LOS ANGELES — Although she’s lived in the country for 40 years, she’s afraid to go to work for the first time.

Ofelia, who didn’t provide her last name out of fear for her safety, was born in Mexico, and has been making a living in LA as a street vendor for years.

After recent changes by the city in the MacArthur Park area, which blocked some vendors from setting up shop and the rapid increase of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, like many street vendors, she’s afraid to work. 

“We can’t go out to sell, even if we go out to sell, we are not selling anything because the people that would buy from us they are afraid to go out, too,” Ofelia said. “They don’t have money and if they do have money, they are afraid to spend it because of everything that’s going on.”

While ICE activity has continued to ramp up in recent weeks in LA, some members of the community are doing their part to help those who have been directly affected by the increase in immigration enforcement. 

Lyzzeth Mendoza is the senior community organizer with Street Vendor Justice, an organization aiming to assist undocumented residents who haven’t been able to earn a living in recent weeks and their families.

Mendoza has been focusing on areas with large populations of street vendors, like MacArthur Park and Hollywood, to spread the word on how undocumented individuals can protect themselves.

“We knew it would affect different vendor hubs because they’re the first folks that are public, using public spaces to be able to survive,” Mendoza said.

According to Economic Roundtable, a nonprofit research organization, street vendors bring in more than $500 million to LA’s economy each year. For Mendoza, it’s personal to be out on the street and assisting those who are in dire need of help since the raids began.

“My parents were street vendors for a long time,” she said. “My uncles, that was one of their first jobs or second jobs when they came to this country.”

ICE agents drew national attention to locally when they conducted immigration enforcement in Paramount California earlier this month. The area became a flashpoint for activism as community members came out to defend their neighbors and speak out against the federal government’s policies.

A report by USC showed there are roughly 900,000 undocumented individuals living in LA, and with many of them living in the region for decades, working and raising families, some community members are fed up with how their neighbors are being impacted. 

Tito Rodriguez is the executive director of the Local Hearts Foundation, a charitable nonprofit that works to empower the community and defend people who are in need. Rodriguez also donates his time and effort to his Hood Santa campaign, which he does in nearby Long Beach.

Rodriguez has been mobilizing with other members of his community to help collect donations and fundraise to provide support to the families who have been directly impacted by the arrest and deportation of locals, as well as their families. 

Although it has been a trying few weeks, Rodriguez said he’s proud to see the people rally to assist any of the families in need. 

“To see families rally together and bring donations and want to feed them, it feels great to know that the community is coming together,” he said.

Rodriguez says it’s not just undocumented people who have been targeted and suffering the consequences from the ICE raids in Southern California. Some American citizens have seen their parents being taken away by federal law enforcement, leaving some young children without their mothers and fathers.

“It’s something that nobody should have to go through,” Rodriguez said. “We just helped a young girl out earlier today. We made a contribution to her family for $2,000 to help pay for July’s rent because her mom was selling oranges, and they grabbed her and took her.”

While Ofelia hasn’t been able to work, she’s been overwhelmed by the support she has been receiving from local organizations and individuals, as she and the large undocumented community in Los Angeles deals with the fear of being arrested simply for stepping out of their homes. 

“It makes me feel very emotional that the community, other vendors have support, they have hope, hope that they are not alone,” Ofelia said while fighting teams. “We are all united. We are all one. Everything that’s happening to us is terrible and I understand all my colleagues because we are all going through the same thing. It’s horrible.”