Maritza has been street vending in Los Angeles for the past 20 years and is the primary provider for her household of five. While she usually works 14-hour days on weekends, last weekend she only worked a couple of hours. “We couldn’t work because we received alerts that ICE was close by,” she said in Spanish. “Right now I’m scared to go out.”
In the past two weeks Maritza has only earned approximately one-third of what she would usually earn on the weekends. Her family depends on her income to live day-by-day, and she is most concerned about paying for the upcoming month’s rent and providing food for her family. “If I don’t work this weekend we won’t have enough money,” she said. “We don’t have savings to survive this period.”
Maritza’s daughter, 25, completed her undergraduate degree at Brown University and is now studying to be a nurse practitioner. Her son, 23, is studying to be a chef, and works part-time. “If we don’t find the funds, I think my children would have to stop studying to cover at least the basic expenses,” she said. “And for that same reason, they would stop their future.”…