"The televised raids in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles, in the sanctuary state of California, staged a spectacle, staged for terror, staged to humiliate democratic leaders in their strongholds. As seen on my phone, videos of their protester-beating Gestapo theater had left me in a cold sweat. I wanted to talk to the undocumented. I wanted to hear their account of things. It had been a near-miss in San Francisco, with ICE convoys turned back from the City just days before their expected arrival."
"It was an independently owned diner off the interstate-the kind one could find anywhere in America. And it served, for the most part, working-class whites. The walls of the place were lined with '40s and '50s memorabilia and fading family photos. It served nostalgia with its pancakes-nostalgia for an America where, fresh from our great moral victory over the Nazis, we found ourselves the leader of the free world. It was, perhaps, America's great moment."
A handler functioned as a friend-of-a-friend conduit of trust and required testing before introducing newcomers to undocumented workers. Informants made the handler's work more dangerous and increased secrecy. Televised ICE raids in Los Angeles, California were described as staged spectacles meant to terrorize and humiliate democratic strongholds. Video footage showed protesters beaten and created widespread fear. ICE convoys nearly entered San Francisco but were turned back days before expected arrival. The handler arranged to meet at an interstate diner frequented by working-class patrons, turned off the reporter's recorder, and began to tell his story.
Read at East Bay Express | Oakland, Berkeley & Alameda
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