Iris Delgado started the Huntington Park Run Club two years ago in her largely Latino suburb in the Los Angeles area to provide runners a way to connect to their community
LOS ANGELES -- Iris Delgado started a running club in her largely Latino, Los Angeles suburb two years ago to connect runners and advocate for safety measures like crosswalks and designated bike lanes.
Now, with the Trump administration's immigration raids rocking Huntington Park, the groups motto of keeping each other safe has taken on even greater meaning.
The Huntington Park Run Club's Instagram carries posts warning of federal immigration agent sightings. A bike marshal accompanies every meet-up, zipping past the runners on his electric bike to ensure everyone is accounted for and feeling good. Since the raids ramped up this summer, Delgado also brings flyers and cards to each run informing people and local businesses of their rights.
Less than a mile north of her route is a Home Depot whose parking lot has been hit multiple times by immigration raids, causing the next door high school to go into lockdown during its graduation ceremony in June. A few blocks south is the home where a woman and her two children were sleeping when federal agents used explosives that blasted the door off and shattered windows. They were looking for a man who was wanted for allegedly ramming his car into a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol vehicle during a protest. The case has since been dismissed.
Amidst it all, the Huntington Park Run Club runs on, trying to protect and reclaim the streets the runners call home.
Evelyn Romo, 25, who joined the club after she returned home from college, said just going out to run now makes a statement in the community.
Continuing to take up space even in the form of running in these streets is a form of protest, is a form of resistance, she said.
The club has never canceled a run. Its important to maintain a space for people to come and decompress, and feel safe, Delgado said.
Delgado runs twice a week with her group. On a recent Wednesday, she led around 30 runners in warm-up stretches, and then they were off, streaming ahead of and behind her, their feet striking the pavement in quick succession. The groups members range from as young as 11 to people in their 60s and 70s.
Delgado said her clubs members reflect the larger community and that they do not share the immigration status of participants.
The Trump administrations focus on arresting people suspected of living in the country illegally has transformed life for tens of thousands of people in Los Angeles County, the nations most populous county. About a third of the countys 10 million residents are foreign-born, and an untold number of people are now trying to live without being seen.
Huntington Park, along with several other cities in the region, canceled its Fourth of July celebration and summer movie nights as families stayed home due to safety concerns.
U.S. citizens and other legal residents have been swept up in raids. The Supreme Court recently lifted temporary restrictions from a judge who found that roving patrols were conducting indiscriminate stops in and around LA. The order had barred immigration agents from stopping people solely based on their race, language, job or location.
Marco Padilla, 18, joined the club a week after it began two years ago.
Padilla, who was born and raised in Huntington Park, said everyone in the community has felt the effects of the raids, regardless of their immigration status. Some of his friends parents have been worried about letting them hang out in public places like the park, and others have told him it's too dangerous to be running by immigration hot spots.
He recalled the morning of his high school senior breakfast, when he and his friends heard yelling and screaming as armed immigration officers ran past just beyond the school's gates.
Some people have chosen to be hidden ... but ironically for our group, we have actually decided to do the opposite, he said.
The club has held several fundraisers for a community fund, raising about $8,000 to date to support day laborers at Home Depot stores, which have long been informal job-seeking hubs for workers in the country both legally and illegally. Now the locations have become a prime target for immigration agents .
Being part of the community, the runners have a responsibility to alert people to the raids and document them with their phones, Delgado said. The club has hosted trainings on how to do that safely and informs runners who to call if they see something. Some club members said theyve witnessed raids while running on their own, and quickly let Delgado know or messaged their group chat.
Our main community value is to keep each other safe and look out for each other," Delgado said. That agreement is part of our culture at this point.
两年前,艾瑞斯·德尔加多在洛杉矶地区以拉丁裔居民为主的亨廷顿公园郊区创立了跑步俱乐部,旨在为跑者提供一个与社区建立联系的平台。
洛杉矶——两年前,艾里斯·德尔加多在她居住的以拉丁裔为主的洛杉矶郊区创办了一个跑步俱乐部,旨在联系跑者,并倡导增设人行横道和专用自行车道等安全措施。
如今,随着特朗普政府的移民突袭行动震撼亨廷顿公园市,该组织“守护彼此安全”的座右铭被赋予了更深刻的意义。
亨廷顿公园跑步俱乐部的Instagram上发布着警示联邦移民执法人员出现的帖子。每次聚会都有一名自行车领队陪同,他骑着电动自行车穿梭在跑者之间,确保每个人都到场且状态良好。自今年夏天突袭行动加剧以来,德尔加多(Delgado)还会在每次跑步时携带传单和卡片,向人们和当地商家普及他们的权利。
距离她的路线不到一英里的北边,有一家家居建材零售商家得宝(Home Depot),其停车场曾多次遭遇移民局突袭搜查,导致隔壁高中在六月的毕业典礼上被迫封锁。往南几个街区的一处住宅中,一名妇女和她的两个孩子正在睡觉时,联邦探员使用炸药炸飞了房门并震碎了窗户。他们当时在搜捕一名男子,此人被指控在一次抗议活动中驾车冲撞美国海关及边境保护局的车辆。该案现已被撤销。
在这一切之中,亨廷顿公园跑步俱乐部仍在坚持奔跑,努力保护和夺回跑者们称之为家园的街道。
25岁的伊芙琳·罗莫大学毕业后返乡加入该俱乐部,她表示如今仅仅是外出跑步这一行为,就足以在社区中传递某种态度。
她表示:“即便以在这些街道上奔跑的形式持续占据空间,也是一种抗议,一种反抗。”
德尔加多表示,该俱乐部从未取消过跑步活动。维持一个让人们前来放松身心并感到安全的场所至关重要。
德尔加多每周与她的跑团训练两次。在最近的一个周三,她带领约30名跑者进行热身拉伸,随后队伍出发,跑者们前后簇拥着她前行,脚步声在路面上快速接连响起。该跑团成员年龄跨度从11岁的少年到六七十岁的长者不等。
德尔加多表示,她所在俱乐部的成员构成反映了更广泛的社区群体特征,且他们不会透露参与者的移民身份信息。
特朗普政府将重点放在逮捕涉嫌非法居留者上,这改变了洛杉矶县数万居民的生活。作为美国人口最多的县,洛杉矶约有三分之一的1000万居民出生在国外,如今还有不计其数的人正试图隐匿生活。
出于安全考虑,许多家庭选择留在家中。亨廷顿公园及该地区其他几个城市因此取消了独立日庆祝活动和夏季电影之夜。
美国公民及其他合法居民在此次突击行动中亦遭波及。最高法院近日撤销了一位法官此前实施的临时限制令,该法官发现流动巡逻队在洛杉矶及周边地区进行无差别拦截。原禁令禁止移民官员仅以种族、语言、职业或所处位置为由拦截人员。
18岁的马可·帕迪利亚在该俱乐部成立两周后加入,至今已有两年。
在亨廷顿公园出生长大的帕迪利亚表示,无论移民身份如何,社区中的每个人都感受到了突击搜查的影响。他一些朋友的父母一直担心让他们去公园等公共场所玩耍,还有人告诉他,在移民'热点地区'附近活动太危险了。
他回忆起高中毕业早餐会的那天早晨,当时他和朋友们听到校门外传来叫喊声和尖叫声,全副武装的移民官员从校门口疾驰而过。
他说:“有些人选择隐匿行踪……但讽刺的是,我们团队却反其道而行之。”
该俱乐部已为社区基金举办多场募捐活动,迄今筹集约8000美元,用于支持家得宝门店的日结工人。这些门店长期以来一直是该国合法及非法务工人员的非正式求职集散地,如今却成为移民执法人员的重点巡查目标。
德尔加多(Delgado)表示,作为社区的一员,跑者们有责任提醒人们注意突袭行动,并用手机记录下这些事件。该俱乐部已就如何安全地进行此类行动举办了培训,并告知跑者在发现情况时应联系谁。一些俱乐部成员表示,他们在独自跑步时曾目睹突袭事件,并迅速通知了德尔加多或在群聊中发送了消息。
德尔加多表示:“我们社区的核心价值观是相互保护、彼此关照。这种共识如今已成为我们文化的一部分。”
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