Before, during and after, the safety of the participants and the public in the celebration of the 79 Festival and Annual Parade of Independence of Mexico in Los Angeles was armored.
The fear that agents of the Customs Immigration and Control Service (ICE) would have been presented to break the celebration, forced the board of the Mexican Patriotic Civic Committee to hire 50 private security elements, who were deployed along the parade route, from Mednik and César A. Chávez avenues to Gage Avenue, in the east of Los Angeles.
The security of the people joined elements of the California road patrol and sheriffs of the Los Angeles County, knowing the aggressive rays and the application of the racial profile in the detention and arrest of immigrants, mostly of Latin origin (Mexican) under the second administration of President Donald Trump.
“It was risky and complicated to continue with the organization of the parade because people are definitely afraid no longer want to leave,” said José Duarte, a member of the Mexican Patriotic Civic Committee.
Duarte revealed that, in common agreement with the Mexico Consulate and authorities such as Mayor Karen Bass and the head of the Los Angeles Police Department, (LAPD), Jim McDonnell decided to reactivate the celebration, just as it happened in Chicago.
“The sheriff [Robert Luna] He confirmed that he would put extra security in the surrounding streets to notify any situation ”, in case there was ICE presence at the festival and parade.
The Great Marshal of the Parade, José M. Hernández Engineer and Astronaut Mexico and son of Julia Moreno and Salvador Hernández, Mexican immigrants from the town of Ticuitaco, in La Piedad, Michoacán, stressed that in the United States “a rare atmosphere” is being lived in the United States.
“But, like the pendulum of a clock that moves to one side and for another, in three and a half years the situation will change,” he explained.
Mayor Karen Bass, mounted in a classic car, next to the city’s lawyer, Hydee Feldstein Soto, celebrated with the Mexican community.
“It is a pride to participate in the 79th parade of the Independence Day of Mexico of Eastern Los Angeles, one of the most emblematic celebrations of Los Angeles,” said Mayor Bass in her X account.
“It is an honor to accompany the Mexican Patriotic Civic Committee and our East Community in our celebration of culture, history and unity.”
The lawyer Soto highlighted the strength and determination with which the community is facing these difficult moments in the migratory issue.
“We are resistant with hope, with strength and determination. The residents of the city of Los Angeles are entitled to constitutional protections,” said Soto. “In my office and that of the mayor we are fighting for that.”
He added that he would not send any message to the administration of President Donald Trump for the fear he has caused among the immigrant community.
“I have no message for a person who does not know what the Constitution and the laws of our country are,” he said.
Francisco Moreno, president of the Council of Mexican Federations in North America (COFEM), emphasized the importance of resistance during the next three years of the presidency of Donald Trump and the political participation of US citizens of Latin origin.
“For the year entering, the Latin vote and particularly that of young people will be very important,” said Moreno, who announced that for the remainder of the year and continuously, the organization and Mexican clubs will work with families to put together an action plan in case someone is arrested by ICE agents.
He added that, “for better or worse,” people who have died from the violent direct or indirect actions of the hooded immigration agents, “are migrant heroes.”
“They are human beings who came to the United States. They were not grabbed by committing them, or stealing or selling drugs. No. they grabbed them working and scared them to find violent deaths,” he added.
Three deaths of immigrants and amputations in encounters with ICE
Jaime Alanís García, an agricultural worker He died after falling 30 feet from the ceiling of a cannabis farm in Camarillo, California, while trying to escape a migratory raid in July 2025.
The second death related to the application of immigration laws occurred on August 14 when Carlos Roberto Montoya, 59, He died in the city of Monrovia.
The Guatemalan immigrant was overwhelmed on the 210 highway while fleeing an ICE operation at the Home Depot store.
The most recent mortal tragedy was that of the immigrant of Michoacán, Silverio Villegas-González whom an ICE agent shot him and killed him
Supposedly, Villegas González resisted the arrest on September 12 and dragged an ICE agent with his vehicle during a vehicular stop in Chicago.
The National Security Department (DHS) did not reveal the identity of the alleged injured agent or announced the seriousness of his injuries and the official version indicates that the immigrant led his car to the agents, running over one of them and dragging him a “significant distance.”