As ICE operations ramped up across the US over the past year, vans emblazoned with imagery of the Statue of Liberty have been deployed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Charlotte and most recently, Minneapolis. Liberty Vans, or camioneta de la libertad in Spanish, are on a mission to defend vulnerable communities in the crosshairs of federal enforcement.
Volunteers in the small fleet of three vans – which are named for the second world war Liberty ships that delivered supplies to Allied forces – offer moral and legal support, stand in visible solidarity with families and document ICE operations so people can see the human impact of the military-style raids that have become a daily part of American life.
The vans are powered by a politically diverse coalition, which is representative of how bipartisan the anger against ICE has become, and how anti-ICE sentiment can serve as a broad mobilizing force. Headed by Mary Corcoran, a former public relations executive who once worked in Democratic politics, and Steve Schmidt, the former Republican strategist and co-founder of the anti-Trump group, the Lincoln Project, they say they see ICE’s tactics as a fight for “right against wrong, not right against left”.
“Americans are waking up and realizing that there is power in protesting, organizing and mobilizing,” said Corcoran. “I’m so encouraged to see Americans banding together, peacefully organizing and sharing videos and content so that we can all see with our own eyes the horrors this administration is inflicting on our country.”
Corcoran and Schmidt, who co-founded the non-profit Save America Movement, or Sam, conceived of the Liberty Vans to help people understand how daily raids affect communities. When the vans head to a new city, Sam calls local networks of trained lawyers, faith leaders, videographers and veterans – who represent a wide range of political backgrounds – to staff the vans and offer legal resources, spiritual support and solidarity.
They’ve also partnered with local organizations such as the National Day Laborer Network, VC Defensa and Hermandad Mexicana Nacional, who offer legal defense, organizing and advocacy for immigrants under attack. Recent polling shows a drastic decline in support for ICE since they began conducting violent raids in Los Angeles in June 2025. Today, a majority of Americans would support abolishing ICE and a recent NPR/PBS/Marist poll found that 65% of registered voters believe ICE has “gone too far” (an 11-point jump from June). Sixty percent of voters believe ICE should withdraw from Minneapolis.
Liberty Van volunteers drive around to locations such as Home Depots, swap meets, grocery stores and neighborhoods that have been impacted by ICE. Clergy members have prayed with people, while immigration attorneys share helpful “know your rights” information with day laborers and other immigrants they meet. Van staffers offer people water and snacks and connect with local organizers so they know they are there to help.
“When you have a war veteran on a van, that person is going to elicit a higher level of respect,” said Fabian Núñez, the former speaker of California’s assembly and a member of Sam’s steering committee who has ridden along in the vans, “and pastors call on people’s better sides. We needed to protect Latino and other immigrants with people who understand the higher calling.”
Although they don’t formally track their aid efforts, Sam estimates that Liberty Vans have provided assistance to thousands of people over the last four months.
The vans also provide another critical service: documenting immigrant stories, ICE actions and potential violations with high-definition cameras, with the aim of eventually holding people, agencies and the Trump administration accountable.
“The footage is really important when the gavel is in a different hand and House after November 2026,” said Corcoran, who enlisted a warzone videographer to capture images in Minneapolis in recent weeks in hopes that it could assist with future prosecutions. “We anticipate handing over everything to the committees as evidence when they go to hold these people accountable, which will happen.”
In less than six months, they’ve captured shocking scenes of ICE firing pepper balls on peaceful protesters, first-hand accounts of raids, an ICE agent aiming a rifle directly at a Liberty Van photojournalist while others deployed smoke bombs and people sharing their stories of the impact of the Trump administration’s anti-immigrant rhetoric. Liberty Vans also documented agents, including US border patrol, violating a federal judge’s modified temporary restraining order in Chicago by deploying gas and force.
They also share footage with news desks and organizations and on social media.
“These images are very powerful and they can capture a violation in a way that can galvanize the public and convince people that not only are these things happening, but that they matter,” said Stephen Lee, a law professor at UC Irvine who writes about immigrants and immigration law. “Footage is helpful because it quickly discredits the government’s account of things, which can stymie their effort to go after and discredit the victims of violence and other people who are witnesses. Even the fact that immigration officials and agents are wearing masks speaks to the power and the threat posed by a camera.”
The politically diverse Sam was conceived of by Corcoran, who was disturbed by the direction the Trump administration was taking the country in early 2025. “I was watching our democracy be taken apart piece by piece,” said Corcoran, who worked for the Democratic National Committee and the liberal political action committee America Coming Together, in the early 2000s. “It was happening so fast I thought if this continues at this pace, and there is no opposition, we’re not going to make it to the midterms.”
Her first call was to an old colleague, Schmidt, who is known for his aggressive approach. After some cajoling by Corcoran, Schmidt, who left the Lincoln Project in 2021, got on board and they launched the non-partisan Sam last summer with a goal of defeating the Maga movement and restoring democracy in the US.
Sam’s Núñez, who organized undocumented immigrants before serving in the California assembly, joined Corcoran and Schmidt’s movement immediately. “[The federal government] is trying to break the spirit of an entire community. It’s a psychological fight they have even with children,” said Núñez.
“When we arrive on the scene, sometimes the agents have already left, and then there’s all the damage they leave behind. That’s why we have the hi-def footage – so there’s no doubt about the human impact of what’s going on.”
