Amalia Navarro has worked at a local express car wash for the last two years, but the numerous ICE raids at LA car washes have given rise to anxiety she has never felt before.
Navarro says that her daughter helps her with grocery shopping because she no longer feels safe being out in public. “I basically stopped living,” she said in Spanish.
“I stopped listening to Spanish music on the drive back home, I felt they’d know I was undocumented,” Navarro said, recounting how her life changed when the raids started back during the summer.
The immigration raids began in June with the arrests of people in and around downtown Los Angeles. During the following weeks, the National Guard was deployed to try to contain protests against the raids.
Almost three months later, the Supreme Court issued a decision that lifted limits on immigration stops in LA, which prevented federal agents from stopping people based on ethnicity, language, or job.
Roberto Flores, the manager of a local express car wash, says that he’s noticed his employees and customers have become more nervous and afraid.
“It’s a situation that makes you feel uncomfortable … always having to look over your shoulder,” Flores said in Spanish, noting that many customers no longer stay to vacuum their cars after their wash.
Flores says that the customers who do stay often try to talk about the raids, but those conversations lead to more fear and anxiety. “To keep a comfortable environment for the workers…we keep our eyes open but our ears guarded,” he said.
“There is no reason to live with fear if all we are doing is working,” Flores said, adding that many people justify the raids because of the workers’ status in the country.
Flores believes that the purpose of the raids is to create fear and chaos. “If they believe that they are in the right to separate families, that is on them … but for the rest of us, we have to try to live without fear,” he said.
He added that there are plans for workers in case anything were to happen to them while at work.
Amalia Navarro noted that the raids have led to an increase in racism among some customers, “Any person who comes in to complain about any little thing always says that they are going to call ICE.” She added that this kind of sentiment depresses her to the point where she does not want to get up to work.
Navarro says that having to support her family is the only reason she can leave the house and continue to work despite the fear.
But that fear has given rise to community. Activist groups like the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center have been working to improve conditions surrounding the raids by educating workers and calling for community action.
According to statements the group made in a press conference, since the raids began, car wash employees have faced over 80 immigration enforcement actions across Southern California, resulting in the arrest of roughly 250 workers.
Flor Melendrez, CLEAN’s Executive, said at a gathering at a local car wash, “If you adopt your local car wash, your video could make the difference between someone going home at the end of their shift or ending up detained.”
CLEAN’s website says that LA County is home to around 500 carwashes that employ nearly 10,000 carwashers. Car washes are a part of the vast underground economy in car-centric cities across California.
Flores said that an activist group came to the car wash and gave them posters with a hotline to report any ICE sightings. He added that many of his employees are also part of group chats or follow accounts that inform them of any ICE sightings in the area as well.
Navarro says that talk about deportation and immigration has centered around Mexicans for a long time, but the raids and activist groups like CARE have shown that it isn’t just one group of people being affected.
“It’s whatever person who doesn’t have white skin who is going through this situation,” she says when talking about how the raids have done as much to unite people as a community as it has done to separate people.
“I want them to view immigration as a human thing, not as politics,” Flores said.
The names of the persons interviewed have been changed for their safety.