Car wash workers commemorated this Monday the first anniversary of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles.
The employees, accompanied by family members and defenders of the Car Wash Workers Center (CLEAN)offered a press conference in the Crenshaw Imperial Vehicle to share their experiences after the immigration operations, which intensified on June 6, 2025.
“They took my husband from work, held him for days without a phone call or a lawyer, They forced him to sign his own deportation and sent him to Mexico“, declared Noemí, wife of one of the workers affected in the immigration operations.
Keep reading: Six arrested in protest on anniversary of ICE raids in Los Angeles
“Now, My four children and I will have to pay the consequences of this injustice. for the next decade while our petition is reviewed,” added Noemí, in a CLEAN press release.
The Hispanic mother assured that Families cannot wait 10 years to obtain justice when it was the federal government that violated his right to due process in the first place.
Mario, another of the workers affected at a car wash by an immigration raid, He assured that he spent 33 years building a life in this countrywhere he raised three children and worked in this sector for 13 years.
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“Last August, They arrested me and forced me to sleep on a cold floor for a week without a blankettoothbrush or basic medical care for the injured man lying next to me,” Mario recalled.
“I refused to sign my deportation and I continue fighting, but the legal costs are ruining my family. We need people to understand that being liberated is not the same as being free,” added the Latino worker.
On June 6, 2025, federal immigration agencies They intensified raids targeting primarily undocumented members of the immigrant community in Los Angeles and in several counties in Southern California.
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ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents They have car washes as one of their main objectives to carry out their raidsplaces where it is routine for immigrants to work, some of them undocumented.
After the first incidents, the CLEAN Car Wash Workers Support Center mobilized to face the crisis, which helped achieve the release of more than 40 employees from these workplaces.
It was also provided emergency financial support and correct assistance to detained workerswith risk of being deported.
Keep reading: Elderly Los Angeles car wash owner sues ICE for $50 million
The CLEAN organization said that Car wash workers who were released and returned home face obstacles finding employmentrising legal costs and an almost complete absence of local and state resources to support their recovery.
“As one of the leading organizations supporting car wash workers following ICE operations in Los Angeles, CLEAN witnessed, first-hand, how these police actions spread fear last year“, said the executive director of CLEAN, Flor Meléndrez.
“The growth of our movement was fueled by ICE’s merciless persecution of the city’s most vulnerable workers“added the executive director of CLEAN.
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The organization estimates that There are about 500 car washes in Los Angeles County.which employ about 10,000 workers, the vast majority of them immigrants.
CLEAN said that, As of June of this year, at least 107 car washes have been raidedwith the arrest of at least 373 workers, mostly Latino.
The organization mentioned that the Lawmakers considering state budget proposalbacked by CLEAN, which would create an Emergency Fund for Immigration Reduction.
Keep reading: Young man from Los Angeles faces challenges after delays in DACA renewal
Fund resources would be used to provide financial compensation to workers who have lost their salary due to federal immigration enforcement actions, or to their family members if someone is detained or deported. The state budget must be finalized by June 15.
Keep reading:
· Tucker Collins’ family demands investigation after eye loss in protest in Los Angeles
· Organizations warn about the risk of travelers to Los Angeles for the World Cup
· Hispanic man who was detained after suing ICE is released in Southern California
