I have this vivid memory of being around four years old, walking with my parents to buy a television in Huntington Park. It’s the middle of summer, and I'm wearing these tiny white jean shorts. My mom loved dressing me like an '80s music video vixen. She also loved a deal. And that’s why we were walking along H.P.’s Pacific Boulevard in 1987, where deals reigned supreme.
Beginning that decade—after years of decline due to white flight—Pacific had become a thriving commercial hub for Latino families to eat good food, do a little shopping, and be in the community. But because of that, it was also a target for La Migra. So you can imagine my little four-year-old heart dropping when I saw the immigration agents pulling up and seeing people scatter.
I was holding my mom’s hand tight as she sped up her stroll to a brisk walk, too much for me to keep up. I fell and scraped my knee.
My parents played it calmly, mostly. They were both undocumented at the time but didn’t run. Walked too fast for a four-year-old to keep up, sure. But they didn’t want to panic. Instead, they picked me up off the floor and took me into a pharmacy to get a Band-Aid and some antibiotic spray.
I think about that moment a lot these days. About the panic I felt and about the luck of the draw that my parents never got deported and were able to get green cards and eventually citizenship. I still have that scar on my knee, which is a reminder that when ICE raids sweep through Los Angeles neighborhoods, they don’t just target undocumented adults. They leave entire communities, especially children, grappling with fear and uncertainty.
To help families navigate this reality, I spoke with Paco Retana, chief program officer at Wellnest—a community-based mental health nonprofit that has served Angelenos for more than a century—to see if he could help me put together a guide for talking to kids about ICE. A licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist with 36 years of experience, Retana oversees trauma-informed, culturally responsive care for children and families across Los Angeles. He seems like the perfect person to talk to about that.