The metropolis of Long Beach has canceled its annual Día de los Muertos parade, citing considerations raised by neighborhood members about federal immigration operations.
The city-sponsored parade is normally held in early November and attracts massive crowds to Long Beach.
Even although the town isn’t conscious of federal enforcement exercise focusing on the parade, the choice was made “out of an abundance of warning” as a result of it’s “a big and really public out of doors occasion,” mentioned Long Beach spokesperson Kevin Lee.
Long Beach City Councilmember Mary Zendejas had requested the cancellation, Lee mentioned.
“This choice didn’t come flippantly,” each Zendejas and the town mentioned in statements. The choice addresses “real fears raised by neighborhood members, particularly those that could face the potential for sudden and indiscriminate federal enforcement actions that undermine the sense of safety essential to take part totally in public life.”
The Arte y Ofrendas Festival, a separate ticketed occasion organized by an out of doors vendor and held at Rainbow Lagoon Park, additionally has been canceled this 12 months. The pageant sometimes coincides with the city-sponsored parade and is held the place the parade ends its route, thus drawing parade attendees.
Roberto Carlos Lemus, a marketer who introduced meals vans and different distributors to the pageant final 12 months, known as the cancellation “very unhappy.”
“Everyone’s very unhappy concerning the state of affairs. Día de los Muertos has been one of many largest celebrations for a really very long time, and the town has finished an amazing job placing it on,” Lemus instructed The Times on Sunday. “Unfortunately with Latinos being kidnapped and attacked by ICE and the present administration, I do perceive why they made the choice that they made.”
Lemus mentioned some native companies have been nervous about financial fallout of the pageant and parade cancellation in addition to the potential results of raids on Latino Restaurant Week in Long Beach, an occasion he co-founded that’s set to start Sept. 22.
“They are afraid,” he mentioned. “Overall, it impacts all people.”
Immigration raids have swept Southern California in current months, with hundreds of individuals detained by federal brokers. A brand new Supreme Court ruling has cleared the way in which for U.S. immigration brokers to cease and detain folks in Southern California whom they suspect of being within the U.S. illegally, even when their suspicion is solely primarily based on the kind of job they maintain, the language they converse or their look.
The ruling has bolstered fears that individuals with brown pores and skin and Spanish audio system can be focused — particularly going into nationwide Hispanic Heritage Month, which begins Monday — and was met with outrage by immigration rights attorneys and native leaders.
At its assembly Tuesday, the Long Beach City Council authorised a movement to push unspent funds allotted for this 12 months’s parade to subsequent 12 months’s finances, guaranteeing $100,000 can be accessible for the 2026 parade.
The council additionally added $600,000 to the Long Beach Justice Fund, which supplies authorized illustration to residents who face immigration actions, bringing the finances accessible for the fund to $1.85 million. The fund ensures residents have entry to “sources essential to safeguard their constitutional rights, uphold due course of protections, and protect household unity,” in accordance with the movement.
Some Southern California occasions have proceeded as scheduled regardless of comparable fears.
East L.A.’s 79th annual Mexican Independence Day parade held on Sunday appeared to attract smaller crowds than ordinary, however many mentioned they felt a way of satisfaction and obligation to attend regardless of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
“We’re right here and we’re going to proceed preventing for our rights and for others who can’t battle for themselves,” Samantha Robles, 21, instructed The Times as she watched the parade roll by.
