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She was driven and wanted to make a statement to be seen alongside thousands of others at the “No Kings” demonstration in El Segundo on Saturday morning.
But she was there for her father too.
The sign she held high as the corner of the car sounded support said, “I’m talking for people who can’t.”
Her father would have wanted to join her, Jennifer told me. However, due to ice attacks in Los Angeles and recent arrests by hundreds, her 55-year-old undocumented father could not afford to take the risk.
Steve Lopez
Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a columnist for the Los Angeles Times since 2001. He has won over 12 National Journalism Awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist.
Jennifer is 29 years old. I hadn’t seen her in nearly 20 years. I visited her home in Inglewood to write about her father and deliver $2,000 donated by readers who read his story.
This is the backstory:
In December 2005, I got some hints about shooting in the front yard of Inglewood’s house. Two men approached the landscaper and demanded money. He resisted, and in the subsequent conflict, a shot was fired.
The paramedics rushed the man to the UCLA emergency room, where doctors decided that the bullet had just missed his heart and remained in his chest. The doctor recommended he stay at least one night for observation, but he insisted that he needed to feel well and return to work.
The landscaper I called Ray insisted on leaving soon. As he explained to me later, Inglewood’s job was for the client who hired him.
Ray was filmed on December 23rd.
Demonstrators at the “No Kings” event on the Main Street and Imperial Highway in El Segundo on Saturday.
(Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)
He was finished by Christmas.
I’ve been thinking about Ray ever since Ice Agent began cracking down on President Trump. Hundreds have been arrested for building fashion districts, car washes and supply stores across Los Angeles.
It led to clashes between law enforcement and protesters, and peaceful protests like those along the Imperial Highway and Main Street in El Segundo on Saturday.
I thought about Ray because Trump generally talks about undocumented immigrants as monsters.
But over the years, almost every encounter I have been with something like Ray, an important part of the workforce.
Yes, there are costs associated with undocumented immigration, but there are benefits too. They have been an important part of the California economy for years. And among those who want to hire them, there are enthusiastic Trump supporters in the sector, hospitality industry, slaughterhouses and healthcare.
On Friday, I called Ray to see how he was doing.
“I’m worried about that,” he said.
Protesters at El Segundo’s “No Kings” event have signed up, including one that reads “Real men don’t need a parade.”
(Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)
A few years ago, immigration lawyers helped him get permission to work, but the Trump administration vowed to end the temporary protected legal status of certain groups of immigrants.
“We see and hear a lot of cases where they don’t respect the documents. People look like Latino and get arrested,” Ray said.
Ray still loads his truck with tools and drives to landscaping, tree trimming and irrigation jobs in LA, as has been happening for over 30 years. But he said he was very careful.
Protesters at the “No Kings” event in El Segundo will prepare their signs on Saturday.
(Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)
“It’s like keeping an eye on everywhere and checking your phone to see where the checkpoint is,” he said.
Ray’s ex-wife has legal status, all three children are born here and are American citizens. The marriage ended and Ray remarried, but he was 9, 10 and 11 near the three children he met in the spring of 2006.
My young son, who is disabled, lives with Ray. His older son, a graphic designer, lives nearby. Job recruiter Jennifer lives next door and has been dominant these days.
“He has permission to be here but… that was scary and I didn’t even let him go to work,” Jennifer said. “On Monday I was in the shower and heard him load up a truck.”
She ran outside to stop him, but he had already gone, so she called him and said, “Oh, you shouldn’t work now. It’s not safe.”
“No Kings” was the theme of the day during a demonstration at El Segundo on Saturday.
(Steve Lopez/Los Angeles Times)
Jennifer works from home, but she couldn’t concentrate that day. She used the app to track her father’s location and check out the latest information on Ice Raids. So far, Ray has safely returned home every day, but Jennifer hopes to be late for a while.
Twenty years ago, when I wrote about Ray being shot and his claim to return to work immediately, one of the readers who gave him money was Roher Elde, one of his landscaping clients. When I checked in with her this week to update Ray’s situation, she said that her whole family had worked hard as immigrants and came to the US to build a better life, and Ray did the same.
“He’s made jobs and money, helping people to beautiful their homes and create beauty and order, which must be very miserable,” Elde said. “Ugility and obstacles are the exact opposite of what he represents.”
The evening before a Saturday rally in El Segundo, Jennifer told me why she wanted to demonstrate.
“We’re all stuck together to show my face for those who can’t speak and say we’re not all criminals. We have each other’s backs,” she said. “The girl who cares for my child is undocumented and she’s scared to leave the house. I have a lot of friends and family on the same boat.”
Jennifer attended with her 9-year-old son and told me that her grandfather might be arrested and sent back to Mexico.
“He’s the age I was when you met me,” Jennifer said of her son.
She took in the crowd and said it was uplifting to see such a huge and diverse population confronting authoritarianism and the country’s militarization in peaceful protests.
The mother and son stood together, flashing signs of a driver passing by.
He said, “Families belong together.”
Jennifer told me that her father still had a bullet in her chest.
steve.lopez@latimes.com
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