One morning earlier this month, Melanie woke up to the news that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) had detained more than 40 migrant workers at a garment factory, as part of a series of raids across Los Angeles. Her high school, located downtown, is not too far away from where the arrests took place. She didn’t want to go to school – but still drove there to complete her final exams.
“When I got to school, that fear didn’t leave me. I might have been in a safe enough place but my family wasn’t,” said Melanie, whose uncle and father work in the Fashion District, the neighborhood where the raid took place. She did not give her last name to protect her family’s safety, since many members are undocumented. “Overall, every second was daunting. It felt like time wouldn’t move fast enough.”
That fear still hasn’t left. After her sister’s graduation the following week, she and her family decided to go straight home instead of going to eat together at a restaurant.
