As ICE raids continue, parts of Los Angeles go empty 

On a normal day, the lines at Angel’s Tijuana Tacos’ many locations can easily stretch down a long block, as a team of workers make tortillas by hand, shave fresh meat in front of a roaring fire, and turn out some of the city’s best food at lightning speed. For several days this month, though, the local Los Angeles-area chain’s taco stands and trucks were abruptly closed, with only one brick-and-mortar location in neighboring Orange County remaining open. Amid ongoing ICE raids in LA, Angels has been one of the many businesses who have closed, adjusted their hours, or otherwise tried to defend their staff and clientele from being taken by federal immigration authorities. Los Angeles, a city full of immigrants, has gone into a defensive crouch. 

Near where I live on the city’s east side, many of the street vendors who typically sell clothes, food, and jewelry are absent.  Many elementary schools appear to be bringing students inside earlier; school playgrounds that are usually full of kids getting their early morning energy out have been empty. The streets, too, are far emptier—and noticeably whiter—than they would ever usually be. A grocery store worker who I see regularly has been coming to work in sunglasses and a hat, with a neck gaiter pulled up to just under their nose. An especially hot week would usually mean neighborhoods full of barbecues and music; instead, Father’s Day weekend was somber and entirely too quiet. I haven’t heard the clang of the elotero’s bell in weeks, announcing his wares as he pushes his cart down the street. 

The story is the same across Los Angeles county, home to countless communities that are heavily Latino and full of immigrant families or families with mixed status. Local news site L.A. Taco reports that many taco stands are temporarily closing, a staple food for workers across the city.(Their concerns are entirely reasonable: as L.A. Taco reported, an ICE raid on Jason’s Tacos in East Los Angeles last week targeted both the taqueros, all of whom were abducted, and their customers.) MacArthur Park, an area known for a huge number of vendors selling clothes, food and household wares to immigrant families, is also much quieter than usual. The enormous produce market in downtown Los Angeles—which supplies individuals as well as restaurants‚—is empty and full of rotting food, ABC 7 reported this week, with immigrant customers too afraid to show up to shop. Domestic violence shelters, too, are seeing a chilling effect, several providers told Mother Jones’ Julianne McShane, with clients too afraid to seek services.  

Attempts to keep community members safe have been met with mixed success: High schools and colleges across the city adjusted their graduation protocols and set up safety perimeters to make sure families could see their students graduate, an effort which seems to have been successful; there were no reports of ICE raiding a graduation. On Saturday, though, an ICE raid targeted the Santa Fe Springs Swap meet, a popular weekly local attraction that draws mostly Latino families for music and shopping. It was expected to be especially crowded this weekend due to a Father’s Day concert. 

But where there’s widespread terror against immigrants and non-white communities more generally, there’s also astonishing solidarity. As occurred during January’s devastating fires, Los Angeles has been full of people and organizations trying to help.

World Harvest Charities and Family Services “Cart with a Heart” program allows people to grocery shop for families who might be too afraid to leave their houses. The YMCA of Metropolitan Los Angeles has been delivering food and other essentials to families sheltering in place, and several of their locations have also been set up as collection sites for people to drop off donations, assemble care packages, and write “notes of support,” the Y wrote on Instagram.

And a multitude of organizations are providing legal consultations for community members, including Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project. The longstanding Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights set up a rapid response hotline for residents to report ICE sightings. Numerous restaurants have held fundraisers to support immigrant families. And the nonprofit KTown For All has taken a particularly ingenious approach, buying out everything that local food vendors are selling in order to allow them to get home to their families more quickly. On Thursday the organization said it had raised $50,000 so far to benefit 42 vendors and their families, covering their rent and bills and keeping them “safely off the street and out of sight.” 

And to widespread celebration, Angel’s Tijuana Tacos cautiously reopened several of its locations in Los Angeles and the Inland Empire earlier this week. “Thank you,” they told their Instagram followers, “for your support and sticking by us during these difficult and uncertain times.”