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Some L.A. Protesters Are Marching for Neighbors and Family Members

Some L.A. Protesters Are Marching for Neighbors and Family Members

Some of the people demonstrating in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday said they were first- or second-generation immigrants showing solidarity with their neighbors or family members, and a few expressed anger that their neighbors had received deportation orders.
'This is a real threat, this is not just talk,' said Zander Calderon, 36, a protester from northeast Los Angeles. He said he knew several people who had received such orders, as well as one neighbor who had self deported.
'He didn't want to live in fear,' Mr. Calderon, who wore a poncho with an image of the Virgin Mary and the colors of the Mexican flag, said of the neighbor.
Others said that although they were not regular protesters, the federal government's recent immigration raids had motivated them to take action.
'This morning I couldn't stay home anymore,' said Elizabeth Torres, 36, who was carrying a Mexican flag outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday morning, as a crowd of protesters began to swell. 'If the people that are detained can see me through the windows, just know that you're not alone.'
Martín Hoecker-Martinez, a physics professor who was waving an American and a Colombian flag, said that he had traveled about an hour and a half to join the protests because he could not stay home in good conscience.
'I'm an American citizen, and I think that one of the greatest points of pride of the United States is that we are a country of immigrants,' said Professor Hoecker-Martinez, whose mother came from Colombia. 'I bristle when people deride the U.S. government as the embodiment of our collective will.'
Nicole Garcia, 35, attended the protest with her teenage son. She said that while she worried about the safety risks of bringing him along, she wanted him to understand 'what it looks like when community comes together.' Ms. Garcia, who described herself as Mexican American, was veiled and wore a floral wreath and face paint symbolizing the Mexican Day of the Dead.
Brianna Vargas, 24, who was standing on an overpass above the U.S. 101 highway with a megaphone in her hand, said she was protesting for her parents, who had emigrated from Mexico and El Salvador, and for others who were too afraid to leave their homes.
Reposting messages of solidarity with victims of immigration enforcement raids on social media is one thing, she said. 'It's different when you're actually here.'

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Derek Guy, a fashion writer more commonly known as 'the Menswear Guy' on X, posted Monday about his experience as an undocumented immigrant brought to the U.S. as a child. Far-right extremists quickly called for Guy to be deported, something that's not entirely unexpected on a social media platform that's turned into an even greater cesspool of hate ever since Elon Musk bought it. What turned out to be somewhat unexpected was the vice president of the United States and the Department of Homeland Security posting gifs to suggest they might really deport him. It all started on Saturday, June 7, when Guy tweeted that while he admired the courage of protesters against ICE, he thought violent protests were counterproductive. Some folks on X and Bluesky thought Guy was lecturing people who were putting their bodies on the line in resistance to ICE round-ups in Los Angeles, stirring some criticism. The following day, Guy seemed compelled to talk about his own experience with immigration, writing on X, 'My family escaped Vietnam after the Tet Offensive and went through an arduous journey that eventually landed them in the Canada. My father worked there for a time as a janitor; my mother, a secretary.' Guy went on to explain that when work fell through in Canada his father went to the U.S. 'as our family needed money' and he ended up 'staying longer than he was supposed to.' Guy writes that he was carried over the U.S.-Canada border by his mother while he was still a baby. 'I'm still unsure whether we technically broke an immigration law,' Guy wrote. 'The border between Canada and the United States was pretty porous (as it is today, for the most part). But either way, since I came here without legal documentation, I eventually fell into the category of being an undocumented immigrant. Yet, I've been in the United States since I was a baby. 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