The High Cost of a Tow After an ICE Arrest
Oct 16, 2026
Ramiro Basurto, owner of Buena Vista Towing, is offering free service to people whose cars have been left behind after being detained by federal immigration officials. (Credit Juan Esparza)
FRESNO, Calif. – Tow truck operator Ramiro Basurto loses as much as $700 – not including his time and the cost of diesel, now about $8.49 a gallon – every time he retrieves an abandoned vehicle belonging to someone detained by federal immigration officials.But those costs did not stop Basurto, originally from Mexico, from offering free towing to anyone detained after news broke of a surge in immigration arrests across the Central Valley.
“I do it because I’m one of them,” said Basurto, adding he tows up to four vehicles a day at no cost to the owners. “I’m the son of an immigrant. I come from abajo (below). So when you come from humble beginnings, you look around and you know what it’s like.”
Pointing to the latest wave of detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which began Oct. 5, he continued, “When I saw what was happening … I decided I’m going to do my part and give back to my people. I’m not going to abandon them.”
Valley residents like Basurto wasted no time jumping into action to help those impacted by what is expected to be a 45-day immigration enforcement operation targeting large parts of California just weeks ahead of the upcoming mid-term elections.
Thus far, more than 100 people – field workers, gardeners, construction workers and others – have been rounded up in this latest action by ICE.
Undocumented residents make up 12% (or about 124,000) of Fresno County’s population. Data show, meanwhile, that the vast majority of those arrested by ICE since the start of the second Trump administration have no criminal record.
A ‘no brainer’
Sanger area farmer Reina Jiménez is offering vegetables to those who have been impacted by federal immigration enforcement action in the Fresno region. This is an image from her Facebook page.
A Fresno housewife who bakes coconut-filled empanadas immediately offered to handle grocery shopping and delivery for those too scared to venture out. She also picks up children from school for parents worried about being detained.
A woman in Kerman, about 15 miles west of Fresno, who sells tamales and hot drinks in the predawn hours to laborers headed to the fields organized a group to make 500 meals of chicken, rice, beans and corn tortillas to give to hungry residents.
A Fresno trainer/entrepreneur drives up and down the region and quickly informs his ample social media audience of verified ICE activity. His Facebook posts, which include links to organizations that can offer help ranging from food to legal advice, have generated more than 11 million views.
“Of course I was surprised to see the solidarity we all have as a community, but I never imagined the impact my (Facebook) page would have,” said Gus Gutiérrez, known as “Coach Gus” by his 44,000 Facebook followers.
Gutiérrez would like to see other social media users with large followings get involved in helping those who fear they are subject to arrest by immigration officers, even if they are here legally. The community, he said, has filled a void left by government officials who have been slow in either speaking out to support the undocumented community or limit themselves in what they can do.
Organizations like Centro La Familia, Faith in the Valley, the United Farm Workers Foundation and CIVIIC have offered services including legal help and food.
“This is something very important for me because I was undocumented for 25 years,” said Gutiérrez about jumping into action. “It was a no-brainer. I didn’t have to think twice.”
He figures he’s out and about while taking his kids to school or running errands, so he has traveled as far south as Visalia, north to Stockton, east to Reedley and west to Mendota. Gutiérrez gets tips from followers, either a suspicious vehicle without license plates spotted in a neighborhood, a Go Fund Me account or where a food distribution is scheduled.
Gutiérrez would like to see immigration reform pass. “I know firsthand what it means to live in the shadows, with that constant fear and the uncertainty of not knowing what might happen tomorrow,” he said.
More than just a tow
Basurto established his towing company, Buena Vista Towing, in 2019. He named it after his hometown in the Mexican state of Guerrero. Sometimes, he tows vehicles on a promise that the client will pay.
“Some people are too poor to afford much,” he said, part of a broader crisis of affordability impacting the country and a central issue this election season.
Last weekend, Basurto stopped at a Costco in Fresno, purchased 40 dozen eggs and offered them for free. He wants to offer more, but his income has limitations. One of his sons helped with the towing company but then went back to another job because of a lull in business.
Still, Basurto doesn’t think twice about his decisions. “That’s how my father taught us. My father had a small store, and people sometimes didn’t have enough money, and my father would give it away at little cost,” said Basurto. “He was a role model for me.”
Basurto has a couple of friends helping out with some money for fuel. “I would love to do more,” he said while waiting at a fast-food parking lot in Central Fresno for a service call.
Basurto said he feels for farmworkers because he once toiled in the fields.
“To tell you the truth, I am blessed.”
Filling a need
Cutout images showing people who have died from immigration enforcement actions are taped to the wall of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in downtown Fresno.
Helping those in need is nothing new for Alvarado, the Kerman woman who helped raise $10,000 through the sale of 4,000 tamales two years ago to help the families of seven farmworkers who died in an early-morning car accident on the way to work.
After handing out more than 500 meals last week, she plans a bigger giveaway on Oct. 20 for families too afraid to venture out for work or shopping.
“I don’t have a grand business, but I have a grand God in my business,” said Alvarado, who enlists volunteers to help with the cooking. “I think about those moments I lived through and I wouldn’t want to hear someone tell me they didn’t have enough to feed their children.”
She worked in the fields when she first arrived in Kerman in 2022. She heard almost immediately after ICE activity was reported that people were going hungry. Alvarado, despite her legal status, is afraid to venture out for fear immigration agents will harass her.
“I’m very happy because it’s nice when people from your own community take their own people into account,” she said.
It is up to the community, Alvarado said, to pitch in and help during the immigration crackdown because the need can’t wait for elected officials to address it. “People need to feed their children.”
Help can’t wait
Erika Emprendedora does grocery shopping for free for about four families a day so that they avoid the risk of running into immigration authorities.
“I thought about the people who don’t speak the language or have trouble with their cell phones,” said Erika, adding the task is demanding because she also has her own family to care for. Nevertheless, she still finds time to update her 12,000 Facebook followers on where ICE officers have been spotted.
There are many others who are pitching in. The owner of a small Madera market offers free grocery delivery and is organizing a food giveaway. He advises people to send their children or someone with legal status to pick up the food. The market entrance is guarded to keep immigration agents out.
Kerman Mayor María Pacheco, meanwhile, recently chased ICE agents out of her city. He actions have since gone viral on social media and were promoted by comedian George López. Another woman is delivering fresh vegetables from her small farm near Sanger.
The help, they all agree, can’t wait.
This story was produced as part of “Aquí Estamos/Here We Stand,” a collaborative reporting project of American Community Media and community news outlets statewide.
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