Lots of of individuals gathered in Monrovia Friday evening at a vigil for Carlos Roberto Montoya, who was struck and killed by an SUV after working onto the 210 Freeway whereas attempting to flee U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers this week.
The vigil, held on the Dwelling Depot that was the situation of Thursday’s raid, was organized by Monrovia Excessive College College students In opposition to Fascism, with help from the Los Angeles Chapter of the Social gathering for Socialism and Liberation.
Eduardo Vargas, a group organizer for PSL, mentioned the 2 teams began planning the vigil, in addition to a rally that was held Thursday, as soon as they heard that Montoya had died.
“The group responds first,” he mentioned. “The group comes with their bullhorns. They arrive with their sound tools. They arrive with their posters, so it’s actually simply speaking to one another and getting stuff achieved.”
Lots of collect outdoors a Dwelling Depot in Monrovia Friday for a vigil for Carlos Roberto Montoya.
(Annie Goodykoontz / Los Angeles Instances)
Audio system at Friday’s vigil included spiritual leaders, lecturers, highschool college students and politicians.
Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) mentioned Montoya, a Guatemalan nationwide, had lived in the US for 3 years, and labored as a day laborer. He had 4 daughters and grandchildren, she mentioned.
“Make no mistake, his loss of life is a direct results of the Trump administration’s technique of sowing worry and intimidation all through our group,” she mentioned. “It’s designed to instill worry, so that folks will danger something, even their lives, to flee it.”
In a press release beforehand emailed to The Instances, the Division of Homeland Safety mentioned that “the person was not being pursued by any DHS regulation enforcement” and that the company was not conscious of his loss of life on the freeway till hours after operations within the space had concluded.
The vigil started with a silent stroll to a memorial arrange close to the exit of the Dwelling Depot, simply throughout from the doorway of the 210 Freeway, the place Montoya died. Attendees prayed each silently and aloud, and plenty of laid flowers on the memorial.
On the stroll again to a stage arrange for the vigil, the group chanted “ICE out of Monrovia!” as automobiles driving by sounded their horns in assist.
Some weren’t so supportive, nevertheless. On the stroll to the memorial, an offended driver seemingly obtained into an argument with an attendee, and drove by means of the trail of the group, eliciting shrieks from the group. Nobody was injured, and an organizer shouted to the group to brush it off.
Whereas state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) spoke, an individual within the crowd appeared to talk critically in response. The individual left after the group chanted “You’ve got to go!”
“I wish to simply remind you all, as we’re doing this advocacy, as we’re combating for our neighbors, that we’re gonna run into naysayers,” Perez mentioned after the individual left. “However us sticking collectively as [a] group is what will make the distinction. As a result of there’s extra of us, than there’s them.”
Family members and pals of Montoya who took the stage described him as a contented man who got here to the US looking for work to assist his household.
“He got here right here to work exhausting. My uncle was not a prison,” his niece, Mariela, mentioned by means of a translator. “He wished what so much us wished: a greater life.”
Politicians, spiritual leaders and group organizers spoke at Friday’s occasion, which placed on by Monrovia Excessive College College students In opposition to Fascism with help from the Los Angeles chapter of the Social gathering for Socialism and Liberation.
(Annie Goodykoontz / Los Angeles Instances)
Elsewhere in Southern California, immigration enforcement continued.
Adelina de Perez, 67, spoke by means of sobs Friday morning after a swarm of masked brokers descended on a small avenue close to a Van Nuys Dwelling Depot and took her daughter.
She mentioned her daughter, Yenni Perez Quinilla, 38, offered tamales on Balboa Place.
Immigration advocates hovered round de Perez, attempting to consolation her as she used a cellphone to rearrange take care of her grandchildren — her daughter’s kids. She used the sleeve of her black sweater to wipe away tears.
“I’m very offended, I’m very upset,” mentioned de Perez, who’s from Guatemala. “My daughter is a single mom, that is her solely earnings.”
Quinilla, who lives in North Hollywood, has labored on the block for a number of years, and has three kids — ages 15, 17, and 18 — based on her mom.
De Perez mentioned that brokers introduced paperwork once they picked up her daughter from her tamale stand on Friday.
A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
Federal brokers raided the world across the Van Nuys Dwelling Depot twice final week earlier than returning this morning, witnesses mentioned.
Witnesses mentioned brokers pulled as much as Balboa Place Friday morning in a line of automobiles. Bystanders blew whistles, yelled and honked their horns on the brokers.
Video shot by one witness that was considered by The Instances confirmed closely armed and masked males sporting brown camouflage, with the phrase POLICE on their chests.
