"She and her mother had been on their way to drop off a jacket at the dry cleaners when they spotted a group of suspicious-looking men, watching intently from down the street. Sánchez-Gordon remembers her heart pounding with dread that the men were there to haul them away for being in the country without papers. Her mother grabbed her and they beelined back to their house. From their hiding place in a closet, they could hear loud knocks on their front door, Sánchez-Gordon recalled."
""Even my housekeeper today said, 'I'm a U.S. citizen, but I'm even afraid to go outside and go to the market, because I've got the 'nopal en la frente,'" she said, pointing to her forehead while using a popular expression for someone who appears to be of Mexican descent. "So my perspective, as an East L.A. girl: I'm horrified, I'm angry.""
Teresa Sánchez-Gordon experienced a childhood immigration raid that instilled persistent fear of deportation. She and her mother hid in a closet while agents knocked on their door and only calmed when her light-skinned father opened it. That early encounter influenced her views and career trajectory. At 74, she leads the Los Angeles Police Commission and will help shape LAPD responses as federal immigration enforcement intensifies. She recognizes that immigrants, including U.S. citizens who appear Latino, fear venturing out even in sanctuary cities. Her perspective reflects horror and anger about racialized enforcement and community fear.
Read at Los Angeles Times
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