Latinos in Lake Tahoe Worry About Local, Unverified ICE-Sightings on Social Media

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Despite the Latino population across Lake Tahoe cities and towns averaging nearly 30%, there is a gap in Spanish news in the idyllic alpine community. 

This creates a news desert that pushes the Hispanic population there to use social media to find resources, including learning if Immigration and Customs Enforcement, better known as ICE, has been spotted in the area.

The danger of solely relying on social media or “word of mouth” is that it can quickly shut down the Latino community which can have a significant impact on the primarily tourist economy.

“We’ve seen kids skipping school because of the fear around enforcement. Those absences impact the school district and their attendance rates as well as the child’s learning,” said Paul Bancroft, the executive director of Sierra Community House, a non-profit that connects families to resources, based in Truckee but with offices in Kings Beach and Incline Village. “When people skip out of work due to fear, it impacts their personal finances, their employer’s business, and overall the economy.”

He’s noticing the paralyzing effect of misinformation on social media posts about ICE raids and its impact on the economy around the lake. 

For example, just in North Lake Tahoe, a recent report found that tourists’ spend more than $365 million in food and $379.2 million in accommodations in 2023. 

“And, so it also has that impact on the broader economy because without our service industry, our construction industry, without our workforce kind of maintaining life here, things get really challenging,” Bancroft added.

While ICE raids in Northern Nevada have not made national news as they have in other cities and towns, just this May, in Reno, Sun Valley, Carson City and Dayton the immigration agency made 52 arrests. And after ICE was spotted about an hour away in South Lake Tahoe in January, the Latinos who work, live and attend school in this touristy area began to use social media to find out more. 

Recently Nevada Governor Joe Lombardo announced that he would authorize the state’s National Guard assist ICE in their immigration raids. If so, Latinos everywhere, including Lake Tahoe may continue getting unverified la migra alerts in the region.

We asked Latinos at the Raley’s Supermarket in Incline Village how they are keeping up with ICE activity including, if they are utilizing the iPhone app called ICEBlock which allows people to anonymously post sightings within five miles of their location. The alerts automatically delete after four hours. We used their middle names to keep their identities anonymous.

”I’ve been thinking about downloading it … if no one’s using it, it’s not worth it,” said Ivan, who’s heard about the app, but was unsure of its reliability.

Luis on the other hand, said that he has already downloaded the app and checks it when he can.

“I know a lot of people who are using it,” he said. “Yes, I think the app is being used here because there was a meeting here in Incline, and they taught us to try to help other people.”

Like many others we tried to speak with, a woman named Graciela had never heard of ICEBlock.

“Yes, it’s good to alert people because sometimes they are arresting people who have nothing to do with it and they have no legal problems and the families are bearing the consequences”

However, Graciela has heard about ICE sightings in the Tahoe area and wishes the information could be better verified.

“People send text messages or pictures through Facebook,” she said. “There are times when it isn’t [true], but they think it is.”

The misinformation worries organizations like Sierra Community House who don’t want to see a downturn for the local economy.

“You know, it takes one post to Facebook or a WhatsApp group that, you know, ‘está la migra‘ in town and people aren’t going to school, and people aren’t going to work,” Bancroft explained. “These actions are oftentimes based on fear and rumors. So far that we’re seeing.”

Since the beginning of the year, the power and funding of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement agency has grown exponentially. So for immigrants, legal or not, who work and live in Lake Tahoe, learning to verify the validity of ICE raids on social media could have a significant impact on everyone’s ability to make money.

Editor’s Note: This story was written jointly by Oscar Martínez and Mayra González Hernández; voiceover work by Juliet Ojeda, Alejo Cruz and James Perez