On Saturday afternoon, members of numerous organizations and other volunteers gathered in front of Los Angeles City Hall on Spring Street, where they constructed black coffins out of heavy-duty cardboard. These coffins were meant to represent each person who has died due to ICE detention, post-deportation, and ICE-related shootings.
Several organizations gathered together, including Union Del Barrio (UDB), the Community Self Defense Coalition (CSDC), NELA for Democracy, 50501SoCal, Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE), Venice Resistance, and the Pilipino Workers Center (PWC).
L.A. TACO spoke with Carlos Rincon of CLUE, a pastor of a Pentecostal church in East Los Angeles, who spent time in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge.
“Two more people were killed. Two more, too many,” said Rincon. "This is a way of us lamenting and also calling our government to stop killing our people… we are here because we remember, and we want to highlight their lives, and also the struggle of our whole community.”
L.A. TACO asked Pastor Rincon for his reaction when it comes to the other end of Christianity, specifically white Christian nationalists, who believe that ICE and Border Patrol are simply carrying out law and order.
“I believe the great majority of Christians in this country believe that white Christian nationalists aren’t real Christians. That section of the church in our country has been kidnapped by a cult that is tied to an ideology of white supremacy. They do not represent the church.”
The funeral procession began just after 4:00 p.m. Three volunteers walked up to the stair steps that were lined with 75 signs, each commemorating a life lost. They slowly eased the crowd into several chants, each containing one common theme: Justice for each person who died due to ICE.
As they continued to sing, several volunteers began laying all 75 coffins one by one across the stair steps.
When all the coffins were laid out, members of the organizations got up to the microphone for individual speeches regarding their anger, frustration, and demand that the United States government take action regarding all these deaths.
At least two hundred people were gathered in the crowd, despite the scorching summer heat that hit a high of 90 degrees. Volunteers held yellow caution tape to encourage attendees to stay on the sidewalk.
Many in the crowd visibly mourned; several also broke into tears. One woman held a sign stating, “Nobody is illegal on stolen land.” She had a red handprint painted across her mouth, a symbol of solidarity for missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Los Jornaleros Del Norte, a well-recognized cumbia and corridos band in Los Angeles that was formed following an ICE raid in the City of Industry in 1995, were present and helped guide the procession.
After speeches, volunteers began lifting each individual coffin, held by two volunteers each, and gathered just off-center of Spring Street.
Los Jornaleros Del Norte began playing their famous cumbias and corridos as the volunteers gathered each coffin. What felt like a time of mourning and pain quickly turned into a celebration. Some attendees laughed and smiled while tears still lingered in the corners of their eyes.
The march began down Spring Street towards Chinatown. The procession ended at Placita Olvera near the El Pueblo Historical Monument. Each coffin once again lay on the ground, with all 75 surrounding the sidewalk on Los Angeles Street.
A volunteer with Union Del Barrio brought a message of mourning, but also a demand for more volunteers and for people to join community watch.
L.A. TACO spoke with this volunteer, who chose to remain anonymous, regarding his attendance and motivation for participating in the funeral procession.
With a rasp in his voice and an anger felt beyond the screen, this volunteer states, “We are enraged that two more lives have been lost at the hands of migra terrorism. They are two names to an ever-growing list that continues to get longer and longer. These people that have been murdered, they have been patrollers, they have been parents. They have been folks that have also died behind bars at concentration camps."
"We understand that this is exactly how this immigration deportation machine was meant to function,” they continued. "We cannot reform ICE. We cannot fix it with body-cameras or accountability measures. It must be abolished, and the only people that can lead the abolishment is the people.”
He says that this is the time for people to “organize our blocks and hoods, our churches, schools, to defend our communities.”
As the speeches during the funeral procession continued, onlookers joined, walking over from the stores at Placita Olvera. Once again, music, speeches, and shouts filled Los Angeles Street, in an echo of not only pain, mourning, and frustration, but of hope, joy, and celebration.
If a loved one is detained by ICE, Union Del Barrio shared this link to help you learn to navigate the detention system.
