The 4th of July is right around the corner. But with immigration raids taking place across the state, many communities aren’t in a mood to celebrate. Several Los Angeles County cities and neighborhoods have canceled their Independence Day events this year, citing fears of ICE raids.
Canceled events include:
- East Los Angeles Rock'in 4th of July
- July 3rd Summer Nights Concert in Bell Gardens and all other city events through July 10th
- July 3rd Independence Day celebrations in Cudahy and Huntington Park
- El Sereno’s 66th Independence Day Parade
- 4th of July celebrations in Boyle Heights and Lincoln Heights, sponsored by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado
- 4th of July Summer Block Party at Gloria Molina Grand Park in downtown L.A.
- Fourth of July Freedom Walk in the City of Whittier
The El Sereno parade was one of the first to be scrapped. The event draws over 1,200 participants each year. They’re “the most patriotic people you would meet,” the El Sereno Bicentennial Committee said in a statement. The committee made the difficult decision to cancel after several groups pulled out.
“You can see the impact of these random raids everywhere in our city — families are scared to go eat at restaurants, kids are scared their parents aren’t going to return from the store — the fear is there because they’ve seen videos of people being shoved into unmarked vans by masked men refusing to identify themselves,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told the Los Angeles Times.
Read more at Axios.