The Guardian ·
ICE raids forever changed the work of these gun violence prevention workers: ‘The panic is still there’
Gun violence-prevention programs are another casualty of Trump’s immigration enforcement crackdown
Last June, hundreds of federal agents descended on Los Angeles in the first major immigration enforcement operation of the second Trump administration. Immigrants were swept up at Home Depots and car washes, in front of food stands and at garment factories.
In some Latino and immigrant communities, residents were afraid to go to work; kids stayed home from school and petrified families had friends and neighbors make their grocery runs, too scared to go outside themselves.
For violence interrupters – the people who go out every day hoping to prevent people from getting killed by gun violence – the raids were a fork-in-the-road moment that forever changed their approach to work.
“Kids are living afraid instead of going to school,” said Violet Gallegos, a youth services and gang intervention worker serving her home community of South Los Angeles. “It’s created a system where you’re keeping people broke, poor, and leaving communities [like this one] still marginalized.”
“It’s created a lot of fear, a lot of anger and a lot of division,” said Salvador Marquez, who works for an organization serving LA’s Harbor Gateway area.
The Guardian spoke to three violence intervention workers in California about how ongoing federal immigration enforcement is affecting their ability to keep neighborhoods safe.