During peak hours, traffic may still be blocking the Los Angeles Expressway, but in many parts of the city, daily life has been in trouble.
Fear and panic have settled in many neighborhoods in Los Angeles after widespread immigration raids in the area, where one-third of the residents are immigrants. For nearly two weeks, social media has been scattered with videos capturing immigration agents in shopping malls, markets, and nearby streets, with federal agents arrested in swaps, car washes and other businesses.
“People stay at home at Mass and at work, parks and shops are empty, and many communities remain silent,” Los Angeles Archbishop José H. Gomez said in an opinion piece by local Catholic news outlet Angelus. “Out of fear, families have been behind locked doors.”
Businesses and workers are beginning to feel the impact of these quieter streets – it is unclear how long the situation will last when the Trump administration vows to continue to step up deportation.
Wednesday’s Times visited several areas in Los Angeles that were often bustling, only to find empty sidewalks, while owners and workers at food trucks, restaurants and clothing stores were worried and struggling.
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On Wednesday morning, at the 7th Street produce market in downtown Los Angeles, fewer people were walking in stores than those with plastic bags filled with vegetables and fruit. Several usually open shops were closed and parking lots were plenty.
A spike in immigration and customs enforcement operations in Southern California ahead of a nearby clothing area (a dramatic raid nearly two weeks ago, sparking volatile protests – the streets are empty except for a few customers peeking at the shops. Workers say there has been little business since the immigration raid began.
Family members of the detained workers spoke to the media outside the Ambiance Apparel on June 9, targeting the costume by federal agents.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
“It affects everything; it affects all of us,” said Eva Ibrahim, 48, the owner of a store that sells gowns and suits.
In the days following the initial raid, several stores were closed because workers and customers seemed afraid to take risks. Many reopened this week, but workers regretted the lack of customers.
“It’s like everything is paralyzed,” Ibrahim said. “A lot of people don’t want to come and worry about being caught.”
Nearby, the new Quinceñera and bridal shop are also quiet. The store owner Vilma declined to give his last name because he was worried about being targeted by federal agents, who he said has been since the raid began.
“Everyone is scared,” she said.
“The way ice sweeps are scary,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn said Wednesday. “We have seen kids not going to school, people avoid shopping, churches and even work.
“It’s not right,” she said. “The fear they spread has caused far-reaching harm to our community.”
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It’s not just undocumented workers and shoppers who are afraid to go to work or shop in the city.
Statutory immigrants with pending court lawsuits are afraid of being detained by federal agents and ignore immigration status. People with valid students or work visas are concerned that they may face deportation. Store owners and workers say even legal residents and citizens have chosen not to show up in recent days, fearing that clothing areas that are popular among immigrants looking for deals may be targeted again – or that they will introduce them unfairly based on their skin color.
On Santee Street in downtown, Jessica Flores cut onions on her food truck while waiting for customers. Usually, she says, she keeps ordering on busy streets for the past decade.
Instead, she had to reduce her time.
“I don’t have anyone else, I still have to pay the bills and rent,” Flores said. “It’s sad.”
A worker at a nearby store responded to these concerns. The woman, who asked not to be named for fear of being attacked by immigration officials, said her time and salary had been cut in a downturn but still required payments and groceries.
“Going to work is a risk, it is an impossible risk,” she said.
By Wednesday evening, she had not yet obtained a client.
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A taco supplier, who normally set up his own stands near MacArthur Park, closed his stance last week as a precaution when he saw people in custody throughout the city – he remained closed.
He asked him not to be confirmed because he was worried that he would be targeted by immigration officials and had a 1-year-old son who needed him.
But he wasn’t the only fear, he said. The traffic he would normally set has been out of business for weeks and on some days he had to throw away a lot of food because there weren’t many people around him.
In Boyle Heights, LA Mayor Karen Bass visited Mariachi Plaza earlier this week and found the area shocking.
Arturo Aguilar said everything was still quiet.
“We were really slow and no one was on the street,” Tacos and the co-owner of the BBQ were near the square. Aguilar said a nearby restaurant had to close Wednesday because many employees failed to show up.
“It reminds me of Kuved on Sunday afternoon, walking around the streets and seeing the empty streets, which is very profound.”
But Aguilar said that for him, business declines were even worse than during the pandemic. At least then people were going to takeout and ordered them to go.
“They aren’t afraid to come out,” he said.
But what about now?
“Everyone is afraid to come out,” Aguilar said.
