My mother has been a housekeeper for so long as I can keep in mind. As a toddler, I’d accompany her on the bus to the homes she cleaned, impressed with the way it appeared like she knew nearly everybody en path to their very own jobs. There was at all times pleasant acknowledgment and solidarity — particularly with these in restaurant uniforms or carrying their very own cleansing provides.
A few of the individuals she befriended grew to become trusted confidants she’d recruit to assist with strenuous cleansing gigs and ultimately assist land custodial jobs with town of Los Angeles. A few years later, these people would pool collectively cash to make sure I didn’t fly throughout the nation to an internship in New York Metropolis empty-handed, regardless that they didn’t have a lot to offer. Getting a front-row seat to the neighborhood my mother constructed with others who labored low-wage jobs with lengthy hours — for a shot at not only a higher life for his or her households however for survival — was one of the vital particular acts of camaraderie I’ve had the privilege to witness.
My mother by no means complained. Neither did her mates. Their resilience, each psychological and bodily, taught me to acknowledge individuals who so typically get missed. I considered them as I mentioned good day to the custodians who labored early mornings and late nights on the College of Southern California whereas I attended faculty there. I considered them as I translated the information for social media posts in my earlier job on the Los Angeles Instances, understanding that language boundaries could make receiving high quality info a lot tougher. And I considered them and others who had taken related journeys to LA as US Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducts aggressive immigration raids all through town.
Lots of of protesters name for an finish to immigration sweeps throughout Los Angeles by ICE on June 5, 2025. Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Instances by way of Getty Pictures
In the previous few weeks, ICE has intensified its operations all through the US. White Home Deputy Chief of Employees Stephen Miller urged immigration enforcement to make no less than 3,000 arrests a day. The Trump administration has often focused “sanctuary jurisdictions” with massive immigrant populations like Los Angeles, arguing they’re getting in the way in which of its marketing campaign promise to deport hundreds of thousands of individuals.
1000’s of demonstrators protested ICE and its raids over the weekend, resulting in clashes with the police, and President Donald Trump deploying the Nationwide Guard to LA. As of Tuesday, the administration has additionally despatched in round 700 Marines. Pictures of Los Angeles Police Division officers in riot gear, demonstrators blocking the 101 freewayinfographics with sources for undocumented immigrants, and arrests flooded my social media feeds. A video of a person being detained by ICE exterior of his office went viral. His daughter, who filmed the publish, cries within the background, telling him how a lot she loves him whereas reminding him of his rights. As she tries to plead with him, he stays calm. His bravery jogged my memory of my mother, whose quiet demeanor eclipses the sacrifices she’s made to offer her 5 kids a greater life.
Within the wake of the protests, Trump posted on Fact Social“A as soon as nice American Metropolis, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Unlawful Aliens and Criminals. Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Brokers to try to cease our deportation operations — However these lawless riots solely strengthen our resolve…”
The LA I do know, town I grew up in and care deeply about, hasn’t been “invaded” and isn’t a “lawless” place that requires federal drive. Whereas a lot media focuses on protests, additional legitimizing Trump’s conflict zone narrative, an vital story is being missed: immigrants, like many detained exterior of their workplaces, and like my mother, have quietly constructed this metropolis.
How immigrants constructed Los Angeles
Extra immigrants stay in California than in some other state. Undocumented immigrants together with these in California collectively paid $96.7 billion in taxes in 2022, all whereas being typically unable to entry providers their taxes assist fund, like Medicaid and housing help. Over one in three Angelenos are immigrantsand whereas estimates range, there could possibly be about 1 million undocumented LA residents.
And there’s no LA with out Latinos. Town was initially part of Mexicoand Latino affect stays a cornerstone of its identification. Its namesake, neighborhoods, and road names (Los Feliz, San Pedro, La Cienega, La Brea, and extra) replicate its Spanish-speaking origins. Olvera Avenuethe colourful market, and Union Stationa transit hub that mixes trendy and Latin architectural kinds, are solely two examples of culturally vital landmarks. Latinos comprise virtually half of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ fan base and have endearingly referred to as the workforce “The Doyers” for many years. The late baseball star Fernando Valenzuela was a pitching pioneer in Main League Baseball. Town, generally known as a significant culinary vacation spot, boasts all types of regional Mexican and Central American cuisines. You’ll find Oaxacan tlayudas, Sinaloan aguachiles, Salvadoran pupusas, and Guatemalan tamales all inside a 30-minute radius.
In that very same Fact Social publish, Trump wrote that Los Angeles can be let out. However how might or not it’s liberated from the identical generations of people that proceed to assist outline it?
Olvera Avenue in Los Angeles on June 6, 2025. Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Instances by way of Getty Pictures
These staff, whose invisible labor helps the state’s infrastructure, will not be a monolith. They fill important roles as college students, academics, enterprise house owners, housekeepers, landscapers, caretakers, employees, and extra. They’re typically assumed to be latest arrivals, however greater than two-thirds of undocumented residents have been within the US for greater than a decade. About 14 % of California’s inhabitants both lacks authorized standing or lives with undocumented relations. Based on the Public Coverage Institutenearly all of Californians need pathways for noncitizens to acquire authorized standing. But regardless of the mix of public help and a few statewide packages providing public advantages to undocumented immigrantsthe pathway to authorized citizenship stays sophisticated and unattainable for a lot of. In the meantime, ICE continues to hold out Trump’s mass deportation plans in Southern California.
Opposite to what some headlines may counsel, the backlash on LA’s streets and shows of help on-line are unsurprising. There’s an extended historical past of social justice activism right here: calls for for instructional fairness within the East Los Angeles walkouts in 1968, solidarity with farmworker strikes demanding higher labor circumstances within the ’70s, the 1992 Rodney King rebellion towards police brutality, and protests in 2020 following George Floyd’s homicide. What’s being demonstrated now’s a metropolis united with individuals who aren’t invaders or occupants, however who’re LA.
There are too many stereotypes about Los Angeles to depend. One generally heard narrative, doubtless from the inflow of transplants coming to benefit from the leisure business, presumes that so many individuals are pushed by their very own private features, and are too unwilling to enterprise exterior of their prosperous neighborhoods to care about others on a macro degree. This couldn’t be farther from the reality.
Earlier this yr, California skilled the Eaton and Palisades fires. Within the aftermath of the tragedy, Angelenos banded collectively to help their communities. Volunteers assembled meals packages and sorted by way of donations. A number of native eating places supplied free meals to victims and first responders. Numerous grassroots efforts straight supported displaced people.
This sense of empathy isn’t restricted to large-scale catastrophes. I stay within the South Bay, the place persons are desirous to help their villages. They contribute to GoFundMes to assist alleviate hospital payments and funeral bills. They help small companies, volunteer their time at fundraisers, take part in meal trains, and share useful occasions and sources on their social media profiles.
What the information doesn’t seize about LA
There’s a painful disconnect between sensationalized storytelling and the Los Angeles I’ve recognized and lived in for my total life. As I scroll by way of movies of vandalism exterior metropolis corridor, officers teargassing protesters, and kids terrified about the place their dad and mom are headed to, I can’t assist however really feel each immense grief and anger. It’s simple for cameras to seize chaos and unrest, reasonably than the circumstances that led individuals to depart their nation of origin. It’s simple for trolls on-line to counsel that individuals ought to have come right here legally, with out acknowledging the intricate course of and undocumented immigrants’ predisposition to exploitation.
Tales about immigrants will not be at all times afforded nuance. Their humanity is stripped as they’re categorized into political speaking factors or condensed into knowledge figures. The actions they’ve taken to alter the trajectory of their households’ lives are what many others would do of their place, however are judged otherwise due to the framing. The lives they really stay — the callouses they’ve developed on their palms after years of labor many couldn’t think about endeavor, the individuals they make chuckle, the motivations that drive them, their homesickness for locations that don’t exist anymore — are sometimes ignored. It hurts as a result of I’m conversant in the individuals behind the headlines. They raised me.
As information protection and political figures paint my hometown as a disorderly battleground overrun with “illegals,” I want they may perceive the LA I do know and am proud to stay in. It’s the place individuals acknowledge those that quietly stay as much as the American ethos of pulling themselves up by their bootstraps regardless of not dwelling in a meritocracy, with little recognition and never even a lot as a “good day” in passing. It’s the place camaraderie runs deep, whether or not persons are contributing to mutual support funds or making certain their buddy’s daughter will get to pursue her goals in a state they may by no means go to. Los Angeles’s basis is made up of individuals like my mother, who perceive hardship, however proceed to decide on generosity as an alternative.
Correction, June 11, 12 pm ET: A earlier model of this story misstated how a lot undocumented immigrants paid in taxes in 2022. They collectively paid $96.7 billion in taxes that yr.
