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- East L.A.’s 79th annual Mexican Independence Day parade seemed to draw smaller crowds this year, but there was a strong sense of pride and resistance among those who did attend.
- While acknowledging fears across the Latino community about ongoing immigration raids, parade-goers displayed anti-ICE and Trump signs and celebrated Latino culture and heritage.
For the 79th year, mariachi musicians, along with waving Mexican flags and shouts of “Viva Mexico” flooded Cesar Chavez Avenue in East Los Angeles on Sunday for the annual Mexican Independence Day parade and celebration.
But this year, in the face of the Trump administration’s relentless immigration crackdown — recently bolstered by the Supreme Court decision that allows federal agents to restart their controversial “roving patrols” across Southern California — there was a renewed sense of defiance, and of pride.
For many, it was even more important to show up. To stand tall.
“We’re here and we’re going to continue fighting for our rights and for others who cannot fight for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, said as she watched the parade roll by. “I’m happy that many people are here so they can raise their flags — just not the Mexican flag, but also the American flag, because we’re both, Mexican American.”
But the parade was also a bittersweet moment for Robles. This year, her grandmother opted to stay home given ongoing immigration raids across the region. A new Supreme Court ruling authorized U.S. immigration agents to stop and detain anyone they might suspect is in the U.S. illegally, even if based on little more than their job at a car wash, speaking Spanish or having brown skin. Immigration rights attorneys and local leaders have denounced that as discriminatory and dangerous, and it has stoked fears in Robles, who describes herself as an East L.A. native.
“I have my brown skin, I have my Indigenous features,” Robles said. “I’m afraid not just for myself, [but also] for my friends who are also from Mexico and they came here for more opportunities, for a higher education. … I’m afraid for those who are getting taken away from their families.”
Long Beach will not hold its annual Día de los Muertos parade this year because officials say they have heard “genuine fears raised by community members” about federal immigration enforcement actions.
The Comité Mexicano Civico Patriotico Inc., which organized Sunday’s parade and celebration, addressed those fears at a news conference on Friday but decided to move ahead with its celebration of Mexican independence from Spain, as it has done in September for decades. Several other events have been canceled in light of the ongoing raids and community members’ fears.
But that decision to press forward — with added precautions — seemed to drive a sense of proud resistance on Sunday.
“Aqui estamos y no nos vamos!” (“We are here and we are not leaving!”) yelled Rosario Marín, the former mayor of Huntington Park and the parade’s madrina, or godmother.
When Mayor Karen Bass rode by the crowd, she read aloud a sign from the sidewalk that said: “Trump Must Go!”
The crowd cheered.
“I was just reading the sign,” she said, with a smile on her face. But Bass reiterated her support for her Latino constituents, and her opposition to the ongoing immigration raids, calling them horrible.
“Our city stands united,” Bass told the crowd. “We are a city of immigrants. We understand that 50% of our city is Latino, and the idea that Latinos would be targeted is abhorrent.”
The Trump administration has insisted its immigration actions are merely an attempt to enforce the law, and has blasted Bass and other city leaders for stoking resistance. But many Latino leaders say the administration’s use of force is an abuse of power, creating fear that has hurt people and the region’s economy.
Such concerns may have affected Sunday’s parade, where the attendance seemed down from prior years. Signs opposing President Trump and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, lined the street. Organizations such as United Teachers Los Angeles yelled out, “La migra no, la escuela si.” (“No immigration enforcement, yes schools!”)
Jenny Hernandez, a fifth-generation East L.A. resident, held up a homemade sign that read “Crush ICE.” The 51-year-old has been disturbed by the recent raids, many of which have targeted individuals in the workplace.
“What they’re doing is wrong,” she said. “We are not criminals. We’re Mexican, Hispanic, Latino, Chicano, whatever you want to call it…. We do not deserve this treatment.… There needs to be a change.”
But mostly, the day emanated Latino joy, unseen in recent months. Burned sage filled the air at one intersection, courtesy of a Danza Azteca group, while attendees — some in traditional embroidered dresses and shirts — relished the cumbia song blasting from a nearby radio.
A young girl, no more than 5 years old, belted out a call for “fresas” alongside her mother, a street vendor. A grandmother sat with her lap covered in a blanket, knitted with the colors of the Mexican flag. Politicians, teenagers, dancers and charros, or men riding dancing horses, shouted, “Viva Mexico!”
Other ethnic groups joined the popular celebration, including waves of Puerto Ricans, Bolivians and Salvadorans. Notable faces included Snow Tha Product and Real 92.3 FM radio host Big Boy, who at one point took the reins as an elotero vendor. Space shuttle astronaut José M. Hernández led the parade as grand marshal. His journey from migrant farmworker to NASA astronaut was detailed in the Amazon Prime film “A Million Miles Away.”
Giselle Salgado, also an East L.A. native, said it was important to see a good turnout from her community, as well as from public officials, though she noticed a smaller crowd this year.
“We’re not afraid,” she said. “This is our tradition, we’ve always come out here. … I’m sure a lot of people are scared, but they’re still here. We’re not going to let fear and intimidation work against us.”
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