During rush hour, traffic could still be blocking Los Angeles highways, but many sections of the city have once been rocked.
The widespread immigrant raids across the region have settled fear and panic in many LA communities, where a third of their residents are migrants. For almost two weeks, social media has acquired videos of immigration agents filming in shopping centres, markets and nearby streets, as well as federal agents arresting at Swap Meets, Car Wash and other businesses.
“People stay home from the public and the workplace. Parks and shops are empty. Many neighbourhood streets are silent,” Archbishop of Los Angeles Jose H. Gomez said in an opinion piece for Angelus, a local Catholic news outlet. “My family stays behind the door, trapped in fear.”
Businesses and workers are beginning to feel the impact of these quiet streets. And it’s unclear how long the situation will last as the Trump administration vows to continue to step up its deportation efforts.
The Times visited several areas of Los Angeles on Wednesday, and are usually bustling.
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On Wednesday morning, at the 7th Avenue produce market in downtown LA, there were far fewer people walking between the shops, filled with plastic bags of vegetables and fruit. Several shops that were open normally were closed and there was plenty of parking.
The streets were empty in the nearby clothing district, where dramatic attacks preceded a surge in immigration and customs enforcement operations in Southern California nearly two weeks ago, sparking volatile protests, except a handful of customers peering into the store. Workers said there has been little business since the immigrant attacks began.
Families of detained workers will speak to the media outside the atmosphere targeted by federal agents on June 9th.
(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
“It affects everything. It affects all of us,” said Eva Ibrahim, 48, who owns a store that sells dresses and suits.
A few shops closed days after the first attack as workers and customers seemed to be afraid of adventure. Many people reopened this week, but workers lamented the lack of clients.
“It’s like everything was paralyzed,” Ibrahim said. “Many people don’t want to come out of fear that they’ll be taken away.”
Nearby, the new Quinceñera and Bridal Shop were also quiet. Vilma, the owner of the store who refused to give her last name because she was afraid of being targeted by federal agents, said it had been like that since the attack began.
“Everyone is scary,” she said.
“The way the ice is doing these sweeps is scary,” L.A. County superintendent Janice Hahn said Wednesday what appears to be an immigration operation at Pasadena Bus Stop, involving agents in unmarked vehicles. “We’ve already seen kids not going to school, people avoiding shopping, avoiding church, or go to work. After reading about this incident, we wouldn’t be surprised to see more people avoiding the metro.
“This isn’t right,” she said. “The fear they are spreading is causing serious harm in our community.”
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It’s not just undocumented workers and shoppers who say they’re afraid to go to work or shop downtown.
Legal immigrants with pending court cases are fearful of being detained by federal agents and ignoring immigrant status. People with a valid student or work visa are worried that they may face deportation. Shopkeepers and workers said that even legal residents and citizens had chosen not to show up on recent days, worried that clothing districts popular with immigrants looking for a deal could be targeted again, or that they would be unfairly featured based on their skin color.
On Santee Street in Downtown, Jessica Flores chopped onions in a food truck while waiting for customers. Usually, she said she orders non-stop things that have been busy streets for the past decade when she worked there.
Instead, she had to cut back on time.
“I was left without people, but I still have to pay the bills and rent,” Flores said. “i am sad.”
Workers at nearby stores reflected these concerns. A woman who asked not to be named for fear of being targeted by immigration officers said her time and wages had been cut amid the recession, but rent was paid and she had to pay for the groceries she had bought.
“It’s a risk of coming to work and not coming,” she said.
Until late Wednesday morning, she had not acquired a single client.
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The taco vendor, which usually sets up stands near MacArthur Park, closed his stands and remained closed last week as a precaution in case people were seen being detained around town.
He asked if he would not be identified as he was worried that he would be a target for immigration officials and had a one-year-old son who needed him.
But he isn’t the only one who fears, he said. The places he normally set up had been reduced for several weeks, and one day there weren’t many people around, so he had to throw away his pound of food.
In Boyle Heights, LA Mayor Karen Bass visited Mariachi Plaza earlier this week and noticed the area was shockingly abandoned.
Arturo Aguilar said everything was still remarkably quiet.
“We’re really late. No one’s out on the street,” said the co-owner of Street Tacos and Grill near the Plaza. Aguilar said nearby restaurants must close on Wednesday as many employees did not show up.
“It’s pretty deep to walk up and down the street and see the empty streets, which reminded me of Covid,” Bus told the Times Sunday afternoon.
But Aguilar said the business dip was even worse for him than during the pandemic. At least after that, people would come and order for takeaway and go.
“They weren’t afraid to come out,” he said of 2020.
But now?
“I’m scared that anyone will come out,” Aguilar said.
