Commentary: 'I’m speaking for those who can’t': A daughter marches to honor her father

[ad_1] She was attending her first protest, pushed to be seen with 1000's of others at a “No Kings” demonstration Saturday morning in El Segundo, desirous to make an announcement.

However she was there for her father, as nicely.

The signal she held aloft as automotive horns honked in assist stated: “I’m talking for many who can’t.”

Her father would have cherished to affix her, Jennifer informed me. However with ICE raids in Los Angeles and arrests by the a whole lot in latest days, her 55-year-old undocumented dad couldn’t afford to take the chance.

<img class="image" alt="Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb49775/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1125x1125+438+0/resize/130x130!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fzbk%2Fdamlat_images%2FLA%2FLA_PHOTO_SELECTS%2F2013_12%2F1495134_me_steve_lopez_3455.JPG 130w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5dc718d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1125x1125+438+0/resize/260x260!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fzbk%2Fdamlat_images%2FLA%2FLA_PHOTO_SELECTS%2F2013_12%2F1495134_me_steve_lopez_3455.JPG 260w" sizes="100vw" width="130" height="130" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bb49775/2147483647/strip/true/crop/1125x1125+438+0/resize/130x130!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fzbk%2Fdamlat_images%2FLA%2FLA_PHOTO_SELECTS%2F2013_12%2F1495134_me_steve_lopez_3455.JPG" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Steve Lopez

Steve Lopez is a California native who has been a Los Angeles Occasions columnist since 2001. He has gained greater than a dozen nationwide journalism awards and is a four-time Pulitzer finalist.

Jennifer is 29. I hadn’t seen her in practically 20 years, after I wrote about her father and visited her house in Inglewood to ship $2,000 donated by readers who learn his story.

Right here’s the again story:

In December of 2005 I obtained a tip a couple of capturing within the entrance yard of an Inglewood house. Two males approached a landscaper and demanded cash. He resisted, and within the tussle that ensued, a shot was fired.

Paramedics rushed the person to the emergency room at UCLA, the place medical doctors decided {that a} bullet had simply missed his coronary heart and was lodged in his chest. Though medical doctors advisable he keep at the very least in a single day for statement, he insisted he felt high quality and wanted to get again to work.

The landscaper, whom I known as Ray, insisted on leaving instantly. As he later defined to me, the Inglewood job was for a consumer who employed him to re-landscape the yard as a Christmas present to his spouse.

Ray was shot on Dec. 23.

<img class="image" alt="Demonstrators at the No Kings event in El Segundo on Saturday, June 14, 2025" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/857b88f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/320x240!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fab3aa9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/568x426!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ea44f1d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/768x576!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/26f5c4b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1024x768!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b1dec09/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1200x900!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="900" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b1dec09/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x3024+0+0/resize/1200x900!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fd5%2F5d%2F46eac2a644f084983713fd717c25%2Fno-kings-lopez-01.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Demonstrators at a “No Kings” occasion at Important Avenue and Imperial Freeway in El Segundo on Saturday.

(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Occasions)

He completed the job by Christmas.

I’ve been eager about Ray since ICE brokers started the crackdown ordered by President Trump, whose administration stated its purpose was to deport 3,000 individuals a day. A whole lot have been arrested within the Trend District, at automotive washes and at constructing provide shops throughout Los Angeles.

That’s led to clashes between regulation enforcement and demonstrators, and to peaceable protests just like the one alongside Imperial Freeway and Important Avenue on Saturday in El Segundo.

I considered Ray as a result of Trump typically speaks of undocumented immigrants as monsters, and little question there are criminals amongst them.

However through the years, practically all my encounters have been with the likes of Ray, who're a vital a part of the workforce.

Sure, there are prices related to undocumented immigrants, however advantages as nicely — they’ve been a vital a part of the California financial system for years. And amongst these keen to rent them — within the fields, within the hospitality business, in slaughterhouses, in healthcare — are avid Trump supporters.

On Friday, I referred to as Ray to see how he was doing.

“I’m fearful about it,” he stated, despite the fact that he has some safety.

<img class="image" alt="Demonstrators at the No Kings event in El Segundo June 14, 2025. " srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f4dee8c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/320x199!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c16aa6a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/568x353!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/5caad40/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/768x477!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0439eb0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/1024x637!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4762e2f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/1200x746!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="746" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/4762e2f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4032x2505+0+0/resize/1200x746!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F1d%2F09%2Fa3d3ec754e0c81417ee3a4fdfef3%2Fno-kings-lopez-02.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> Demonstrators on the “No Kings” occasion in El Segundo increase their indicators, together with one which learn, “Actual males don’t want parades.”

(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Occasions)

A number of years in the past, an immigration lawyer helped him get a allow to work, however the Trump administration has vowed to finish short-term protected authorized standing for sure teams of immigrants.

“I see and listen to about plenty of instances the place they’re not respecting paperwork. Individuals look Latino, they usually get arrested,” stated Ray, who's within the midst of a years-long course of to improve his standing.

Ray remains to be loading instruments onto his truck and driving to landscaping, tree-trimming and irrigation jobs throughout L.A., as he’s finished for greater than 30 years. However he stated he’s being further cautious.

<img class="image" alt="A protester prepares a sign that says Make Democracy Great Again" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/8292c68/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/320x458!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d4fd4ea/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/568x812!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/a47af7f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/768x1098!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/473aed0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/1024x1464!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ca9ec83/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/1200x1716!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="1716" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ca9ec83/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2114x3023+0+0/resize/1200x1716!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fcd%2F18%2Fae79dec441fca0126101a225e1a8%2Fno-kings-lopez-06.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> A protester at a “No Kings” occasion in El Segundo prepares an indication on Saturday.

(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Occasions)

“, like preserving a watch out all over the place and checking my phone to see the place checkpoints are,” he stated.

Ray’s ex-wife has authorized standing, and all three of their youngsters have been born right here and are U.S. residents. The wedding ended and Ray has remarried, however he stays near the three youngsters I met within the spring of 2006, once they have been 9, 10 and 11.

The youthful son, who's disabled, lives with Ray. His older son, a graphic designer, lives close by. Jennifer, a job recruiter, lives subsequent door and has been on edge in latest days.

“Although he has permission to be right here … it’s scary, and I wasn’t even letting him go to work,” Jennifer stated. “On Monday I used to be stepping into the bathe and heard him loading up the truck.”

She ran exterior to cease him, however he was already gone, so she referred to as him and stated, “Oh my God, you shouldn’t be going to work proper now. It’s not protected.”

<img class="image" alt="Demonstrators at the No Kings event in el Segundo June 14, 2025" srcset="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e758768/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/320x223!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg 320w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0c0d96b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/568x396!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg 568w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/72febd5/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/768x536!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg 768w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ef466bb/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/1024x714!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg 1024w,https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2e1c448/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/1200x837!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg 1200w" sizes="100vw" width="1200" height="837" src="https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2e1c448/2147483647/strip/true/crop/2298x1602+0+0/resize/1200x837!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff0%2F82%2F6d189899436485d38bf96272cd36%2Fno-kings-lopez-05.jpg" decoding="async" loading="lazy"/> “No Kings” was the theme of the day throughout an illustration in El Segundo on Saturday.

(Steve Lopez / Los Angeles Occasions)

Jennifer works from house however couldn’t focus that day. She used an app to trace her father’s location and checked the newest info on ICE raids. To date, Ray has made it house safely every day, though Jennifer is hoping he slows down for some time.

Twenty years in the past, after I wrote about Ray getting shot and his insistence on going again to work instantly, one of many readers who donated cash — $1,000 — to him was certainly one of his landscaping purchasers, Rohelle Erde. After I checked in together with her this week to replace her on Ray’s scenario, she stated her total household got here to the U.S. as immigrants to work exhausting and construct a greater life, and Ray did the identical.

“He has been working and earning money and serving to individuals beautify their houses, creating magnificence and order, and this should be so distressing,” Erde stated. “The ugliness and dysfunction are precisely the alternative of what he represents.”

The night earlier than Saturday’s rally in El Segundo, Jennifer informed me why she wished to display:

“To point out my face for many who can’t communicate and to say we’re not all criminals, we’re all sticking collectively, we've got one another’s backs,” she stated. “The lady who takes care of my youngsters is undocumented and he or she’s scared to go away the home. I've plenty of family and friends in the identical boat.”

Jennifer attended together with her son, who’s 9 and informed me he’s afraid his grandfather will likely be arrested and despatched again to Mexico.

“He’s the age I used to be while you met me,” Jennifer stated of her son.

She took within the crowd and stated it was uplifting to see such an enormous and various throng of individuals get up, in peaceable protest, towards authoritarianism and the militarization of the nation.