On Jan. 26, 2025, agents from U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raided Cilantro Taqueria in Cleveland Heights’ Coventry Village. Following the raid, neighbors came together to form Cleveland Heights for Immigrant Rights (CH4IR), a group dedicated to protecting and supporting immigrants in the community. This past Jan. 26, the first anniversary of the raid, CH4IR held a vigil in honor of those who have died in ICE custody or in a conflict with ICE agents.
Sheila Keller, a leader of the group, explained the organization’s mission and the work it does to support immigrants in the community.
“[We are] a grassroots movement of people that formed after the raid on Cilantro that occurred exactly a year ago yesterday,” Keller said. “We follow in a long tradition of Cleveland Heights being a city that is willing to stand in the gap and take action for justice at times that this is required of us. In the 1970s, it was the fight to integrate our community. Now, it is the fight to protect immigrants and the ever-eroding rights we all have in this country, regardless of immigration status.”
Keller also highlighted the organization’s advocacy efforts, continuously encouraging their city officials to take action.
“We are also asking our city council to put our money where our values are, and pass immigrant rights legislation that we have had before them for at least seven months,” Keller said. “We have met with all our elected officials one to four times [and had a] turnout of 100 members of our community to eight city council meetings to speak. We are living in a state of emergency, and we require their leadership.”
Several other speakers shared stories and perspectives at the vigil. A rabbi spoke about his recent experience traveling to Minneapolis with other faith leaders. He noted how close the community had become and how they were working to defend themselves and their neighbors from ICE. He urged his own community to join their fellow neighbors to do the same. A worker from Cilantro Taqueria spoke about the atrocities that ICE was inflicting upon individual immigrants and communities. She thanked the group for coming to support and was heartened by the congregation of people coming together in solidarity.
To conclude the event, an organizer from CH4IR stepped forward to read the names of all those who died as a result of ICE’s actions in 2025 and 2026. After each name was called, the group responded “presente” to honor the life that had been lost.
Shay Singh, a member of CH4IR, commented on the vigil.
“[We met] to mark the year since the raid on Cilantro Taqueria and the inaction from local leaders at the violence that has escalated in our community and nationwide. Just this month, ICE has executed Renée Good and Alex Pretti in the act of protecting their neighbors. We met in the cold to remind our community that we are here for them, and we steadfastly demand that our elected leaders stand with all of their residents.”
The temperature outside hovered in the single digits as people chanted, sang and marched. It was clear that despite the freezing temperatures, attendees were filled with a fire to stand together for immigrant rights.