Last summer, armed and masked immigration agents began plucking people off street corners, from workplaces, parking lots, and department stores across Los Angeles.
Partners, breadwinners, grandparents, and children were arrested, detained, and deported, leaving neighborhoods rattled.
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A year later, families are still living under the shadow of those raids, sorting through the emotional and administrative wreckage.
They file paperwork to bring deported relatives back, suppress flashbacks to the chaos, and rebuild daily routines without a loved one.
Noémi and Jesús: A Family Divided by a Signature
Noémi’s husband, Jesús, still wakes her every morning with a phone call from Kiní, Mexico. He calls their four children next, urging them to get ready for school.
Before his arrest, he would have had breakfast ready for them.
Jesús had worked at a Westchester carwash for a decade. He was detained there last June, pressured to sign a document without his glasses, and deported.
He had been in the US since 1992 and married Noémi, his first love, two years after they met.
Noémi and the kids visited him in Mexico and considered relocating, but decided it was best for the children’s education to return to Inglewood.
Their daughters are in community college, studying law and software engineering. The children take music and dance lessons and play sports.
Still, daily life feels dissonant without Jesús. Noémi misses their lunchtime tacos together.
Dhelainy misses walking the dogs with her dad. Angel misses weekend training.
