests across the nation against federal immigration operations. It came two weeks after an ICE officer shot and killed U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good, 37, on Wednesday, Jan. 7, during an operation in Minneapolis. The killing sparked local protests. The Pomona immigrant rights group said that it has been monitoring how federal officials operate. “They target you based on how you look, how you speak, and where you work,” Teodoro said. “That is consistent since April 22, 2025, when we started tracking these operations on day laborers.” Since then, the center has reported that more than 90 operations have been conducted in the area, which have unsettled some Pomona residents and immigrant rights organizations. On April 22, Border Patrol agents arrested several day laborers, among them Jesus Domingo Ros, Edwin Roberto Juarez, and Yoni Ronaldo Garcia, at The Home Depot at 2707 S. Towne Ave. The trio, who don’t have criminal records, were recently released from Imperial Regional Detention Facility, with the center raising funds to cover their bonds. “Nobody, nobody in Pomona who lives here, who does business here, should ever have to live in fear because of their federal government coming in and taking people away,” said Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval, who attended the vigil for Pacheco. In June, the Pomona City Council announced the Pomona Compassion Fund to support “vulnerable residents and businesses.” It offers financial aid to the immigrant community, including food, essential supplies, health and mental health services and legal resources. It also provides grants to businesses. A month ago, Pomona council members updated new DUI-checkpoint protocols to include shutting down checkpoints if immigration enforcement officers arrive during police operations. Other neighboring governments have also taken measures to safeguard immigrant residents. Los Angeles County and Jurupa Valley both passed ordinances that bar federal officers from conducting operations on city property. The Riverside City Council passed a resolution in October requiring law enforcement personnel to clearly identify themselves when on duty. The influx of ICE activity has heightened the center’s role in the community. It acts as a watchdog by stationing staff and volunteers at day-labor corners daily, documenting operations and surveillance, and challenging what it sees as abuses through legal complaints and public campaigns. “Solo el pueblo salva al pueblo,” — only the people save the people, Teodoro said. There are good and bad days for Santana. Their father, they said, was the family’s primary provider. Financial stability has since been tenuous. Santana admit that there are moments when they feel like giving up. At the vigil, Santana asked those in attendance to join in the family’s annual ritual — singing Happy Birthday to Pacheco. In various pitches, several joined in. Santana reflected on the fact that, despite their separation, Pacheco still imparts wisdom to his child. “He’s like, ‘Don’t give up. You do not at any time give up,’” Santana said. “You will continue to fight, even if it feels impossible,” they recall him saying. The family has taken its father’s words to heart and continues to work for his release. “There’s always some type of hope, even if it’s a small, minor bit, it’s still enough,” Santana said.