Hundreds of eighth graders wore newly ironed button-down shirts and flowing dresses submitted to Andrew Carnegie Middle School on Tuesday morning.
However, Carson’s graduation ceremony at school had an ominous undertone. Because the word was spreading ahead of an event that US immigration and customs enforcement might seem undesirable.
Nervous parents and educators have browsed apps that tracked ice activities, refreshed social media feeds, and discussed each other’s latest rumors. Some students who were expected to attend the event did not come to the stage when their names were called. They chose to stay home for fear of them and their loved ones being detained.
Similar scenes have been unfolding repeatedly throughout Los Angeles County in recent years, with the Trump administration deploying a swarm of federal agents to detain immigrants.
Jacob Johnson on the left will be walking with his family after graduating Tuesday as Valle Dictarian at Andrew Carnegie Middle School in Carson. Arrival times for graduates and their families were promoted to school to avoid potential conflict with the ice.
In areas of the region with a large number of foreign-born people, any commute, grocery trip or school drop-off has come to represent another potential final moment in life built in the country.
Unverified messages posted online over the course of a few hours Tuesday quickly spread warnings that ice agents were being spotted near schools, hotels and hardware stores, causing panic and confusion.
At Carnegie, the outlook for the raid was everything anyone could talk about.
The school had sent a message to parents and students before the event, saying, “All guests will be hospitalized on campus immediately – for the continued concerns of the community related to the Department of Homeland Security (ICE) without waiting outside.”
Mekeisha Madden Toby, 48, was there Tuesday morning to celebrate the graduation of her 14-year-old daughter Zoe.
“It was supposed to be a celebration moment and it was a bittersweet as it was hidden in fear,” the mother said. “Your friend or your friend Abuela can be snatched. You can’t even celebrate graduation in full without thinking about it.”
“It’s not fair that these kids have to put this time and effort into school and worry about their safety,” Gardena High School junior Chris Alvarez said Tuesday of his cousin, Gardena High School graduate, Anthony Garcia, 18.
Federal agents have raided businesses, homes and even underground nightclubs in LA County in recent weeks, often with vehicles without plain crosses or marks, detaining many people, including children, in the process.
Earlier this month, Ice detained a fourth-grade student at Torrance Elementary School, who was transported to an immigration facility in Texas. Federal officials then deported the nine-year-old and his father to Honduras.
Several recent incidents filmed on video show LA County ICE agents confronting people on the streets, sometimes randomly at first glance – quickly frothing, providing no explanations to shocked loved ones or onlookers. Film reviewed by The Times showed Sunday’s attack in which unidentified law enforcement took a Westchester fruit vendor into custody.
“They had him pushed him down to the ground and drew a weapon so no one could get close to help him. He looked tempted,” said witness Uriza Baraza, 45.
White House spokesman Caroline Leavitt said during a press conference Wednesday that 330 people have been arrested since Friday in a sweep of immigrants in the Los Angeles-responsible area of Ice, ranging from San Luis Obispo to San Diego.
ICE shared photos on social media on Tuesday, showing armed members of the military accompanying immigration agents in LA Raids. Recently, Trump announced he was sending a total of 700 US Marines and 4,000 National Guard troops to LA to respond to the protests and support federal operations.
Gov. Gavin Newsom and La Mayor Karen Bass requested Detente, but to no avail. Bus called on Trump to “stop the attack” at a press conference Tuesday.
“We don’t know when, we don’t know how long we’ll end up,” she said. “But that concept creates such a terrifying sense of fear in our city. It’s not right to do it to the population trying to survive.”
The journalists spent most of their time crossing the southern extent of LA County to document the chaos and trauma caused by the ubiquitous yokai of ice. Following alerts shared across various online platforms, journalists visited communities with important foreign-born people, such as Carson, Torrance, Gardena, Compton, Bell Garden, Long Beach and the area near the city of Los Angeles.
Many people had an advantage, even US citizens who were not at risk of being deported. At a care facility for disabled people in Torrance, one staff member who refused to give her name out of fear of retaliation said they had never seen a warning about ice sightings posted on the ICE block, one of the apps that circulate user-generated reports of federal government actions.
But she said in Half Whisper that a friend found a US customs and border security agent on the street of a residential area a few blocks away. It was unclear if anyone had been detained in the area.
“It’s so scary what they’re doing,” she said.
Angelica Salas, executive director of the Human Rights Coalition in Los Angeles, characterized the sweep as an unprecedented “executive blitz” in which people are “indiscriminately” targeted. Her organization has been seeking 3,000 services starting Thursday, she said.
At Signal Hill, the mood among the handful of day workers placed in a grass patch near Home Depot on Tuesday afternoon was cheerful and almost rebellious.
“I’m not worried,” one of the men said, as a pickup truck with heavy wood squealing in the past. However, he refuses to give him his name and does not want to risk immigration agents who track him.
Andrew Carnegie Middle’s graduation at Carson ultimately set off without interruption by law enforcement. However, attendees said they had made a round trip to show up at 7:30am, rather than the previously planned 8am, to avoid conflict with ice outside the school.
“They changed their graduation times because they were worried that people would be snatched and taken away,” said Zoetby, who wore a 2025 sash and black Blu-ray class on a grey blue dress to celebrate their final day at Carnegie. “I’m scared because I don’t know when it’s going to happen.”
During the ceremony, some parents received notifications via ICE blocking app and social media warnings. There was no confirmation of anyone being detained.
Zoe said she was worried that some of her friends would be taken away by federal agents every day. Many of them have received red cards from the school explaining their rights, she added, and pulled up one photo of one of the phones, one of the many posters decorated with the words “This classroom is a safe space for immigrants,” which she said was posted on the wall of the middle school.
“I’m on the next door app,” Zoe’s mother added.
Gardena police officers are keeping an eye on the watch as Gardena High School is mixing with family and friends on Tuesday.
Later on Tuesday, hundreds of teenagers in hats and gowns spilled down the street next to Gardena High School, enjoying their first moments as high school alumni. Like Carson, roadside vendors were selling snacks and bouquets of flowers, so people were smiling and hugging each other.
Junior Chris Alvarez was there to celebrate the graduation of her 18-year-old cousin Anthony Garcia. During a joke with his friends and relatives, Chris, 17, said he was “not really worried” about the ice, but he was disappointed by the online warning that an agent had been found near his school early Tuesday.
“It’s not fair to put this time and effort into school just because these kids have to worry about the safety and safety of their family and friends,” he said. “This must be a celebration.”
For Orlando Johnson, principal of Susan Miller Dorsey High School in South Los Angeles, safety is paramount in the ongoing threat posed by immigration crackdowns.
“The focus is to protect families and protect students. We don’t know what information is not real,” he said Tuesday. “I think everyone is worried.”
Times staff writers Andrea Castillo and Rachel Ulanga and Karen Foschey, senior producer at Ratimes Studios, contributed to the report.
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