24-hour boycott announced in response to ongoing raids

A day after the unexpected raid outside a Home Depot in the Westlake/MacArthur Park area, day laborers were hesitant to speak to strangers. Some were still afraid about what happened. 

A jornalero (day laborer) who had finished eating in the only food stand open said they have been vigilant, especially when cars with tinted windows approach. 

He didn’t provide his name, but said he was scared and furious with the local government that is giving false hopes to people with a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) that prohibits federal immigration from stopping people without probable cause. 

“The reality is that they cannot do anything for us,” he said, recalling how federal agents got off a Penske Truck on Wednesday morning and started grabbing people. “It all happened in less than five minutes.”

A few blocks away at MacArthur Park, a press conference by a coalition of pro-immigrant organizations denounced the tactics the Trump administration is using to violate the TRO in place. 

Martha Arevalo, executive director of CARECEN, said she saw the violence outside the labor center, which is run by her organization. This is the third time that federal agents have targeted that specific day labor center since Trump took office.

Arevalo said the Trump administration often says immigrants should follow the law to get legalization, but when it comes to them, they don’t follow it. 

“They don’t care about the law, they don’t care about the court decisions, they don’t care about human or constitutional rights, and we are sick of it,” she said. 

Jorge Nicolas, day laborer organizer with CARECEN, said he was at the day labor center when the raid happened.

“What we saw was military action against the working class community,” he said. “Without asking for any information with the full purpose of causing terror in people.”

The 24-hours community action 

The organizers said it is time to show their power through the power of the economy. Therefore, they announced a 24-hour boycott on August 12 with non-violent community action to stop the Trump administration's tactics against immigrants. 

The “Reclaim Our Power to Stop the Trump Terror” is an organized movement, part of the Summer Resistance, a cultural and political mobilization in Los Angeles. This is a call for a no-collaboration with big box corporations like Home Depot, Walmart, Target, fast food restaurants, among others. 

Instead, they encourage the community to buy from small businesses and support local street vendors.

The activists asked the community to skip work, if possible, to participate in one of the several activities that will be happening during the day, including a march and a protest. 

“When you wake up on August 12, you are moving with the movement in Los Angeles to reclaim our power and to stop the Trump terror,” said Felipe Caceres, organizer with SEIU 721.

The 24-hour community stoppage includes a midnight fast food workers strike, a 6 a.m. community takeback of MacArthur Park, followed by a rally and march. Then at noon, there will be a car caravan from Machartur Park to the LA County Board of Supervisors. At 5 p.m., there will be a rally at Placita Olvera and it will end with a march at 6:45 p.m. to the detention center in Alameda. 

Who enforces the TRO?

Angelica Salas said the federal agents are bound by the federal court order because this is the enforcement of power.

“So now we have to go back to the court and demonstrate that they violated this order with the information that the court’s going to want; declarations, video and then they’d be in contempt of the TRO,” explained Salas. “So this is the judicial arm of our government and is supposed to hold them in contempt if they violated the TRO."

Salas said this is very important because if this TRO is violated, it shows that the executive power can violate the law without regard.

“What is so problematic is that if [the Trump administration] can do this for immigrants, they can do this for everybody,” she said.