Each night, commuters on Los Angeles's bustling 101 freeway are confronted by a stark and powerful sight. Towering, illuminated portraits of local residents flash onto the sides of downtown buildings, accompanied by a haunting, three-word question: Am I Next?
A Collective Stand Against Immigration Raids
This arresting display is a public art protest launched by three major Los Angeles institutions: the California Community Foundation, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes, and the Japanese American National Museum (JANM). The projections, which began nightly on 6 November, form a direct response to federal immigration raids that have seen thousands detained in the city this year.
The project, titled Am I Next?, aims to spotlight the fear and trauma experienced by millions since the Trump administration intensified its immigration enforcement approach in June. Nearly half of LA's residents are Latino, and the campaign underscores how day-to-day life has been altered by the threat of detention.
"I carry my passport around, which I never imagined as a native Angeleno," revealed Miguel Santana, President of the California Community Foundation. "We're putting up a mirror to what is happening."
Faces and Stories Behind the Campaign
The black-and-white portraits, captured by Pulitzer-winning photographer Barbara Davidson, feature dozens of everyday Angelenos from neighbourhoods like East LA and Echo Park. Alongside them are brief, chilling stories of people—including US citizens—'Taken' from buses, homes, and workplaces by federal agents.
Among the faces are notable figures such as actor-activists Edward James Olmos and George Takei, and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Santana's own portrait is projected onto the CalFund building, visible from City Hall and near an ICE detention centre. "Courage is the best antidote to authoritarianism," he stated.
The campaign highlights alarming statistics: over 65,000 immigrants are currently in federal detention across the US, a 66% increase since January, with 74% having no criminal conviction.
Historical Echoes and Expanding Solidarity
For the Japanese American community, the tactics feel grimly familiar. The JANM, serving as a canvas for the art, is the same site from which 37,000 Japanese Americans were sent to internment camps in 1942. It was also the location of a heavily armed immigration raid in August this year.
"The same kind of xenophobia, fear, prejudice and racism that Japanese Americans faced during world war two is what our current immigrant populations are facing," said James Herr, Director of the Democracy Centre at JANM.
The protest is expanding. Accompanying the projections at LA Plaza is We Belong Here, an exhibition of works by local artists. Furthermore, institutions in Long Beach, San Francisco, and New York have expressed interest in hosting similar displays. Organisers vow to continue the projections indefinitely, until constitutional rights are secured for all.
"We're living in a moment where every American has to decide if those rights apply to all of us or some of us," Santana concluded.
