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Sarai Ortiz’s father Jose became a floor manager in a vast first fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles, working in the atmosphere of the apparel for 18 years.
His tenure ended Friday, with federal authorities storming the company and arresting Jose Ortiz and more than 40 other migrant workers, as Sarai saw.
“I know this can be a lifetime of potential, but when it happens, it plays in a different way than you think,” she said Monday, standing in front of wrought iron fencing in the atmosphere forged parking lot.
The atmosphere was one of four companies that were hit by ICE on Friday, sparking weekend civil unrest that led to a controversial development of the Los Angeles National Guard and active-duty Marines. It was also the site of the arrest of Labour leader David Fuerta, who was released on a $50,000 bond on Monday.
Ortiz joined other families of those detained in protest on Monday, pleading with the public for help and a legitimate process. Many of the wives and children of those who were taken on ice had all men in little or no contact with their loved ones. Even lawyers are denied access, they said.
Many also come from indigenous communities in the central Mexico region of Zacatecas. When they start a new life in Los Angeles, they have a close bond. This has helped others find jobs at Aviance, a company with a history of run-in with federal law enforcement but has provided stable jobs to immigrants, including Ortiz.
“When hiring employees, the atmosphere is just always hiring people who believe they are legally entitled to the law and have a legal right to work in the United States,” said Benjamin Gulak, a lawyer representing the atmosphere. “We reached out to the government to learn more about the attack, but we haven’t learned anything about it yet, and the atmosphere will follow the law and continue to support its employees.
It is unclear why atmospheric apparel has been targeted in recent operations, but the company landed on federal authorities’ radar more than a decade ago.
In 2014, law enforcement agencies executed dozens of search warrants as part of an investigation into money laundering and other crimes in fashion district businesses. Federal authorities seized cash from Aviance and its owners to $36 million, according to a 2020 news release from the U.S. Lawyer’s Office in LA.
Founded in 1999, the company was described by prosecutors as an importer and exporter of textiles and clothing from China, Vietnam and Cambodia. Among its customers were those who owned retail apparel chains and small businesses, primarily in Mexico. The product can also be found on Amazon and Walmart.
Federal prosecutors filed accusations against atmospheric apparel and no in 2020, accusing them of underestimating imported clothing and avoiding paying millions of dollars to the United States.
Among those investigating the atmosphere and no were Homeland Security Survey and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, as well as local law enforcement agencies such as the Los Angeles and the Long Beach Police Department.
The company was also accused of not reporting cash payments to employees.
The government alleged that Aviance employees received “about $364 payments of more than $10,000 over two years,” totaling over $11 million. However, the company was unable to submit necessary reports to the federal government regarding these cash transactions, prosecutors said.
That same year, Noh pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy and one count of subscriptions to false tax returns. Aviance Apperl – Amviance USA Inc. and Apperel Line USA, Inc. Two companies’ business names – pleaded guilty to eight counts including conspiracy, money laundering, and customs crimes.
In 2021, No was sentenced to a year in prison for “undervaluing imported clothing, avoiding paying millions of dollars obligations to the United States, reporting millions of dollars in tax returns and not reporting large cash transactions to the federal government.”
Noh “has made the United States a significant source of revenue for the atmosphere and has allocated about $35,227,855.45 from the U.S. Customs, Border Protection and Internal Revenue Service within four years,” the prosecutor said in a memo in the ruling. “meanwhile [Noh] He tricked the US into promoting money laundering, and enjoyed his home on Bel Air, bought luxury cars and dumped a bundle of cash worth $35 million shoe boxes and garbage bags,” the prosecutor wrote.
The company was sentenced to five years of probation and was ordered to implement an effective money laundering compliance and ethics program using an external compliance monitor. The monitor ship was scheduled to end in October this year.
Despite these troubles, the company and its employees seem to continue to thrive.
Montserrat Arazola’s father, Jorge, is another worker who was detained Friday. She said her father was the “earner” in the family and without his salary, she and her three siblings would have “difficult times.”
But that is the pain of separation that hurts her most. Her family could talk to Jorge once and he told them to be calm. So Montserrat, a university student who wants to become a social worker, is trying it out. She instead talked about their recent family outings, when they tried bowling, and how her dad was charismatic and caring.
“He’s a family man and gives his family all the time,” she said.
But not being able to contact people detained is stressful, Carlos Gonzalez said. His brother Jose was also taken to the ice, and like everyone else in the protest, Gonzalez sought the right to a legitimate process.
Gonzalez and his brother were camping at Sandy Flat in Sequoia National Forest on the weekend just before the attack. Carlos received a call from his cousin on Friday and went to the atmosphere, but was unable to reach his brother due to the chaos.
So Gonzalez went to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, but was told there were too many people to handle and could not get any further information.
He went back the next morning and tried to bring a sweater to his brother. “I don’t know if it’s cold there or not,” he said. However, he was told that his brother had been moved to Santa Ana.
That’s the last thing he’s heard.
His family cares for Jose’s dog coffee, a more than 100 pound chocolate lab and pit bull mix that Jose cry when she’s not approaching. But there’s not much they can do other than wait.
“I want people to know that this is inhuman,” Gonzalez said. “They were just working.”
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