Los Angeles chefs and shops provide food to immigrants, fearing to go out: “I know how to feed people” | Los Angeles

wHen Danielle Duran Zecca sees military style migrant Raids and people were stolen from the streets, putting their local unmarked vehicles into unmarked vehicles Los Angeles Earlier this summer, she was incredible.

“It’s just that the world we can live in now feels unreal,” said Duran Zecca, a James Beard Award-nominated chef and co-owner. Amiga Amore Highland Park in the historic Latino neighborhood of northeast Los Angeles. “I don’t know what to do, but I know how to support others and lovers because that’s how I grew up in a family.”

The chef realized it when several Duran Zecca workers expressed concerns about entering the restaurant.

“If they don’t want to leave the house, how many others are like this, how many people are not eating,” she said. Earlier this year, LA Wildfirebut this time she needs a different approach, which makes people feel safe.

So Duran Zecca began to personally provide free meals to nearby Boyle Heights every other Sunday for 25 to 30 people. “Once I have food ready, I’ll send a message,” said Duran Zecca, who brought dishes such as steak tacos, chicken kebabs, shrimp spaghetti and breakfast burritos. “[The meals] I think something will comfort them. ”

since ice Begins to seep into Los Angeles Junethe once bankrupt community became quiet. The supplier locked the stall in the flower area. Popular taco stalls and fruit carts were closed, with some restaurants empty. Despite the aggressive arrests from ICE, it is unclear how many people stay at home in the sweeping of immigrants in restaurants, farms, home warehouses and even car washes, but it has had a shocking impact on businesses that rely on immigrant labor. Restaurants like Amiga Amore, the food and hospitality industry, are stepping in to help people in the community who have nowhere to turn around – even if their own businesses are suffering Economically.

Immigration accounts for a considerable labor force in the catering industry. According to the California Institute of Public Policy (a nonprofit, nonpartisan IQ), restaurants in the Golden State are overwhelmingly composed of Latinos and immigrants – 79% and 66% respectively. At least nationwide 20% Restaurant workers are immigrants. “Latinos are not only the backbone of our industry, but the industry,” Duran Zecca said. “Behind every chef is Latino chef, ready to make the magic happen. All they have to do is work, make a living and feed their families.”

To make her deliver twice a month, Duran Zecca from her good friend Damián Diaz Without you, without usIt is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that provides food security for undocumented people, including House staff at bars and restaurants.

“The government has been making it more difficult for families in the community and small grassroots organizations like us to really make a difference,” Diaz said. “In the past, there was no you without your diet, but strengthening enforcement made it impossible, so they work with the Alliance for Restaurants to provide up to 40 families every two weeks so they can shelter at home.

“Given the increased enforcement and the fear environment of real over-enforcement has made people miss out on some very critical necessities, such as doctors’ dates and going to the grocery store.” Rita Fernández Director of Immigration Policy Program at Unidosus, Latino nonprofit advocacy group. “This has led people to withdraw from public life.”

This summer, Congress has allocated $170.7 billion Passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Donald Trump signed a Big Beautiful Bill Act that provides additional funding for immigration and border enforcement. The shocking sum is to cheer for ice operations and create some critic It is called “deported industrial complex”.

“What we’ve seen is going to be turbocharged,” Fernandez said.

That’s why many others in the restaurant and nonprofit industry are also mobilizing to bring groceries to their immigrants hide. Boyle Heights’ Oaxacan-Mediterranean restaurant X’tiosu is one of the most heavily populated Latino communities in the United States, filled with 150 bags of fresh produce, dry pasta and other goods that were offered to those in need in June at local Oaxacan youth who continue to support families in need. Student-led group, Raícescon vozcoordinated food and care packages delivered to over 200 families, and AquíParala comonidadThere are growing lists of jobs operating throughout Southern California.

Vanny Arias decided to hold improvised food in front of her. Alternative bar At Highland Park, she is a bartender who realizes that people staying at home may need groceries. “We have signs that we’re on social media, we’re getting a lot of food, and it’s crazy – we fill half of the food in half of the bars with food,” she said of the July event. Arias, with other community activists and volunteers, began allocating the basics.

Once she started an Instagram account, she began to hear directly from desperate families. “People say, ‘My husband was arrested’ or ‘we were afraid to leave the house and my kids didn’t eat for a few days,” Arias said. “When you’re on the ground you see the hurt and pain in their eyes and hear it in their voices.”

Since July, Arias’s Nera Food Distribution Free groceries are provided in and around 150 people in Highland Park with the help of community donations, two local food warehouses, a bakery and a team of volunteers. “We are a group of people who love the community,” Arias said. “I don’t care what color you are, we are scaring humanity, I’m here for you. You’re not alone.”

And not only Los Angeles. The efforts to help feed people in their families are spread throughout the state.

When Mohamed Saeed, owner of Dinuba Food Center in Central Valley, saw that active immigration enforcement caused fear in his community and kept many normal customers away, he decided to launch a grocery store deliver goods Service in June. “People are really scared; Diba is slow, there is no traffic, and people are not going out the door as they used to be,” he said. A dense population By Latino.

Today, he can make up to 55 delivery times a day in and around Dinuba and tell his customers to open the door after seeing his logo on the truck. “I feel like if I did 40 delivery times a day in a day, I would help save 40 families who stayed at home,” said Said, who immigrated to the United States from Yemen at the age of 13. “My job is to serve the people who live here and if I don’t do that, then I shouldn’t get the job.”

Fernández of Unidosus said these grassroots efforts emphasize the resilience of the Latino community and the wider community, and people gather to help neighbors provide hope and kindness at critical moments.

“mine abuelita My mom teaches me to treat at home. Without your Diaz, it always helps people. “The past few years have been ruthless for many families and communities. I really want to make an impact. It’s not about changing the world, it’s about changing your community and the people living in it.”