LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Activists in Southern California say they are working nonstop to support immigrant communities amid ongoing enforcement operations.
Ron Gochez, a teacher and member of Unión del Barrio, said volunteers who respond to the operations are dispatched around the clock.
“These operations are literally happening 24 hours a day. We get calls at 3 in the morning, 5 in the morning,” he said.
Civil rights groups reported at least 20 immigration enforcement operations in a single day this week, including in Montebello where agents were captured on video getting out of an unmarked truck and climbing a ladder to chase construction workers on a rooftop.
Those types of scenes, activists say, have kept many families in a constant state of fear for months.
Baristas at Vida Pura, a coffee shop in East L.A., said the raids have directly impacted their families. Alexa Ibarra said her family shut down its food truck out of fear. Elias Reyes said he’s taken on a second job and is worried his father – a U.S. citizen – may be targeted because of the color of his skin and line of work.
Gochez said that while the enforcement actions have been constant and intensified, so has the community response.
“Now we have thousands of people patrolling all over Southern California. Literally all the way from Riverside to Santa Barbara to San Ysidro at the border, to Lancaster,” he said. “They failed to take as many people as they wanted to, and we attribute that to the organized resistance.”
In East L.A., workers at Vida Pura said the raids weigh heavily on the community.
“Just knowing that people are living in fear right now, it’s not fair,” Ibarra said.
The shop displays a sign in Spanish stating that it proudly welcomes immigrants.
“We all have to stay strong together,” Ibarra said. “We all have to stay united and protect each other, honestly.”
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