Francis has worked as Takero for over a year, but in the shadow of a week of continuous sweep in Los Angeles by US immigration and customs enforcement, he has never been more worried than he has now.
“We can’t go out to work on the street right now,” the 23-year-old said in Spanish. “We’ve heard from colleagues who work in other positions, but they even arrested a few of them.
To keep him safe, Francisco has offered him only his name out of fear of his safety because he has not been documented – restricted his movements and said he turned to Uber delivery for essentials like groceries and medicine. But he continues to come to work.
“How do you cover the costs if you don’t go out to work?” he said.
Elba Serrano, associate vice president of East LA Community Corporation, says the risk of being arrested and deported for economic security needs plagued undocumented vendors across Los Angeles. About 80% of clients are undocumented, Serrano said.
“Benders don’t want to be considered ‘illegal’,” she said. “They always wanted to be part of the economy. Our goal was to make them look at as legitimate small businesses.”
The current issue is that vendors must submit an I-10 form to secure permission.
“One thing we’ve always understood is that the IRS is there just to collect taxes. They’re not checking who’s status,” she said. “But now, this new administration is trying to get a list of undocumented potential people, and the easiest way to find undocumented people is to look at I-10.”
Since the onset of ICE attacks last weekend, Serrano said several vendors have cancelled appointments with agents. Due to the presence of ramp-extension ice in the city, whether undocumented vendors are about to file taxes or whether they will take a job has become a “personal risk assessment.”
For many vendors, risk is not worth it. Only five people worked in the late night rush hour at the Hollywood location of Leo’s taco truck chain. Usually, there are 10 people on the night shift.
“We’ve been dealing with this issue with missing people for two weeks,” said guard Ricardo Rodriguez.
However, in particular, the decision to leave the House of Representatives will affect not only the vendor but also the client. On a typical night, Rodriguez said the truck would receive around 950 customers. Line snakes throughout the parking lot. Now, that number has dropped to 500 and has few Latinx faces.
“It’s a small customer, it’s a small employee,” he said. “People feel a bit scared of the protest.”
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