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After the election of President Donald Trump, many undocumented immigrants knew there would be a push for mass deportation. The new president had promised it, again and again.
The recent escalation—including Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at homes, restaurants, car washes, and Home Depot parking lots across Los Angeles—has left many immigrants in California on edge. Protests erupted across the country. Police clashed with activists. And, in the aftermath, a national headline took hold: a battle in LA.
Maria, 22, stands outside her home, where she is sheltering in place.Brandon Tauszik
But that framing—of conflagration and resistance—misses the more pervasive reality: the daily fear of simply living in LA under a constant threat from ICE. For many, it means sheltering in place—avoiding work, social life, or even a walk outside. What isn’t a risk under this administration?
“I feel like they’re just scaring us and desensitizing people from these things, getting us tired,” says Maria, an undocumented 22-year-old who worries that she will lose her job from sheltering in place. She says she is often afraid.
“What’s been going on in LA is we’ve just been seeing a lot of people come in and just ripping people out in a very intense way,” says Bob, a 36-year-old naturalized citizen from Brazil. He fears the way he says ICE is “rounding them up, like fucking stray dogs, and putting them in a fucking kennel.”
Here are the stories of people like Maria, Bob, and others—who are using pseudonyms—forced to live in fear.
Maria organizes photo negatives. She works as a freelance photographer but recently canceled all her bookings. It has decimated her income. “The first few days, I was just rotting, like getting a lot of online media,” she says. “Right now, I’ve been trying to just work on my own photography.”Brandon TauszikEiden, who came to the United States as a child, has taken up painting to pass time at home. “My mom brought me [as a kid], and her biggest concern was that she was a single mom and there were cartel bosses in the nearby area that were trying to wife her up,” he says. “Her best way to avoid entering that lifestyle was to leave, and so she brought us over.”Brandon Tauszik
Eiden waters his lawn.Brandon TauszikAna tends to her backyard garden.Brandon Tauszik
Ana, 32, reads to pass time at home. “Communities are fearful because of the ICE raids, which are happening in areas that are predominantly Hispanic. People are being deported without due process,” she says.Brandon TauszikBob stands outside his home, where he is spending most of his time since ICE raids increased around LA.Brandon TauszikBob practices bass guitar. Even though he has been naturalized, he worries about his citizenship being taken away. “One of the things that they can use against you is if you’re considered a terrorist,” he said. “So if I’m out there on the streets, let’s say I’m protesting against Donald Trump—‘oh, you’re a domestic terrorist.’”Brandon Tauszik
