Long-time street vendor organizer Emma de Paz, a 58-year-old food vendor in the Hollywood area, said that nothing has ever stopped her from lending a hand to someone in need. Not even now, as she sits in the Adelanto Detention Center, her future is in limbo.
“Dios me a dado ese corazón de ayudar a las personas,” she told L.A. TACO over the phone. “God has given me the heart to help others, and in here, there are many people who have not been able to communicate with their families.”
On Thursday, June 19, De Paz was getting started with her day as a food vendor outside the Home Depot on Sunset Boulevard, where she worked serving breakfast to day laborers, when she and others were ambushed and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
As the other vendors and day laborers around her ran in panic, she was forced to her knees, handcuffed, and taken to the nearest detention center before being transported to her current location, where she now awaits a court hearing Her brother, Carlos Barrera, was working when he found out about her arrest through a live stream on social media.
“I saw that immigration had arrived at the Home Depot,” he said in Spanish. ”They got there like they were getting drug dealers, with firearms, faces covered, they entered the parking lot and detained a lot of people."
This Sunday will mark one month since the beloved street vendor was detained and separated from her family. Although she is currently fighting for her release and proper medical care, she has taken it upon herself to help those who are incarcerated alongside her.