在洛杉矶，由于担心美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）的突击搜捕以及抗议活动，街头小贩的生意遭受重创。许多顾客，尤其是无证移民，因害怕外出而减少了消费。尽管一些小贩持有合法工作许可，但他们仍感到不安，面临着财务和情感上的双重挑战。生意额锐减，家庭生计受到严重影响，小贩们被迫在充满不确定性的环境中艰难维持。文章揭示了移民社区在执法行动下的困境，以及他们对未来的担忧。

😥 由于ICE突击搜捕和抗议活动，洛杉矶的街头小贩生意额大幅下降，顾客纷纷避开，生意额下降约75%。

💼 许多小贩持有工作许可，但由于不是公民，他们仍然感到不安全，担心被无差别逮捕，导致财务压力增加。

🌮 小贩们表示，他们依赖这份工作维持生计，并担心生意下滑会影响家庭收入，甚至被迫缩短营业时间。

😟 顾客群体，尤其是无证移民，因害怕外出而减少了消费，这使得小贩的收入锐减，难以维持生计。

⚖️ ICE的执法行动给移民社区带来了恐慌，即使持有工作许可，小贩们也面临着不确定性和经济压力，他们希望能够获得法律上的身份保障，以实现他们的美国梦。

Immigrant street vendors were out selling tacos and crêpes in Los Angeles during ICE raids and protests.Their customers, many undocumented, were afraid to leave their homes to patronize the businesses.Despite legal work permits, vendors said they felt insecure, facing financial and emotional challenges.

The normally bustling streets of Little Tokyo in downtown Los Angeles were quiet except for the commotion of sirens and gusty helicopters. Loud bangs punctuated the night, but LA's street vendors were still slinging tacos and crêpes to the few pedestrians who had ventured out.

It was the evening of Monday, June 9, the week that the LA Times reported that Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained several hundred immigrants in Southern California. In response, the streets of downtown had been embroiled in four consecutive days of uproar.

From the taco stand where Celeste Sughey works as a cashier, we could hear protesters and law enforcement clashing. Sughey and her co-workers have continued to sell food despite the risk of being undocumented because their families depend on the paychecks.

"This is our only job, this is how we get to survive," Sughey said. She asked that the business not be named out of fear that it could be targeted by federal law enforcement.

Two other vendors I spoke to said they had work authorization in the US but aren't citizens. They feared being swept up in what they see as indiscriminate arrests targeting Latino workers.

"If you are present in the United States illegally, you will be deported," Abigail Jackson, a spokesperson for the White House, wrote in an email to Business Insider. "This is the promise President Trump made to the American people that the administration is committed to keeping it."

The White House and ICE did not confirm with Business Insider the number of people detained or whether warrants had been issued in all instances.

All the street vendors I spoke to said they've lost money, estimating that business has dropped by 75% because customers were avoiding ICE raids and the protests. The city hadn't announced the 8 p.m. curfew yet, but with all the ruckus, Sughey's taco stand would be closing that evening before 9 p.m. instead of the usual 2 a.m.

At the time, she was hopeful that the raids and protests would die down. "Hopefully, this is just for a little bit and then it goes away," she said. A week later, the curfew in downtown had ended, but a sense of unease still lingers in the atypically quiet district.

Business is slow, tensions are high, and vendors' families need the paychecks

Less than 5 miles away, another immigrant neighborhood had slowed down as well. Benny Moreno, 52, operates El Patrón, a family-owned business that makes Mexican favorites like tacos, tortas, sopes, and burritos in Koreatown. The area is one of LA's most densely populated neighborhoods, known for its Korean American and Oaxacan communities.

Since the ICE arrests ramped up in LA County, Moreno said he's noticed a dramatic drop in foot traffic, unlike anything he's witnessed in his 12 years of running his business.

"Most of my people, they're Latinos, we don't have papers," Moreno said of his undocumented customers on the evening of Wednesday, June 11.

"My support comes from them," he said. "They come to my taco truck and they buy my food, and now they don't want to spend money because they are not even working right now because they are scared."

Denise, a regular at Moreno's truck who works in a dental office downtown, said there's usually a long line. From 9 p.m. to 10 p.m. I saw two paying customers stop by.

"This is the worst I've ever seen," said the 33-year-old US citizen. Denise was ordering steak fries and tacos for her family, including her parents, who are undocumented and have been too afraid to leave the house.

Denise, whose mom emigrated from Vera Cruz, Mexico, like Moreno, came out to support his business. Members of Moreno's indigenous Zapotec community were detained during ICE sweeps in the fashion district the previous Friday, Denise said.

"We were just getting back up from COVID," Denise said of the street vendors. "It feels like we're getting shut down all over again. It's very hard."

The slowdown is hurting Moreno's bottom line. He said he pays around $2,000 a month to rent his truck and maintain a permit to park on the streets.

"I'm worried because my bill is too high," Moreno said, adding that he has no choice but to continue his late-night operation from 7 p.m. to 2 a.m. to support his wife and two kids. "I'm working hard to support my family to pay my bills and my rent."

Claudia Antonio and Abel Pacheco are in a similar position. They started selling $12 crêpes last fall to set themselves apart from street vendors who serve traditional Mexican food. The couple said their business, La Chinantla, used to pull in about $200 a night; recently, it's been as low as $60 a night in Koreatown.

"We get prepared, we have to throw it away because it won't be good for the next day," Antonio said of having to dispose of fresh fruit because of low sales.

The Oaxacan immigrants, who have three children, live in subsidized housing in downtown Los Angeles, paying a little over $1,000 a month for a three-bedroom apartment.

"We're barely surviving," Antonio said. Selling on the street, she said, varies so much day to day, it's hard to make a consistent income. "Now the rent is coming up. That's why we're outside right now. Otherwise, we stay home."

Work authorization is not enough for immigrant vendors to feel secure

Antonio and Moreno both said they have work authorization to operate their food businesses, but since they aren't citizens, they've been feeling more anxious than ever. ICE officials have been tracking down non-citizens who pay taxes at their places of business and home addresses using records from the Internal Revenue Service, according to reporting in the New York Times.

While ICE needs a judicial warrant to enter private areas of a workplace, the same protections don't extend to street vendors who work on public sidewalks. Publications including the Los Angeles Times and LA Taco have published videos showing street vendors and their employees detained by federal officers.

"I'm worried," said Moreno. "ICE, they take people, even if they're citizens, they do not even ask for the papers. They just take people." A viral video of a US citizen being detained, published by The New York Times, stoked outrage that ICE may be racially profiling Latinos.

Antonio and Pacheco are also applying for adjustment of status to become lawful permanent residents with green cards. "It's very stressful," Pacheco said of the expensive legal process. "Every time we have to go see the lawyer or they call you, they expect you to come out with some more money every single time."

Antonio said her immigration lawyer charges her $1,200 every time they update documents in their application for a green card.

It hasn't been cheap for Antonio and Pacheco to realize their American dream. Antonio has been building up her business for over 14 years, buying new appliances and slowly saving up for her fridges, which cost $250 each, and a customized illuminated business sign, which cost $400.

"We want our business to grow," said Antonio, who hopes one day to open up a brick-and-mortar location with her husband. "That's our dream, why we're still working hard, and that's why we're still here, even though it's not been easy."