On a muggy Wednesday morning, Leah Bachar, a member of the Community Self-Defense Coalition, walked her route around three schools in Westlake — a neighborhood at the epicenter of recent immigration raids. Her task: observe children arriving at school via the bus or their parents’ cars and walking into the safety of their school building.
“Once we see that the children have entered and then the gates have closed and parents have dispersed, we’re able to say, ‘Okay, at least the school day can continue for now without any issues,” Bachar said.
During the patrol, she wore a safety vest with yellow-and-silver stripes on it. The back was emblazoned with the words “¡Educación Sí! ¡Migra No!” and an illustration of a student holding onto an adult as they ride on the back of a bird carrying a pencil in its claws…