The ICE raids show what state-sponsored terror looks like
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A photograph of a paletero cart abandoned on a quiet neighborhood sidewalk has popped up repeatedly on my social media feed since Monday.
The cart belongs to Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano, an undocumented immigrant who sold ice cream in Culver City for nearly two decades before he was detained and placed inside an unmarked vehicle by masked federal agents, part of the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that have targeted Southern California. According to the Department of Homeland Security, 1,618 immigrants were arrested in the region from June 6 to Sunday.
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Lozano was going about his business one moment, and was vanished the next — his ice cream cart serving as the only evidence that he was there in the first place. KTLA reported that his family did not know of his whereabouts until Wednesday night.
This haunting image has become emblematic of the climate of fear created by the Trump administration and its hardline immigration policies. All pretense that ICE is targeting immigrants with criminal records has gone out the window. Nowadays, the directive is to snatch anyone they can wherever they may be.
And they’re doing so with impunity.
“If they point a gun or take someone in, local police cannot step in and interfere regardless of the circumstances,” Ed Obayashi, a use-of-force expert, recently told The Times. “If Homeland Security says this is what we want, the policy guidelines when it comes to gun and force doesn’t matter.”
In recent weeks, we’ve witnessed masked federal agents violently beat an immigrant father of three U.S. Marines. We’ve seen them arrest U.S. citizens and question individuals about where they were born, all without warrants. In Pasadena, a federal agent was caught on video jumping out of his car at an intersection and pulling a gun at someone who was trying to take a picture of his car’s license plate. They’ve targeted churches and courthouses.
If you’re wondering what state-sanctioned terror looks like, this is it. Former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet would be so proud.
“It is an attack, not just on our immigrant community, but [on] people of color,” L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis recently said in an interview. “I know there are many people, including folks I’m associated with, friends, colleagues, who have families who are mixed status, and people are petrified to even show up to work, to send their kids to school. And this is harming our economy.”
It’s also hard to ignore where many of the ICE raids have taken place — Boyle Heights, Bell, Huntington Park — the common denominator being that they’re all areas with large Latino populations.
“It’s quite revealing that no one from Ukraine, no one from Russia is being detained and deported — and they shouldn’t be. They also came here fleeing war and seeking opportunity,” Martin Chairez, a minister at a church in Santa Ana, recently told my colleague Brittny Mejia.
“I think it’s revealing that people from Central and South America are being targeted but people from Europe are not. And again, they shouldn’t be, but neither should the people from South and Central America.”
For its part, the Department of Homeland Security has denied that its agents are targeting people based on their skin color. But that hasn’t stopped Latinos from feeling like they’re communities are being singled out.
“You’re scared to be brown,” said Jackie Ramirez, a Los Angeles radio host for “The Cruz Show” on Real 92.3. “You’re scared to look a certain way right now.”
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Cassian Andor speaks up for immigrants
Over the last week, Diego Luna has been moonlighting as late night guest host for “Jimmy Kimmel Live!”
The Mexican actor, who most recently portrayed Cassian Andor in the critically acclaimed (and very Latino-coded) “Star Wars” series “Andor,” used Monday’s monologue to deliver a full-throated defense of L.A.’s immigrant community in the wake of the ongoing ICE raids.
“Earlier this year when L.A. burned — immigrant workers risked their lives to stop the flames,” Luna said. “They’re the ones who build this country, they feed it, they nurture and teach its children, they care for the elderly, they work in construction and hospitality, they run kitchens.”
During his powerful speech, Luna also highlighted the contributions of immigrants that go beyond their labor.
“All the people that I met shared an unspoken gratitude to this country, a country that opened its doors to them. And the most beautiful thing of all, is that all these immigrants brought their stories with them, they brought their loyalties, their love and their traditions, always with the openness to adopt new ones, to grow and to complement each other in this vast cultural exchange,” he added.
You can watch the whole 12-minute segment here. It is very much worth your time.
Photo of the week
Samuel Brown-Vazquez and the Avocado Heights Vaqueros led demonstrators from Avocado Heights to La Puente city hall in support of immigrant’s rights on Father’s Day (June 15).
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Ideas expressed in the piece
- The author condemns recent ICE raids in Southern California as “state-sponsored terror,” highlighting the arrest of Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano—a longtime ice cream vendor in Culver City—as emblematic of indiscriminate federal actions that vanish immigrants without warning[1].
- Masked ICE agents are described as operating with impunity, using violent tactics including warrantless arrests, beatings, and racial profiling, with incidents documented in predominantly Latino neighborhoods like Boyle Heights and Bell[1][3].
- DHS data revealing that 57% of those arrested in Los Angeles had no criminal history undermines the administration’s claim of targeting dangerous criminals, instead reflecting a broader dragnet that instills paralyzing fear in immigrant communities[2][3].
- Latino residents report feeling explicitly targeted, with L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis and community leaders emphasizing the raids’ economic and psychological toll on mixed-status families, forcing many into hiding to avoid deportation[1][3].
- The author contrasts the treatment of Central/South American immigrants with those from Europe, arguing that racial bias drives enforcement, as stated by Santa Ana minister Martin Chairez: “People from Central and South America are being targeted but people from Europe are not”[1].
Different views on the topic
- The Department of Homeland Security asserts that recent operations prioritize immigrants with criminal records, with Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin noting that 75% of nationwide ICE arrests under the Trump administration involve individuals with convictions or pending charges[1].
- Data from early June raids in Los Angeles shows 30% of arrestees had prior criminal convictions, while 11.6% faced pending charges, supporting DHS’s stance that enforcement aligns with public safety objectives[2].
- DHS explicitly denies targeting based on race or ethnicity, attributing enforcement patterns to immigration violations rather than demographic factors, despite localized arrest data showing 48% of detainees were Mexican nationals[1][2][3].
- Federal authorities defend the raids as lawful responses to border security crises, citing a 70% surge in ICE arrests in Northern California and increased nationwide detentions as necessary measures to uphold immigration law[4].
- ICE’s public statistics underscore a broader focus on removable aliens, with the agency reporting 46% of detainees lacking criminal histories as part of standard operations, refuting claims of uniquely indiscriminate tactics in Southern California[5].
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