Amid fears of immigration raids, Detroit's Cinco de Mayo Parade will still go on

Yahoo

03-05-2025

While Chicago and Philadelphia have canceled Cinco de Mayo festivities this year amid fear over immigration crackdowns, Detroit's parade will still go on.
This year represents a milestone for the annual Cinco de Mayo Parade, the 60th year of an event to celebrate Mexican heritage.
"We've been planning this for the whole year. We have not canceled and a cancellation has not gone through our mind. ... Our residents are okay with it, the community is okay with it. We do listen to them, and so that's something they've asked us to continue," said Elizabeth "Lisa" Gonzalez, parliamentarian for the Mexican Patriotic Committee of Metro Detroit, the volunteer group behind the Cinco de Mayo Parade.
She expects thousands of people to show up. Gonzalez, a community organizer and lifelong southwest Detroit resident, said the event is a way for young Latino people to recognize their roots and culture — Mexican, Salvadoran, Honduran and American.
Though not everyone agrees the parade should go on.
Samantha Magdaleno, executive director of the Southwest Detroit-based One Michigan for Immigrant Rights, said that some community members are planning to stay at home and celebrate with their own cookouts. Magdaleno's organization provides assistance to immigrants in need of resources.
'We have been advising people if you don't have status or if you have family members that you live with that don't have status, we've been advising them to not go to these kind of events,' Magdaleno said. 'We've been trying to tell them to be more aware and to be cautious, not to necessarily live in a bubble and hide, but at the same time to just be cognizant.'
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In light of other major cities canceling their Cinco de Mayo festivities, Magdaleno said that she thinks Detroit should've followed suit as a way to protest the Trump administration and its policies.
'I know there have been several community attempts to do a day without Latinos, a day without Mexicans, a day without immigrants. And I think this would have been the time to do it. ... There's a lot of outsiders that come to southwest Detroit to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, and I think this would have been the perfect opportunity to show them like, 'Look, no, we're not coming out. There's nothing to celebrate. This administration is abusing us, and you guys need to understand it,'" she said.
Jaime Carrillo is the director and co-founder of Ballet Folklorico Moyocoyani Izel, a traditional Mexican folk dance group, and a business owner in southwest Detroit. Although he resides Downriver, he has heard concerns from patrons and members of his dance group.
'The main concern is the raids and stuff that ICE has been doing. That's the main concern that people are afraid that they're going to get caught up with something like that. And I'm not just talking about undocumented people, just people in general, because right now it seems like they don't care. As long as you fit the profile, they're either questioning you, pulling you over or basically harassing you," said Carrillo, 47, of Lincoln Park.
The group hasn't participated in the parade in more than a decade but will be a part of the Cinco de Mayo festival following the parade at Patton Park. Carrillo also said Detroit police shut down last year's celebration early, but local vendors are hopeful that won't happen again.
Many residents question the value in publicly celebrating their heritage when the freedom to be Mexican in America is seemingly under attack.
'Since Trump took office, there's been a growing sense of hostility in our community,' said Hector Vega, a Mexican American and southwest Detroit native. 'It no longer feels safe to gather publicly with our families. The increase in deportations and police presence has created a climate of fear.'
In a Facebook post, Vega raised concerns about attending this year's parade, an event he attended a few times as a child. He cited concerns about ICE presence, but also urged other Mexican Americans not to share their culture for the 'drunken fun' of non-Latinos.
'For years now, Cinco de Mayo has felt co-opted — used by outsiders as an excuse to drink, party, and consume our culture without respecting our people,' he told the Free Press in an email. In the U.S. the holiday is often called 'Drinko de Mayo,' referring to the heavy consumption of alcohol in the name of Mexican pride.
'Mexicans — and Latinos in general — are known for our hospitality. We proudly share our food, music, and traditions. But lately, it's clear the U.S. government doesn't want us here,' Vega said, noting that he's witnessed families targeted by ICE simply for grabbing tacos at local food trucks.
'If we're not welcome here, that rejection should include our culture, too. You can't claim to love our food and festivities while hating the people behind them," he said.
A longtime southwest Detroit community leader and resident, who requested anonymity to protect community members, said this year's festivities — which he described as a "great plus" for businesses and families — are going to be different.
"There's a lot of fear in our community," he said.
There are families that don't want to take their kids to school, to doctor's appointments, to worship or get groceries, despite having a legal status, he said. He thinks people are going to stay home.
"There's a worry of themselves being picked up and their family members being picked up, their neighbors being picked up. There's a worry of just a possible violent confrontation, if people respond wrong, or if immigration responds wrong and doesn't follow the law themselves. There's worry about just how the events would be impacted," he said.
He said he'd be perfectly fine if the parade were canceled.
"Having first hand knowledge of cases of people that are detained, families, neighbors, friends, and just things that are going on in the courts, that has caused me to pause and I wonder if this is a really good idea," he said.
It's a big weekend for restaurants, mom-and-pop stores, street vendors and taco trucks, whose livelihood could see a hit if attendance dips, but if their relatives, neighbors, friends and patrons are detained by immigration enforcement, that would also be a hardship, he said.
Other longtime residents say the community is accustomed to border portal and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and people are eager to celebrate.
"The general tone so far has been positive," said Maria Salinas, founder and executive director of Congress of Communities of Southwest Detroit.
Salinas, a longtime southwest Detroit resident and community organizer, said the celebration has been going on for generations and "for us to stand down and not celebrate our Latino heritage is just something we're not going to do." The organizing committee has done its due diligence to ensure a safe, and festive environment, she said. Her organization is a vendor and has paid to be in the parade.
Gonzalez said the community is looking forward to the celebration, but acknowledged there's "a little bit of anxiety." She said hasn't heard too much concern. Southwest Detroiters are used to having federal immigration agents around because of the neighborhood's proximity to the Ambassador Bridge, which connects the U.S. and Canada.
"Border patrol and ICE are naturally in our neighborhood. They're in our backyard," Gonzalez said. "We live with them on a daily basis. This is how it's always been for many, many years since I was born and raised here in southwest Detroit."
She said it's a personal choice if people want to stay home or join, but everyone is welcome.
"Many people come from many parts of Michigan. We have people come from other states to come see this parade. We're known to have this parade every year. That's why we listened, we listened to what everybody wanted, what the community wanted ... what outside of the communities also wanted," she said.
The weekend's festivities include a two-day fiesta at Patton Recreation Center, featuring music, vendors and food trucks, and a parade on May 4 along West Vernor Highway, with floats, marching bands and mariachis. The parade honors the 1862 Battle of Puebla and the Mexican victory over French forces. Organizers say the celebration will highlight diverse Latino ethnicities that make up the "rich cultural fabric of Southwest Detroit," according to the Mexican Patriotic Committee of Metro Detroit's website.
Contact Nushrat Rahman: [e-mail]. Follow her on X: @NushratR.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Southwest Detroit's Cinco de Mayo Parade still planned despite fears