Six months after dozens of street vendors were displaced by chain-link fences installed along Alvarado Street and around the MacArthur Park Metro station, many of them are now in a dire situation as Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents continue to invade the city's streets.
“I fear that we will end up in the streets like all the people at the park, or worse, be disappeared,” said Nadia in Spanish, pointing at her unhoused neighbors. The names of the MacArthur Park street vendors quoted in this story have been changed for safety.
Back in March, when L.A. TACO spoke with street vendors like Nadia, who, like many, sell everyday household items on the sidewalk, the community was already feeling the financial blow of being displaced from their original locations, following a shooting in the area that led to new fencing being installed.