Skip to Content
News

Scene Report: ‘Families Belong Together’ Rally ~ July 21 ~ MacArthur Park

[dropcap size=big]K[/dropcap]arla Estrada stood on the back of a flatbed truck on a hot Saturday afternoon. She looked out before her at a crowd of energized immigration advocates at MacArthur Park and started her speech with a joke.

“On a scale, how hot are you?” Estrada, an activist and DACA recipient, asked and paused for a beat. “Are you hot enough to melt ICE?”

The most recent Families Belong Together rally in Los Angeles is one of many public reactions to the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy that has criminalized asylum seekers and separated thousands of parents from their children at the U.S.-Mexico border. Many protests have called for the abolishing of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Estrada, 27, arrived in the United States when she was five years old from Mexico. She remembers little of the trip, save that she had a fractured ankle. Her younger brother left the United States under a voluntary departure in April 2017 and a few months later her parents joined him, leaving Estrada alone in Los Angeles.

“I always say I am alone here because I don’t have my nuclear family,” Estrada said.

She added that others try to comfort her by saying she isn’t alone. She also noted that friends and strangers are here to support undocumented youths and DACA recipients like her.

“Are you going to be here when ICE takes me away?” Estrada asked the crowd, which responded with cheers.

All photos by Nathan Solis.

RELATED: Friday Surprise: Protesters Target the Offices of Private Prison Giant GEO Group in West Los Angeles

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from L.A. TACO

This Weekend: New Carnitas in SELA, Black Dough Pizza in Altadena, Indoor Mini Golf and Bathtub Gin in Santa Monica

You can drink cocktails from a toy bathtub while playing mini-golf, before you get your black dough pizza at a Black-owned pizza pop-up.

December 6, 2024

Skid Row Nonprofit ‘Fighting to End Homelessness’ Hires Former City Attorney Mike Feuer, the ‘Architect’ of Anti-Homeless Law

“I saw it and thought, this can not be that Mike Feuer,” the source said during an interview with L.A. TACO. “Anyone who is familiar with homeless issues in L.A. knows him as kind of a central villain.”

December 5, 2024

L.A.’s Best Pozoles Come In Red, Green, and White. And Sometimes With Shrimp, ‘Shrooms, and Jackfruit, Too

L.A. is a city of legendary pozoles, if you know where to look. Vegan, chicken, pork, pata, and even jackfruit. Each pozole on this list has its own distinct identity. All will warm your body and soul.

December 5, 2024

Here Are The 11 Tacos That Made The L.A. Times 101 List

Among the new school and classics featured in our hometown paper's prestigious annual list, there's a fine-dining chef who makes tacos in secret.

December 4, 2024

Tacos Neza Brings Its Handmade Tortillas to New Location in Old Pasadena

The taqueria sells 19 varieties of tacos and started five years ago on The Walk of Fame.

December 4, 2024
See all posts