Amilcar, a day laborer, arrived at the Home Depot parking lot in the City of San Fernando last Thursday morning seeking work. It was a routine for him and his primary means of supporting his family.
Despite the alarming news reports of raids sweeping through Los Angeles that began earlier this month, staying home was not an option for the 43-year-old, who is using the name Amilcar for this article and requested to remain anonymous because of his immigration status.
“I’m the only provider for my family because my wife is sick and cannot work,” the father of two explained.
As promised during his campaign, President Trump made massive deportations a top priority for his second term in January. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, border patrol and what could be deputized bounty hunters have been unleashed on LA, indiscriminately detaining people at numerous worksites and other locations.
“Trump promised he would only deport criminals, but now he is targeting immigrants who are here working honestly and contributing to this country,” Amilcar said with a mix of anger and grief in his voice.
Since the start of the raids three weeks ago, the San Fernando Valley seemed to be off the ICE radar for the most part. That changed last week, with June 19 marking the first time immigration agents hit the valley, in what could arguably be the most aggressive raids here in decades. Recent reports indicate the vast majority of those picked up on these raids have no criminal record.
The San Fernando Home Depot, where Amilcar was confronted last Thursday, was among the first sites raided in the valley. Around a dozen people were reported to have been taken away by ICE.
“All those ‘detainees’ are my friends,” said Amilcar, still reeling from his experience of escaping from ICE agents.
A Narrow Escape
It was just another day of potential work for the day laborers, who start congregating at 6 a.m. in the parking lot area every day before the Home Depot opens.
Amilcar seeks work there nearly every day, including weekends.
He said he sat in his parked truck, with the driver’s side door slightly open and a cold water bottle in hand.
Nearly a dozen day laborers were gathered a few feet from the truck.
“Suddenly, someone yelled out, ‘¡Inmigración!’ and ICE agents ran out of vans and surrounded us,” Amilcar recalled.
He immediately thought of his wife and two young sons and told himself, “I cannot be arrested, my family needs me.”
In the middle of the chaos, adrenaline kicked in, and Amilcar instinctively shut his truck door and started the engine.
“I burned rubber looking for an escape route,” he said.
An ICE agent clung to the driver’s side door, attempting to grab and stop him from fleeing. A few seconds later, the officer let go. Amilcar quickly drove to the back of Home Depot, exited the vehicle, and dashed toward a tall metal fence leading to an adjacent building.
“At first I was afraid of climbing the high barrier,” he said.
Catching a glance of the agent still running towards him propelled Amilcar to make his way up the fence. Suddenly, he felt a pair of hands trying to pull him down. In the fierce struggle, his shirt tore apart, allowing him to jump over the fence. The agent was left behind, cursing in frustration, still holding a piece of Amilcar’s shirt.
But the ordeal was far from over. When jumping over the tall fence, Amilcar fell on his left leg and felt an excruciating pain.
“I tried to stand up, but it was hard,” he recalled.
A limping Amilcar made it around a building, he described, nearly fainting from the pain, when a good Samaritan stepped in, gave him a hand and led him to shelter in a nearby structure where he could hide.
“My vision was all blurry, and I almost passed out,” he said. “But I felt safe for the moment.”
A Medical Emergency
After what felt like an eternity because of the throbbing pain in his ankle, Amilcar called some relatives in Sylmar, who eventually picked him up after feeling assured that immigration agents were no longer around.
He was taken to a “sobadora,” a traditional massage healer. Sadly, his ankle required more than a rubdown.
“I was told that I may have a fracture,” he said. “I needed to go to a hospital.”
Amilcar refused to go, afraid that ICE agents were also targeting medical facilities. Instead, he asked to be taken home to his immediate family, who were still unaware of his ordeal that day. The pounding pain in his ankle was so unbearable that Amilcar was crying when he entered his home, overwhelmed physically and emotionally.
“I couldn’t speak because of the pain, fear and worry,” he said. “When they saw me, my family was in shock and they were distressed.”
Three hours later, the pain overpowered his fear of ICE, and Amilcar agreed to go to a hospital. X-rays revealed he suffered a broken ankle that may require surgery.
Waiting for his health insurance to approve the medical procedure, he was sent home with a prescription for a powerful painkiller. However, pharmacies declined to fill his prescription for the tightly controlled drug.
“We had to go back to the hospital and thank goodness we got the meds,” said Amilcar.
Navigating needed care for this medical emergency has been frustrating for Amilcar and his family. One week after his ankle fracture, he is still uncertain about when he might undergo surgery. A doctor’s appointment is scheduled for Friday.
The Road to Recovery
Amilcar and his wife, an undocumented Salvadoran couple, have lived in the United States for two decades, awaiting an immigration amnesty that has yet to materialize. They are now considering hiring an immigration attorney to better prepare themselves for any future encounters with ICE.
Their two sons, aged 14 and 17, are American citizens by birth. The family’s struggles have led the 17-year-old son to become an immigration activist.
“I’m working with a small team to create an App where families can report ICE raids,” he said, going by the pseudonym “May”.
The high school student, who wants to become a computer engineer and takes classes at a local community college, often accompanied his father to the San Fernando Home Depot, helping him with whatever jobs he could get.
“I went there with him Tuesday of last week,” his son explained. “I was supposed to go again with him the day of the raid, but I couldn’t because of college assignments.”
His voice quivered, “I almost lost my dad.”
Now, the family is having more challenges with Amilcar unable to work.
“We don’t have enough for the rent this month,” said Amilcar’s wife, who also asked to remain anonymous.
Worried about the potential costs of medical treatment and the months-long rehabilitation that may follow due to Amilcar’s injury, they’ve set up a GoFundMe page to assist with the expenses. As of the latest update, the campaign had raised just over $2,000 in five days.
To donate to the “Help Amilcar Recover & Pay Rent After ICE-Related Injury” GoFundMe visit:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/Help-Amilcar-Recover-After-ICE-Related-Injury
Semantha Raquel Norris contributed to this article.