A Photo Essay & Video of a Surprise Encounter with Anti-ICE Protesters In the Desert, Including One Scary & Wildly Unhinged
A guy holding a Nazi sign as he sings about hating both liberals and conservatives was the last thing I expected when going to return my overdue library books.
I took the photo above on Tuesday, January 20, 2026 at 2:19 PM in Yucca Valley, California, just outside the Yucca Valley public library at the intersection of Twentynine Palms Highway and Old Woman Springs Road. I went after I finished my article on decreasing observation of Holocaust Memorial Day in the United Kingdom for The Algemeiner:
The third-to-last image that concludes this photo essay was taken that same day, five hours later, at 7:26 PM.
There’s a video tucked away in the middle that you might find chilling. I certainly do.
Rather than just doing a photo essay about the protests that I stumbled upon by accident, I’ve decide to show some pictures that I took in the hours after the demonstration so you can see the sorts of things in Yucca Valley that drew less attention than coming out to wave signs. See what it’s actually like for me living on the edge of town, now anxious to take Jasmine out for walks, now having reported to multiple sheriffs what I have seen.
And rather than me going through and doing color commentary and snarky asides, I’m just going to let the pictures largely speak for themselves, save for a note here and there for useful context.
However, I will have something to say at the end. These are all juxtaposed for a reason which you’ll soon realize.
I identified myself to the guy above and told him about God of the Desert Digital Media Studios. This appears to be his Substack:
Yeah… what do you guys think of this? Should I film and share more protest videos?
I’ve decided to try out all the various mom and pop Mexican restaurants in town. Here’s one that I won’t name now (I don’t want to draw any ICE attention to them), but will at another date when I perhaps give them a thorough review. I really enjoyed eating there and will return. I want to try that super breakfast burrito on the menu… Maybe I’ll do that this weekend…
I’m now starting a Horchata kick for reasons that I’ll write more about soon—such a wonderful drink.
I had intended to just drive home after eating but then I discovered something that infuriated me. After just being freshly painted over earlier this month, the graffiti had returned to the shopping center near our apartment:
In the evening I ventured out to walk Jasmine and took this photo at 6:23 PM:
The gang tagging is not the only graffiti in the area. Taggers have also taken advantage of the apparent tolerance for criminality:
The cross there is one of three highway memorials within walking distance in the area.
Here’s another I wrote about last month:
Jasmine was due for a new toy and this frog seemed appropriate.
I looked at the snake sitting in its cage at Petco in a building covered with gangland graffitti and thought about America in 2026 and our President Donald John Trump.
This is where they sell tacos and burritos on the side of the highway most evenings. Maybe I’ll finally pick one up tonight.
This morning I had a long, thorough talk with a detective of the San Bernardino County sheriffs who focuses on gang activity in the region. He assured me that they are on top of what’s happening and committed to stopping it. I think he’s serious and trust him.
Now, why aren’t the so-called “serious” people out on the side of the highway with their colorful signs, having fun and partying like it’s still 1969, concerned about this?
Yeah, I’m just going to say it. Liberals, left-wing, progressive people: why are you out there performing on the side of the highway, while ignoring the trash and the crime that is all around you?
You think that being an activist means going out on the side of the street and holding some goofy sign?
No. It means going and taking concrete actions to improve the quality of life in your community. So that’s meant me going and documenting the crime and sharing the photos with the local management of the building, and calling the sheriffs multiple times. And I’m prepared to take further steps. That’s what real activism is. It’s not exciting and it’s not glamorous and it’s not fun.
It’s work.
So you 1960s boomers who want to relive your glory days, how about instead of going out and performing on the side of the highway, you go out and actually do something to make this place in the Morongo Basin safer for the children living in it?
Going out on the highway and waving signs isn’t going to make Stephen Miller stop committing human rights abuses.
It’s a waste of time that ignores that there are very real, serious, concrete problems happening right now that anyone is capable of standing up to and addressing.
I took the photo below at the same location as the Grape Street Watts Crips vandalism on January 3, 2026 at 3:27 PM:
The sign holders are performative activists. They can feel so morally upright while doing absolutely nothing for anyone.
Horchata on the other hand is god’s drink. I wish I could get easily get tigernut here. I was thrilled to see some space dedicated to a little known but incredible beverage.
Oh, but if you hold signs, you can imagine yourself as an actor in a vast drama.
If you help clean up local crime, that sounds too much like work. So boring.
Essentially, people need to grow up and realize that it is better to make a meaningful difference than to prance around and act like people care.