ANAHEIM, Calif. \u2014 The Anaheim Marketplace is an indoor market where 200 mainly Hispanic-run shops operate.<\/p>\n
What You Need To Know<\/p>\n
The Anaheim Contigo program was created last summer when ICE enforcement started to ramp up in the city
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As part of the Anaheim Contigo program, Chief Communications Officer Mike Lyster with the city of Anaheim said he often attends police related incidents to reassure the public that what is happening has nothing to do with immigration
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Mayor Pro Tem Carlos Leon said this funding will go toward helping residents find their loved ones during the first 24-72 hours after they were detained
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Leon said over the next few weeks his team will be working to identify a nonprofit to partner with and create a hotline for community members to call if their family member has been taken by ICE<\/p>\n
Just outside the Anaheim Marketplace is where M&H Auto Sales sells vehicles to a mainly Hispanic clientele.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Miguel Esperza is a car salesman there, and he said because Immigration and Customs Enforcement started ramping up last summer, business has slowed down.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasically, when this thing started happening last year, the business, maybe four months or so, it just went down the drain,\u201d Esperza said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
According to the U.S. Census<\/a>, 53% of the population in Anaheim is Hispanic.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Being an Anaheim resident himself,\u00a0Esperza said his neighbors are very scared of being taken by ICE.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThank God I am legal in this country and I don\u2019t have a problem like that, but uh, all my family we live in this country but I see other people that are suffering and it is sad,\u201d Esperza said.\u00a0<\/p>\n In late March, the Anaheim Police Department was conducting an illegal gambling bust inside the Anaheim Marketplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t want anyone to think this was immigration,\u201d said Mike Lyster, who is the chief communications officer with the City of Anaheim, while speaking to a man in charge of the Anaheim Marketplace.\u00a0<\/p>\n