US immigration raids continued to target southern California communities in recent days, including at a popular flea market and in a Los Angeles suburb where US citizens were detained.
On Saturday, as mass protests swept the nation, including tens of thousands demonstrating in LA, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents descended on a swap meet in Santa Fe Springs in southeast LA county. Video showed dozens of heavily armed, masked officers carrying out the raid before a scheduled concert at the long-running event that features vendors, food and entertainment every weekend
Witnesses told the Los Angeles Times that agents appeared to be going after people who “looked Hispanic in any way”, sparking widespread fear.
A US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) spokesperson said on Monday that it arrested two people at the swap meet who are now facing deportation.
The crowd at the swap meet largely cleared out before a scheduled 5.30pm concert, which was ultimately canceled, leaving the site unusually empty for a spring Saturday. Another witness told ABC7 agents were asking attendees where they were from: “I told them I was from the United States, and then they proceeded to walk away, and they took a picture of me … I took it as a personal threat.”
The swap meet arrests came at the end of more than a week of sustained raids and Ice activity in the region that have targeted day laborers outside Home Depot, car washers, warehouse workers, people outside churches and other residents in public spaces. The raids have continued as Donald Trump has sent the national guard and marines to LA to respond to protests, despite the objections of California leaders, who have sued to stop a deployment they deem unconstitutional.
Also over the weekend, video emerged of immigration actions in Montebello, a suburb east of the city of LA. Last Thursday, armed border patrol agents, who drove in an unmarked car, ended up detaining Jason Brian Gavidia and pressing him against a fence by an auto body shop he runs, the New York Times reported.
An agent interrogated Gavidia, a US citizen, asking, “What hospital were you born at?” Gavidia, 29, was born down the street, and video shows agents twisting his arm, as he said, “I’m American! … I’ll show you my ID. I was born here.” A witness filming the encounter is heard saying: “Literally based off skin color.”
Gavidia was released, but Javier Ramirez, another US citizen who is Gadivia’s friend and coworker, was detained by two agents, forced facedown on the ground and taken to federal detention, where he has remained in custody, the New York Times reported.
Salvador Melendez, the mayor of Montebello, a city that is 79% Latino, told the Guardian on Monday that the videos and reports of Ice in his community had caused widespread anxiety.
“This is racial profiling. They’re stopping folks because of the way they look,” said Melendez. “Ice agents are terrorizing our community. They are taking actions and asking questions later. There is absolutely no due process.”
Ice agents were spotted in a small area of Montebello, the mayor said. “But psychologically, they are already in our whole city. People are not going to work, not going out, not going to school. People don’t want to ride the bus. It’s extremely unfair … seeing Ice agents come in with these big guns, it almost feels like a war zone. They’re militarized to apprehend folks and they rough up our people.”
After millions protested Trump in national “No Kings” demonstrations, the president pledged Sunday to escalate Ice raids in Democratic-run cities, including LA, Chicago and New York.
“Folks have to stay vigilant, we have to look out for one another. If you see something, alert your neighbors,” said Melendez. “It’s beautiful to see people coming together, helping their neighbors and rallying against this … This is not normal and we have to be outspoken.”
Immigrant rights’ lawyers have said that people detained in the raids have disappeared or had little contact with their attorneys or families. Amid the crackdown, residents across the region have increasingly gone into hiding, turning typically lively immigrant hubs desolate.
DHS and border patrol did not respond to inquiries about the detentions in Montebello, but Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary, said in a press release Monday: “DHS targets have nothing to do with an individuals’ skin color. What makes someone a target is if they are in the United States illegally.”
A spokesperson added in a statement to the Guardian: “DHS and its components continue to enforce the law every day in greater Los Angeles and throughout the country … DHS agencies will not be deterred from the completion of our mission.”
The Los Angeles mayor, Karen Bass, has continued to keep a curfew in place for the downtown neighborhood that has been at the center of protests, but some activities in the center of the city have resumed, including theatrical performances. And while the national guard remains deployed, as the courts consider California’s objections, many areas in the LA region were functioning relatively normally, with little sign of the protests and the aggressive federal response.
But signs of the immigration crackdown are still being felt across the city. In LA’s Koreatown, a dense immigrant neighborhood, street vendors have been staying home out of fear of raids, causing significant financial hardships, said Andreina Kniss, an organizer with Ktown for All, a mutual aid group. Volunteers identified more than 60 families of vendors out of work and fundraised more than $50,000 for them, she said. The group had distributed funds to 36 families covering a month of expenses, as of Monday morning, allowing vulnerable workers to stay home.
“We felt like we couldn’t stand around and watch them have to make the choice between being kidnapped and paying their bills,” she said. “The city is being held hostage economically, and it’s not going to end until these Ice raids end.”
She hoped to see mutual aid efforts expand: “The $2,000 you raise for a family might prevent a family separation. It can change people’s lives. We’re just normal neighbors who care about neighbors.”
