At least 250 immigrants have been arrested by ICE in car washes of California
According to figures from the Car Wash Workers Center, more than 80 car washes in Southern California have been targeted by ICE raids
With different economic and family situations, at least 250 immigrants, who work in car washes in Southern California, have been arrested by agents of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in the last months.
The figure was released by the Car Wash Workers Center, adding that there are currently about 500 car washes in Los Angeles and more than 80 have been the target of raids.
"These are 250 members of the working class who are the ones who sustain the economy," said Pablo Alvarado, co-director of the Day Laborers Network, in a Telemundo News report.
Some 10,000 immigrants are employed in these types of businesses in California alone, but all of them live with the uncertainty of being approached by ICE agents right in the workplace.
To protect them from unexpected arrest, activist groups have created "community patrols" to alert these immigrant workers as soon as they notice the presence of uniformed officers. In addition, they are in charge of documenting the operations in order to file complaints.
Some car wash owners have decided to close their doors, and although they are drowning in debt, they prefer not to get involved in the raids, a fact that also leaves these immigrants without work or support, the report indicates.
The controversial raid on a Los Angeles car wash
On the morning of August 29, a federal operation shook Studio City, Los Angeles. ICE agents stormed a well-known car wash and arrested several workers in front of the astonished eyes of customers and neighbors.
Witnesses who regularly visited the business to wash their cars described the moment as something out of the ordinary. “It was horrible, it was like a war movie,” Jay Schwartz, who has been going to the scene for 25 years, told ABC7. "They're wearing masks, they're wearing bulletproof vests. They have long guns, pistols, and they're chasing and yelling at everyone," he added. The Studio City Hand Car Wash, located on Ventura Boulevard, It's a business with more than 30 years of service to the community. On Friday, it became the epicenter of an operation that ended with several workers chased, handcuffed, and forced into official vehicles.
Another Telemundo report captured the desperate cries of one of the workers as he realized that his life in the United States had taken a radical turn. Some even tried to show their IDs, but the ICE agents had one mission: to arrest them.