AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Here on the east side of the city, in the majority Latino neighborhood of Boyle Heights, there's a traditional Mexican market full of colorful stalls that's been here for more than a half century. It's called El Mercadito.
JOSE MORALES: We love this place. We adore this place right here. You know, you got the tostilocos with esquites. You got the ice cream. You got the raspados. You got the aguas frescas. You got the...
CHANG: Jose Morales has been coming here since he was a kid. He's 31 now. And today, he's stopping by to get a raspado - or shaved ice. He says, with school out for the summer, kids would normally be right here, buying their favorite snacks and trinkets. But today, it looks so different.
MORALES: It looks like a ghost town. It looks like - being realistic, people are just scared 'cause of ICE.
CHANG: ICE - as in Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The raids that have swept through Los Angeles in recent weeks have kept many people in Latino communities at home out of fear that they'll become targets. When asked about the raids in Southern California this week, Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, told ABC News that, quote, "we no longer turn a blind eye" to someone who is in this country illegally. But the fear of being targeted even extends to Latinos who are U.S. citizens, like Morales.
MORALES: I came out to get my birth certificate, other - you know, other errands that I had to do out here. And...
CHANG: Wait, you came out here to get your birth certificate?
MORALES: Yeah.
CHANG: Why do you need your birth certificate?
MORALES: Oh, I just...
CHANG: Why do you feel the need to get it right now?
MORALES: With everything going on, it's just kind of like, ugh, you know? You got to be very careful nowadays because you have people getting stopped. And, you know, certain officers that are ICE, you know, they're not even showing you a warrant or anything like that. They're just grabbing people, at least what I'm seeing on social media.
CHANG: So you intend to be keeping your birth certificate on you at all times?
MORALES: Yeah, I have to, you know, because...
CHANG: This fear of the raids has decimated business at El Mercadito. We see hardly any customers now, as one of the building's managers, Marlene Rosado, walks us through the market.
MARLENE ROSADO: Just walking down this aisle, you'll have barro, which is our pots and pans that are made out of clay or Talaveras. And you have jarras, where you would press your fresh aguas; leather goods, your belts.
CHANG: The vendors mostly stand around idle. One shopkeeper tries to draw customers in with a serenade on a tiny accordion.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CHANG: I love this. This is like a toy store.
ROSADO: Yes, this is a toy store. Exactly - our toy store.
CHANG: Look at that little baby white guitar there (laughter).
ROSADO: Yes.
CHANG: (Laughter).
ROSADO: For mariachis in the making.
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: I love that.
There are more than a hundred stalls here, but more than half of them are closed. Their goods are locked up behind gates or covered with tarps.
ROSADO: Our community is genuinely scared to leave their homes at moments. And many of the vendors here are also afraid to open shop.
CHANG: So all these gray tarps that I see hanging over the fronts of stalls, this is more than usual?
ROSADO: Oh...
CHANG: It's usually not covered up like this.
ROSADO: No. They all open about, like, 10 a.m. sharp.
CHANG: How does it feel to see this place you're so used to seeing crowded and bustling look like this now?
ROSADO: Not going to lie, I've cried walking, like, around just to, like, check on them. And this is their life. Like, it's really disheartening.
CHANG: Rosado says many vendors just don't see the point in opening up because there are so few customers or they're scared of being mistakenly detained by immigration agents. And some younger U.S.-born family members are showing up to help keep shop, like a young woman we met working in a stall that her family has run for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: So I've been basically, like, calling off of work to come help my grandma because unfortunately, a lot of employees quit or they're just not coming 'cause they're scared. Everyone's paranoid, so it's sad. And it's kind of, like, contagious energy. Like, I get paranoid, even if I'm OK - like, a U.S. citizen.
CHANG: She requested that we not use her name because her family is concerned they could be targeted by ICE. Her grandma has been on edge, too, even though she says she is a lawful permanent resident.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: She's also scared 'cause she doesn't speak English. If those people...
CHANG: Your grandma?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Yeah. If those people come and they try to, like, terrorize her with a bunch of questions, she's not going to know, like, what to do, so I have to be here.
CHANG: Why do you think she still wants to show up at work day after day, even though she is nervous right now?
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: Because this is our source of income, and, like, we don't want to just give up and, like, let the fear control us in a way. But I told her we shouldn't open, to be honest. Like, I told her, like, what are we doing? But she's like, well, you know, we need to get money, and, like - so it's been kind of stressful.
(SOUNDBITE OF LIQUID POURING)
CHANG: Meanwhile, outside, among the food vendors, Julia Vasquez stands behind a long row of vibrant jugs of aguas frescas, still full of watermelon, cucumber and passionfruit waters. In normal times, she says, these jugs would almost be empty now, in the early afternoon. But now, business is so slow.
JULIA VASQUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
CHANG: Vasquez says business isn't even a quarter of what it normally is. She has to dump all these unsold aguas frescas at the end of the day.
VASQUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
CHANG: Vasquez has been running her shop for 42 years. She says she started off as a teenager, selling these waters from a cart. Then 20 years ago, she got her permanent residency, and today she owns three stalls at El Mercadito.
How does it feel to come here, start your business at 16, make your own money, do everything the right way, and now, decades later, this is happening to you?
VASQUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
CHANG: Vasquez says she is worried about making rent for her business and for her home, but she has faith that God will look out for her.
VASQUEZ: (Speaking Spanish).
CHANG: We asked Marlene Rosado if she shares the same optimism that things will turn around.
ROSADO: I am very hopeful because I have a lot of faith in our community and our strength as Hispanic Latinos, Mexicans that are here in Los Angeles and all our immigrant community. I know that a lot of fear has been instilled, but don't let that be the underlying message. It has to be strength in numbers, strength as a community. Together, we are a force.
CHANG: So for now, even though the halls of El Mercadito look so empty, you can hear they're still alive...
(LAUGHTER)
CHANG: ...As the vendors find comfort in one another and wait out this uncertain time. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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