The Developer Behind 'Waze for Ice Immigration Raids' Shares Insights

Born in the U.S. to immigrant parents from Mexico, Celeste, 30, is the creator of People Over Papers, a decentralized and anonymous collective that tracks and maps real-time ICE sightings submitted by the public. (For her safety, Gizmodo is using a synonym for Celeste’s real name.) The project functions like a kind of “Waze for immigration raids,” built not to direct traffic, but to save lives, offer warnings, and raise awareness about immigration enforcement operations across the U.S.

Celeste, who works full-time in IT, has chosen to remain anonymous. After right-leaning accounts like Libs of TikTok and Wall Street Apes shared her face and X handle, she received a flood of online harassment, including threats. These accounts have accused her of aiding criminals, a charge she and People Over Papers firmly deny.

Out of concern for her safety, Celeste is not disclosing where she currently lives (though she confirmed it’s no longer in California). At the heart of People Over Papers is a volunteer network of about 45 people, including educators, tech workers, retirees, stay-at-home parents, and unemployed organizers. Together, they play a central role in alerting vulnerable communities to possible ICE raids, efforts that may face increased scrutiny and even legal risk. People Over Papers is just one example of how digital tools, used anonymously, strategically, and with intent, are reshaping what activism looks like under surveillance and pressure.

We asked Celeste 13 questions about the risks, motivations, mechanics, and future of the project, and why she continues doing this work despite the threats. The interview was conducted by telephone.

Gizmodo: How did you get involved with People Over Papers?

Celeste: I created this organization, this team, back in January, because I saw a need for it on TikTok. I was posting informative immigration videos on TikTok and I came across a creator, who was posting a screenshot of her notes app behind her, using the green screen feature on TikTok, and it was just a list of places that people had seen ICE that had reported it to her, and she was getting hundreds of reports. So, I told her: “Why don’t I help you, visualize all the reports that you’re getting? Let’s work together.”

So, we started chatting about it. She gave me all the information I needed to start using Google Maps. You know, I figured that might be a good place to start. Then it took off. Even more, more people started submitting, sending me messages about tips that they had, and a different creator reached out to me and asked if I wanted help. I said, ‘Sure.’ Then we looked for tools that allowed users to submit forms with locations onto a map, and we came across Padlet, and we said, well, let’s try it; see if it works, and the rest is history. It just kind of happened.

Gizmodo: When you saw it taking off, what crossed your mind at that point? 

Celeste: I saw a need. I didn’t plan this. In January, I did not think I was going to grow a following. I didn’t think I would be getting calls from reporters. I didn’t think any of that would happen. It wasn’t my goal. I didn’t set off to do this. Again, I just saw a need for it, and my motivation behind all of it is that I’m from a family of immigrants. I believe that this country has been built on the back of immigrants. I believe that we didn’t cross the border. The border crossed us, especially for people who are of Mexican descent, and Indigenous, and I just starkly disagree with the immigration policies of this country. 

Gizmodo: Can you elaborate on your background?

Celeste: My family’s from Mexico. I was born here, so I am a naturalized citizen, a national board citizen here in the U.S. And yet, I have family members who are affected by these policies. I’ve seen people criminalized or being targeted because of their immigration status. And I think it’s wrong.

Gizmodo: You said that you know, personally, who has been affected by the immigration policies. Do you mean you know people who were arrested and deported? 

Celeste: Absolutely. I have friends whom I went to elementary school with. I just happened to be born here. They happened to be brought when they were really young, and we grew up in the same town, same school.

Even if they were smarter than me, even if they were more dedicated at school than me, they were always going to have it harder to find a job, to pay for their higher education. They were always going to have it much more difficult than me, and the only reason is because my parents happened to be here, and I was born here.

And then, I have family members who have been deported. I have family members who have attempted to cross into the U.S and have been sent back. I have, you know, a lot of family and friends that are directly impacted by this.

Gizmodo: What do you want them to know when you do something like this? 

Celeste: I guess, my message to people that are undocumented is that: First, I’m sorry. I wish that as a citizen of this country, I could do more.

I understand why they want to be here. It’s for a better life, for a better future, for the American dream that was sold to them. 

Gizmodo: What do you say to Americans who are saying that people who are here illegally should be deported?

Celeste: We’re all human beings at the end of the day. Unless you’re Indigenous, you were not born here. Your ancestry wasn’t founded here or born here. We have all immigrated here in some form or fashion. And two. If it was as easy as becoming legal to come to this country, per se. If it was easy to get documented. People would have done it already. The process to become a citizen in the U.S is purposefully difficult. People work tirelessly for decades to try to earn their citizenship here, or even earn their permanent residence status. And they never, they never get it. And that’s because the processes, the laws, the requirements, the immigration system as a whole is extremely difficult to navigate.

Gizmodo: You were apparently doxxed by two conservative social media accounts, Libs of TikTok and Wall Street Apes. 

Celeste: Luckily, I haven’t been doxxed in a way that people have found where I live or have found my full name as far as I can tell. Libs of TikTok did attack me on Twitter, along with Wall Street Apes. [Neither Libs of TikTok nor Wall Street Apes responded to Gizmodo’s request for comment.] Somebody, a conservative, found my TikTok account, sent it to them, and then they blasted that information; try to submit fake reports, so we instituted moderating, right? We had a bot attack, and we were in a situation where we would repeatedly just block the IP. And then they would, you know, sign up with a new one container IP, and it was a cat and mouse game. But at the end of the day, I knew that they would grow tired or bored, and they would move on. And that’s exactly what happened, and I assume, at some point, if they catch one of these again, they will try it again. 

That only motivates us more, because if there are conservative people who disagree with what we’re doing, it tells us that they believe that what we’re doing is a threat to the opinion that they carry, and that means that we’re doing something right, in my opinion.

As for physical safety, especially when I was receiving all the hate messages, I was worried. I don’t have a registered firearm or anything, but I thought is this a time for me to purchase a firearm and get registered ultimately. I didn’t do it. It goes against my philosophy, but that’s something always in the back of my head.

Gizmodo: Are you worried about the safety of your family?

Celeste: I do worry that one day they will find out who I am, and therefore they will find who my family is. I have had very long conversations with my family about this. We’ve talked about safety on the internet and safety in person. So we’ve taken the proper precautions to try to mitigate that as much as possible. For example, I scrubbed all of my social media as soon as I hit maybe 10,000 followers. I went through my Instagram, my Facebook to take down any posts that had identifying information, maybe showing where I’m from, where I live, where I work, all that stuff.

Gizmodo: Does your employer know about your advocacy? 

Celeste: I have very close co-workers that do know that I do this. I try not to be super open about this, because I do like to keep my work life and my political life at this point separate. 

Gizmodo: How do you make sure the reports sent to People Over Papers are reliable? 

Celeste: We have standards that we do follow for a submission. If we posted every single submission, it would be complete junk. We get screenshots of Facebook posts that just say ICE in Oklahoma. That’s not helpful to anybody, right? So we follow what’s called the salute method in a lot of advocacy organizations for immigration. Use this you want: the size, the activity, the location, the uniform, time and date and the equipment that they had. We leave off equipment because, to me, that’s part of the uniform. But, we want the exact location, if possible an image or video would be great, and to fill out as much of the information as possible. 

Now, as far as verification goes, we take verification of a sighting very, very seriously, and we will never say that something is confirmed unless it is an organization that we trust (…) We don’t want to spread fear. So every single report will have some sort of statement that says this is a potential ICE sighting, but it has not been verified.”

Gizmodo: Since the beginning of the protests in L.A., have you noticed an increase in the reports you receive?

Celeste: We have definitely had an increase. We had an increase in reports starting in May, 

We started out with a lot of reports, like over 900, 700, 800, and then it dropped significantly in early February, and then it continued dropping steadily into March and April, and on May 4, we saw more activity start popping up, because that was the first big operation that took place in Massachusetts. And since then, the number of reports has slowly been climbing up and up and up. (…)

We expect more activity as tensions continue to rise between the public and the administration, and we’re always recruiting people.

Gizmodo: It appears that moderator is the main role. What does a moderator do?

Celeste: That’s exactly it. If we can verify the information, cross-referencing with new sources, making sure that there’s nothing inappropriate, and trying to identify what agents it is. We received some vague information, but based on context clues, we could figure out where the location is. Back during the winter, we received reports from up north, and we knew that it had snowed, and we received reports without any snow on the ground, and so we could tell easily that that report’s not accurate. So, it’s sort of like a mini investigation.

Gizmodo: How do people contact you, and how long will the project be around?

Celeste: They can DM me on TikTok (@celestiedabestie), on Instagram (@celestiedabestie). It’s been almost six months since this started. I have not had time to think about the future. I do expect to do other things: advocacy, education, combating misinformation, disinformation. There’s so many things that we can do. I think it’s a bad thing that this tool is being used so heavily. It means people are afraid.