Is your favorite taco truck slower than usual? ICE raids are sending street vendors into hiding

Francisco has been working as a taquero for over a year, but he’s never felt as worried as he does now, in the shadow of a week of ongoing sweeps in Los Angeles by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We can’t go out to work as much on the streets now,” the 23-year-old said in Spanish. “We’ve heard from some colleagues who work in other positions, and they’ve even arrested a couple of them. We go to work afraid they might arrest us.”

To stay safe, Francisco — who provided only his first name out of fear for his safety because he is undocumented — said he has limited his movement, turning to Uber Delivery for necessities like groceries and medicine. But he continues to come to work.

“If we don’t go out to work, how do we cover our expenses?” he said.

The risk of being arrested and deported versus the need for economic security is plaguing undocumented vendors throughout Los Angeles, said Elba Serrano, the associate vice president of East L.A. Community Corp. ELACC is a member of the Los Angeles Street Vending Campaign coalition and assists vendors with securing permits. Around 80% of their clients are undocumented, Serrano said.

“Vendors don’t want to be seen as ‘illegal,’ ” she said. “They always have been wanting to be part of the economy, and our goal was for them to be seen as a legitimate small business.”

The problem now, Serrano explained, is that to secure permits, vendors must file an I-10 form, which categorizes filers by their citizenship status.

“One of the things that we’ve always understood is that the IRS is only there to collect taxes — they’re not checking for, you know, anybody’s status,” she said. “But now, this new administration is seeking to get a list of potential people who are undocumented, and the easiest way to find somebody who’s undocumented is by looking through I-10s.”

Since the onset of ICE’s raids last weekend, Serrano said several vendors have canceled their appointments with the agency. With the rampant ICE presence in the city, whether undocumented vendors seek to file taxes or go into work has become a “personal risk assessment.”

For many vendors, the risk is not worth it. At the Hollywood location of Leo’s Tacos Truck, a popular taco truck chain, only five guys were working the late night rush. Typically, the night shift is staffed by 10 people.

“We’ve been dealing with this problem of missing people for two weeks,” said security guard Ricardo Rodriguez.

Notably, however, the decision to leave the house affects not only vendors, but also their customers. On a typical night, Rodriguez said the truck receives around 950 customers. The line snakes throughout the parking lot. Now that number has dropped to 500 and features few Latino faces.

“It’s a little customer. A little employees,” he said. “People feel a little intimidated by the protest.”