Blocks away from Venice High School, immigration enforcement officials raided Lincoln Millennium Car Wash October 7, resulting in three of their employees being taken. 

“First they arrived in the back in the alleyway, and moments after they arrived in the front,” said Luis Alberto, Lincoln Millennium’s manager, recounting the events. “They came down from a big van and started to grab employees. It happened quickly, in less than 10 minutes.” 

Since then, Alberto said that employees have been afraid to return and fewer clients have been coming.

Immigration enforcement agents entered through an open gate at the car wash’s entrance, which has since been shut. However, this safety measure has turned away a large number of customers as they now believe the car wash to be closed.

“Cars that used to come don’t anymore. Before, a minimum of 80 cars would stop by—now only 20, maybe 25,” he said. “This situation has affected us a lot.”

This immigration enforcement raid also impacted Venice High School. Due to the proximity of the Lincoln Millennium Car Wash, the front of Venice was briefly shut down to shield students from federal agents in the area.

This incident is one of many where immigration enforcement has targeted workforces and its employees.

An anonymous restaurant manager in the Venice community said business has been impacted by the rising immigration enforcement raids.

“It’s affected business. A lot of customers of ours are Hispanic,” he said. “They’re afraid to come out. They’re afraid to come in and enjoy a meal.”

After talking to workers at other restaurants, he learned that due to the significant decrease of customers, many workers have been leaving early with no one to serve. 

He also explained that customers aren’t the only ones fearful.  

“Not only customers, but employees as well are afraid to come out,” he said. 

“There’s no way for them to safely commute to work,” he said. “They’re always risking it every day, just trying to come to work.”

Many workers rely on government programs to keep them safe in their workforce.  

One of these government programs is the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), which protects immigrants from deportation during a certain period of time, though it does not grant lawful status.

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Citizenship and Immigration Services, DACA allows migrants to “request consideration of deferred action for a period of 2 years and are also eligible to request work authorization.” 

However, as of January 17 of this year, according to The National Immigrant Justice Center, work permits distributed by DACA have been ruled unlawful within the state of Texas, which has caused a nation-wide pause on accepting new DACA applicants while the legality of the program is decided in court.

Current recipients of DACA can still continue to renew their status and retain their work permits, though no new applicants can benefit from DACA protections. 

An anonymous L.A.U.S.D. teacher has been “DACAmented”—as they referred to themselves—for the majority of their life. 

“I’ve been under DACA since I was about 15 or 16 years old. I have the permission to work, but I don’t necessarily have the permission to travel abroad,” they said.

Although being “DACAmented” can be difficult at times, especially with the constant renewal process, it has allowed this teacher to help their students feel seen. 

“I’ve been open with my students about my legal status because I know that a lot of students have situations similar to myself,” said the teacher. “There is an increase in fear among both students, colleagues, and just overall tension in the community.”

An L.A.U.S.D. student’s mom was recently detained by ICE on October 17 while in front of a restaurant in Santa Monica. 

She occasionally worked in manual labor with the student’s dad, but her primary workplace was the role of being a mother. And ever since she was taken, “it feels like a chunk is missing,” the student said. 

“When I first heard that news, my heart sank,” said the student. “She immigrated here at the age of 18, so my mom has been here most of her life.”

She is currently three hours away at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center in San Bernardino County, awaiting a second court hearing scheduled for December 10.

Migrant workers make up one fifth of the United States workforce, based on 2023-2024 statistics from the U.S. Department of Labor, yet they face a growing loss of sense of security while at work due to the increasingly frequent immigration enforcement raids. 

“I pray that they take us more into consideration,” said a restaurant manager in the Venice community. 

Some interviews included in this piece were conducted in Spanish and translated into English.