‘It seemed like a ghost town’: LA food vendors on how Trump’s Ice raids affected business

People gather outside where food vendors sell breakfast after federal agents raided the Home Depot on 6 August in Los Angeles, California. Photograph: Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

From early morning to late at night, food vendors are feeding the people of Los Angeles. They offer nearly anything – tamales, fried fish, crispy tacos, mole, pupusas, fresh fruit, esquites, bacon-wrapped hot dogs – to Angelenos as they start their commutes or head home after the bars have closed.

Taco trucks and food vendors are a vital part of the city’s celebrated culinary scene, one that came under attack this summer as Donald Trump ordered mass immigration raids across the city.