Vigil honors man who died whereas fleeing SoCal House Depot immigration raid

Tons of of individuals gathered in Monrovia Friday night time at a vigil for Carlos Roberto Montoya, who was struck and killed by an SUV after operating onto the 210 Freeway whereas attempting to flee U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers this week.

The vigil, held on the House Depot that was the placement of Thursday’s raid, was organized by Monrovia Excessive Faculty College students In opposition to Fascism, with help from the Los Angeles Chapter of the Social gathering for Socialism and Liberation.

Eduardo Vargas, a neighborhood organizer for PSL, stated the 2 teams began planning the vigil, in addition to a rally that was held Thursday, as soon as they heard that Montoya had died.

“The neighborhood responds first,” he stated. “The neighborhood comes with their bullhorns. They arrive with their sound gear. They arrive with their posters, so it’s actually simply speaking to one another and getting stuff completed.”

Audio system at Friday’s vigil included spiritual leaders, academics, highschool college students and politicians.

Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park) stated Montoya, a Guatemalan nationwide, had lived in america for 3 years, and labored as a day laborer. He had 4 daughters and grandchildren, she stated.

“Make no mistake, his dying is a direct results of the Trump administration’s technique of sowing worry and intimidation all through our neighborhood,” she stated. “It’s designed to instill worry, so that individuals will danger something, even their lives, to flee it.”

In an announcement beforehand emailed to The Occasions, the Division of Homeland Safety stated that “the person was not being pursued by any DHS regulation enforcement” and that the company was not conscious of his dying on the freeway till hours after operations within the space had concluded.

The vigil started with a silent stroll to a memorial arrange close to the exit of the House Depot, simply throughout from the doorway of the 210 Freeway, the place Montoya died. Attendees prayed each silently and aloud, and plenty of laid flowers on the memorial.

On the stroll again to a stage arrange for the vigil, the group chanted “ICE out of Monrovia!” as vehicles driving by sounded their horns in assist.

Some weren’t so supportive, nonetheless. On the stroll to the memorial, an indignant driver seemingly acquired into an argument with an attendee, and drove by way of the trail of the group, eliciting shrieks from the group. Nobody was injured, and an organizer shouted to the group to brush it off.

Whereas state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena) spoke, an individual within the crowd appeared to talk critically in response. The individual left after the group chanted “You’ve got to go!”

“I need to simply remind you all, as we’re doing this advocacy, as we’re combating for our neighbors, that we’re gonna run into naysayers,” Perez stated after the individual left. “However us sticking collectively as [a] neighborhood is what will make the distinction. As a result of there’s extra of us, than there’s them.”

Kinfolk and mates of Montoya who took the stage described him as a contented man who got here to america searching for work to assist his household.

“He got here right here to work arduous. My uncle was not a prison,” his niece, Mariela, stated by way of a translator. “He needed what quite a bit us needed: a greater life.”

Politicians, spiritual leaders and neighborhood organizers spoke at Friday’s occasion, which placed on by Monrovia Excessive Faculty College students In opposition to Fascism with help from the Los Angeles chapter of the Social gathering for Socialism and Liberation.

(Annie Goodykoontz / Los Angeles Occasions)

Elsewhere in Southern California, immigration enforcement continued.

Adelina de Perez, 67, spoke by way of sobs Friday morning after a swarm of masked brokers descended on a small road close to a Van Nuys House Depot and took her daughter.

She stated her daughter, Yenni Perez Quinilla, 38, bought tamales on Balboa Place.

Immigration advocates hovered round de Perez, attempting to consolation her as she used a cellphone to rearrange look after her grandchildren — her daughter’s kids. She used the sleeve of her black sweater to wipe away tears.

“I’m very indignant, I’m very upset,” stated de Perez, who’s from Guatemala. “My daughter is a single mom, that is her solely revenue.”

Quinilla, who lives in North Hollywood, has labored on the block for a number of years, and has three kids — ages 15, 17, and 18 — in line with her mom.

De Perez stated that brokers introduced paperwork once they picked up her daughter from her tamale stand on Friday.

A spokesperson for the Division of Homeland Safety didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.

Federal brokers raided the realm across the Van Nuys House Depot twice final week earlier than returning this morning, witnesses stated.

Witnesses stated brokers pulled as much as Balboa Place Friday morning in a line of vehicles. Bystanders blew whistles, yelled and honked their horns on the brokers.

Video shot by one witness that was seen by The Occasions confirmed closely armed and masked males sporting brown camouflage, with the phrase POLICE on their chests.