Progressive Politics

On 7 July, a convoy of federal agents descended upon Los Angeles’s MacArthur Park – in the heart of a predominantly immigrant neighborhood. Chaperones from a summer camp hurried children indoors, as protesters and media rushed to the scene. It was unclear whether immigration officials actually arrested anyone that morning.

City leaders denounced the spectacle as a “political stunt” designed to terrorize Angelenos who have been reckoning with a relentless onslaught of immigration raids that began in early June.

The ubiquitous presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents, and the threat of arrest, have become a part of daily life for immigrants across the city and broader region. The raids have also taken an economic toll on neighborhoods like MacArthur Park, where business owners say trade has slowed to a crawl as people choose to stay home.