WashingtonA Guatemalan undocumented man with leukemia delayed chemotherapy because he was scared to visit the hospital.
In case of deportation, a Mexican grandma put the majority of her possessions into boxes.
Nearly half of the in-person members of a Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles have left.
Immigrant communities in California and the United States are going into lockdown in response to the Trump administration’s relentless enforcement operations. As immigrants without legal status struggle to evade arrest and deportation, everyday tasks like driving, grocery shopping, and dropping children off at school have become intimidating.
California
Data contradicts the Trump administration’s assertion that the sweeps were intended for criminals.
Some immigrants have substituted digital approximations for in-person activities in order to keep safe. Others are just removing themselves from the world.
In addition to the suspension of due process and constitutional rights, it is a damaging kind of racial profiling. According to Victor Narro, a professor and project director at the UCLA Labor Center, this is the reason why a lot of families are remaining at home.
About 400 people with Guatemalan, Mexican, El Salvadorian, and Honduran ancestry used to attend his church every week, according to Pastor Carlos Rincon, who is the leader of a Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles. Now, half as many people go, and more people watch live-streamed services on YouTube and Facebook. Zoom is used by some prayer groups.
The Trump administration declared in January that immigration officers were free to make arrests in places that were previously thought to be off-limits, including churches, schools, and hospitals.
At Rincon’s church, which he requested not to be identified due to fear of reprisals, dread has tainted life in both significant and minor ways.
A leukemia patient in his late 20s delayed his chemotherapy because of concern that he could be apprehended and sent to Guatemala. Church officials agreed to alternate staying with him at the hospital after he opted to reschedule the planned therapy.
According to Pastor Carlos Rincon, the raids have forced him to cancel a children’s music lesson. (The Los Angeles Times/Jason Armond)
According to the Trump administration, immigration officers are free to make arrests in places that were previously thought to be off-limits, such churches, schools, and hospitals. (The Los Angeles Times/Jason Armond)
This month, a children’s music class and a half-day seminar offering information for landscapers were canceled because many people expressed they were too scared to go. For those who were able to come, Rincon resumed the music lesson last week.
He cautioned families against attending a regularly scheduled in-person church service on Wednesday after hearing from neighbors that immigration officers had been skulking around the neighborhood.
According to Father Ricardo Gonzalez of Our Lady of Lourdes Church, which is five miles away, church attendance has decreased by at least 30%. Although he is thinking about it, the church does not live-stream Mass.
Gonzalez claimed that although he is an immigrant with a green card, he is unsure of how to respond if immigration officials show up at the church. Parishioners want him to have answers.
Will I be expelled from the country if I am arrested? “I said.” Who is going to assist me?
Agents have been making arrests of people who appear in courthouses for their immigration proceedings for weeks.
In response, USC, UCLA, UC Irvine, and UC Law San Francisco volunteers set up a free hotline to assist individuals in submitting motions to switch their appointments to the internet. Olu Orange, a lawyer and professor of political science and international relations at USC, who leads the Agents of Change Civil Rights Advocacy Initiative, came up with the idea for the program.
Volunteers have answered around 4,000 calls since the hotline (888-462-5211) opened on June 15 and assisted over 300 individuals in completing the form to transfer their hearings online.
The child, who sounded about twelve years old, called Orange on Friday to report that immigration officials had picked up her mom.
She called after seeing this number on social media and asked, “What can I do?” “Oh,” said Orange. He gave her the phone of a local nonprofit organization that advocates for immigrant rights, CHIRLA.
Food
One restaurateur and organizer stated, “We want to know that people are not just eating, but eating foods that are comforting and giving us some sense of peace.”
According to Luz Gallegos, executive director of the Inland Empire’s TODEC Legal Center, the epidemic taught individuals how to utilize technology to go virtual, which helped some elderly and rural populations prepare for the current reality. They can now use Zoom and have access to WiFi.
However, some people are also afraid of remaining connected online.
According to Gallegos, a lot of people who call TODEC’s hotline indicate they are switching phone providers out of concern that immigration officials will follow them. Some claim that they are switching from cell phones to pagers.
According to Gallegos, a large number of the immigrants that TODEC serves now exclusively travel for employment. When they believe border officers are not likely to be on patrol, they have groceries delivered or make a quick trip to the store. Some parents moved their children to online programs prior to the summer break.
According to Gallegos, TODEC has organized volunteers to deliver mail, provide rides, and assist with interpretation needs because some Inland Empire farmworkers no longer pick up their own mail from community mailboxes.
Do a Chela, a 66-year-old undocumented lady who requested to be known by her nickname, is one individual assisted by the nonprofit.
For the first time since coming to the United States in 1999, Do a Chela packed up her belongings and headed back to her hometown of Michoacan, Mexico, several months ago. However, her brother contacted in April to warn that the neighborhood was unsafe and that cartel organizations had taken control, extorting locals.
She has a U.S. citizen husband who suffers from dementia. Instead, she considered relocating to a border town like Mexicali, where she and her husband could remain close to their three grown kids who were born in the United States.
In her house, Do a Chela stands by the packed bags. For The Times/Julie Leopo/Julie Leopo
Perform a Chela irrigates her garden at home. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if it weren’t for this garden,” she stated in Spanish. For The Times/Julie Leopo
However, after her husband’s health started to deteriorate, it seemed too hard to start afresh. Nevertheless, she has decided to save her jewels, clothes, and pots and pans in case something goes wrong.
Perform a Except in cases of emergency, Chela never leaves her house. She no longer drives, so her daughters bring her groceries. She no longer goes to church or makes big batches of tamales for community reunions. She barely sleeps, thinking that agents could burst through her door any time.
I don t know what to do anymore, she said, crying. I will wait here until they kick me out.
Her only distraction from constant anxiety is the lush garden she tends to daily, with mangoes, nopales, limes and a variety of herbs.
Gallegos, of TODEC, said the situation faced by Do a Chela and so many others bring to mind a song by Los Tigres del NorteLa Jaula de Oro.The cage of gold.
Our community is in a golden cage, she said. I hope it s not too late when this country realizes they need our immigrant workforce to sustain our economy.
Medicine and Science
Many Southern California residents are skipping healthcare out of fear of ICE arrests and deportation, according to clinic workers in the state.
St. John s Community Health, one of the largest nonprofit community healthcare providers in Los Angeles County that caters to low-income and working-class residents, launched a home visitation program after it surveyed patients andfound many canceling appointmentssolely due to fear of being apprehended by ICE.
The clinic, which serves L.A., the Inland Empire and the Coachella Valley, said that since the immigration raids began, more than a third of all patients didn t show up or canceled their appointments.
Some of those who canceled signed up for telehealth or home visits performed by a small team of medical staff, according to Jim Mangia, the clinic s chief executive. The clinic is adding another home visitation team to double the amount of visits they perform.
Community coalitions are stepping in to help immigrants who can t afford to hide.OC Rapid Response Network, for instance, raised enough funds through payment app Venmo to send 14 street vendors home.
Robb Smith, who runs Alley Cat Deliveries, said he has seen requests for grocery deliveries grow by about 25%.
He doesn t ask his customers if they re immigrants in hiding, but there are signs that people are afraid to leave their house. One woman, who said she was making an inquiry for a friend, asked him if he saw any ICE officers when he was picking up items at Costco.
1.Tito Rodriguez helps unload Robb Smith s truck of drieg goods and groceries at a drop site on Monday, June 23, 2025 in Paramount.2.Robb Smith, left, unloads his truck with the help of Tito Rodriguez at the drop site on Monday in Paramount.3.Robb Smith carries a box of groceries down a driveway Monday in Long Beach. He founded and runs Alley Cat Deliveries.(Luke Johnson/Los Angeles Times)
Glen Curado, the founder and chief executive of World Harvest Food Bank in Los Angeles, said there has been a significant drop in people coming in to pick up groceries in person. Up to 100 families visit the food bank on a weekday, down from the usual high of 150, he said.
The food bank has a program, called Cart With A Heart, in which people can donate $50 toward fresh produce, protein and other staples to feed two families for a week. The donors can then take those groceries to people sheltering in place.
It s almost like a war scene, Curado said. You hide here. I ll go out and I ll get it for you, and I ll bring it back that mentality.
Castillo reported from Washington and Wong from San Francisco. Times staff writer Melissa Gomez in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
