How L.A. Fruit Vendors Became Targets for ICE

"I watched a fruit vendor standing under his rainbow-stripe umbrella on a sidewalk outside a Home Depot in Cypress Park, Los Angeles; he asked “What are you feeling like right now?”—offering Tajín, lime and chamoy—and set to work carving honeydew into wedges, fresh coconut into crescents and watermelon into cubes, seasoning everything with shakes of Tajín and splashes of lime before scooping it into a plastic cup sealed with a sturdy plastic fork tied into the knot of the bag. It was surprising he was back at all because a few days earlier an immigration raid led by masked men with assault rifles had swept through the parking lot, other fruit vendors had left everything behind, and I was told vendors now use a group text to warn each other; arrests by immigration authorities continue, including at the Home Depot in Cypress Park." - Hugh Merwin