The Brief

Sithy Yi fled genocide in Cambodia and came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1981. She was detained earlier this month at a regular immigration check-in in Santa Ana, and her lawyer, Kim Luu-Ng, says Yi is being held unlawfully at the Adelanto detention center.

Luu-Ng said Yi was ordered by an immigration court to be removed from the country in 2016, but her removal was withheld out of concerns she would be tortured if she returned to Cambodia.

After 10 years complying with ICE instructions and initiating a still-pending visa application, Luu-Ng claims that federal immigration officials detained Yi two weeks ago as a form of punishment and to instill fear in immigrant communities.

Yi is one of potentially hundreds of people with pending visa applications meant to protect victims of crime or human trafficking whose status has been abruptly put at risk by immigration policy changes ordered by the Trump administration, Luu-Ng and other immigration attorneys told LAist.

Yi cannot be deported back to Cambodia, her attorney said. Luu-Ng said immigration officials have not told her where Yi might be deported to and says her detention is unconstitutional and inhumane without a plan of where to send her. Luu-Ng has filed a petition in federal court arguing for Yi to be released from detention.  Federal officials have not yet responded in court.

”I think this case asks a very simple question,” Luu-Ng said. “Can the government jail someone when it has no real plan to deport them?

“The Constitution says no."

ICE has not responded to LAist’s request for comment on this story.

Escaping violence

Sithea San, Yi’s sister, remembers the day her family was forced to leave their home.

According to her recollection, the Khmer Rouge approached them at gunpoint April 17, 1975, saying they had to leave before American forces were expected to bomb their city, Phnom Penh.

The Khmer Rouge was a Communist regime that brutally tortured, murdered and starved more than a million Cambodians in the 1970s. A United Nations-assisted tribunal began investigations in 2007 and found surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge guilty of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

The family left that day thinking they would be gone for only three days. Their horrific experience would last years, until they arrived in the U.S. as refugees in 1981.

Sithea San recounted how Yi, the eldest sister who was just 9 years old when they left their home, used to steal food to keep her family alive in Cambodia.

After getting caught stealing by the Khmer Rouge several times, San said her sister was given a final warning: If she got caught again they would kill her entire family. They led Yi to a place where they said she, her mother and two sisters would all be buried.

Yi was subjected to forced labor and torture at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, which she later described to Luu-Ng in 2016 as she fought in immigration court to be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Yi still carries scars from where guards would burn her with cigarettes, Luu-Ng told LAist. She said Yi has other scars that lie deeper.

Safe from the Khmer Rouge, troubles continue in the US

San said her family came to the U.S. in 1981, sponsored by her uncle. They arrived in California with just $10.

Yi’s mother and sisters had all become U.S. citizens by 1990, San told LAist, but Yi’s path to legal residency was more complicated.

San said their family did not understand it at the time, but Yi suffered from PTSD. She began to have seizures after they escaped Cambodia, which often prevented her from going to school once they arrived in the U.S.

Yi was also bullied at school, leading her to drop out, her sister said.

Far from Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge, she again became a victim of abuse. Yi fell into a cycle of domestic violence, Luu-Ng told LAist, and she was severely abused by multiple partners over the years.

In 2011, Yi was convicted on drug charges and sentenced to probation. The abuse she faced at home continued and after being so severely beaten by her partner that she could not walk, Luu-Ng said, Yi missed one of her probation appointments.

She said that probation violation led to about a year in state prison, and from there Yi was transferred to ICE custody for removal proceedings.

Protections for victims of torture

Luu-Ng began working under a United Nations grant to help survivors of torture in immigration proceedings in 2009, and first met Yi in 2013.

She had talked with survivors of torture camps in Germany, Poland, Afghanistan and many other countries, but the story of what Yi and her family went through still left her shocked.

“ I've spoken to a lot of survivors of torture,” Luu-Ng told LAist. “Sithy’s story impacted me very, very deeply.”

Luu-Ng took on her case and argued in immigration court that Yi fell under protections granted by the United Nations Convention Against Torture — commonly known as CAT — banning anyone from being deported to countries where they will most likely be tortured.

The judge presiding over a 2016 hearing agreed.

“ We literally walked out of court within 30 minutes,” Luu-Ng said, “even the government counsel acknowledged the grave humanitarian concerns with this case.”

LAist reached out to ICE and an attorney who represented the agency, but they did not comment on the case.

Luu-Ng said Yi is not eligible for asylum status because of her conviction, but she has never heard of anyone being deported after receiving CAT protection.

“ Individuals who receive CAT withholding typically are allowed to live out the rest of their lives in the United States with a work permit,” she told LAist.

Even so, Luu-Ng said Yi also applied for a U visa in 2022 to further protect her from being deported. U visas are intended to give temporary immigration status to crime victims who have cooperated with law enforcement. Luu-Ng said Yi did cooperate with law enforcement in a case against one of her abusers and should qualify for a U visa, but she said they can take eight to ten years to be granted in some cases. She is still waiting for a decision on whether Yi’s visa will be approved.

A policy change puts Yi’s future at risk

The Immigration Center for Women and Children (ICWC) and other immigrant rights organizations sued the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, in October of last year over new immigration enforcement policies on how immigration agents treat victims of abuse or human trafficking.

The group claims in court documents that the new policy “has allowed, for the first time in decades, the detention and removal of survivors of these violent crimes as a routine matter, without regard for the many protections Congress put in place for them.”

Erika Cervantes, a staff attorney for The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, is part of the legal team representing ICWC in the case. She told LAist that until early 2025 there was a presumption that victims who came forward to help law enforcement would be protected.

She said that U visas and T visas — another type of visa for victims of human trafficking — have strengthened law enforcement by allowing victims to be comfortable coming forward and telling police about their abuse without risk of being deported.

Then, in January, President Trump issued an executive order calling for the “total and efficient” enforcement of immigration laws. ICE shortly followed with a memo that removed previous requirements for agents to identify whether their targets are victims of crimes that might qualify them for protections against deportation.

Cervantes said the memo also cuts protections that had been in place for victims who are waiting for their U and T visas to be approved. Attorneys for ICE previously had been instructed to not seek deportation of U and T visa applicants unless there were “exceptional or exigent circumstances,” according to the new ICE memo, but Cervantes said the new memo removes the presumption that victims would be protected.

“ [The memo] essentially green lights targeting this vulnerable community who went out of their way to share their story, go through this visa process,” Cervantes said. “There’s an about face, and now they’re being put behind bars.”

Cervantes said the ICE memo has affected hundreds of people, and ICWC is asking a federal judge to set aside the policy changes.

“ We're trying to challenge the administration's attempt to criminalize victims,” she told LAist.

Detained by ICE

Yi’s detention on Jan. 8 came as a complete surprise.

According to her sister, Sithea San, she had helped the government when she came forward as a victim and always went to her monthly check-ins with ICE.

“ She complied with every single thing that the government asked her to do,” San told LAist.

In November, two months before her detention, Luu-Ng and San went with Yi for her check-in with ICE. Luu-Ng said they were concerned at that time that Yi could be detained because they saw reports of other people being taken from their families during check-ins.

After discussing Yi’s case with Luu-Ng, the immigration officials at the Santa Ana facility said she would need to start wearing an ankle monitor, but she was free to go home. Luu-Ng recalled one official telling her that as long as Yi didn’t tamper with the ankle monitor or violate any conditions of her electronic monitoring, ICE would not detain her.

“We went out and everyone was in tears, relieved,” Luu-Ng said.

Yi continued to check in, and Luu-Ng thought she would be fine because she was following ICE’s instructions. The next two months Yi went to her check-ins without a lawyer, but her sister still came along.

At her January check-in, San said they saw people crying in the waiting area. She said Yi approached them and tried to comfort them.

Then after waiting about an hour, ICE called Yi into a back room, alone.

Yi can’t read in English, San said, and sometimes she struggles to understand when people talk to her. San wanted to accompany her sister to be sure she understood any questions she might be asked.

Instead, she was stopped at the door.

“ And then I heard the sound . . . the handcuffs,” San said. “And that moment I feel like, am I dreaming? Is this real?”

San said she told the ICE agents that her sister had CAT protections and a pending U visa application, which she showed them. She said they told her it didn’t matter.

When San was later able to visit her sister in detention, she said Yi told her the ICE agents tried to coerce her to sign legal documents she couldn’t understand and threatened that things would get worse for her if she refused.

She said Yi didn’t sign the documents.

“So unfair”

Yi would not be in this situation under any other administration, said Mariko Kahn, who is on the board of the nonprofit organization Cambodia Town, where she met Yi about 15 years ago.

“ Things would've been taken care of years ago and she certainly would not have had to be corralled at her check-in,” Kahn said. “I mean, that's so unfair.”

Kahn said Yi has been a consistent volunteer with Cambodia Town, which serves the largest Cambodian community outside Cambodia itself.

Kahn had heard about some of Yi’s background over the years, and she learned that Yi had first found counseling when she was in prison. Having a background as a mental health professional, Kahn said she was amazed to see Yi’s improvement.

“ I think it shows a lot of character and integrity that she could, given all that she had suffered, actually get better,” Kahn said.

Yi has also been a mainstay with the Cambodia Town Parade. Kahn said Yi had led a group of up to 30 women in the parade’s “Stop the Hate” event for the past three years.

Sithea San said Yi planned on coming to her house on Jan. 8 to work on the choreography for this year’s parade after they went to check in with ICE.

Fear in local communities

Manju Kulkarni is the executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, and she says people being detained by masked agents in the streets and others being held at their immigration appointments reminds some in Southeast Asian communities of the governments their families once fled.

Federal agents have repeatedly detained people at scheduled immigration check-ins over recent months, including Eaton Fire survivor Masuma Khan, 60-year San Diego resident Kazem Majd and dozens of others across California.

“ Communities that are made up often of refugees who escaped an American war in Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam . . . are faced with the familiar terror,” Kulkarni told LAist. “Terror from which they thought they had escaped.”

Kulkarni and Luu-Ng told LAist they are deeply concerned that if Yi is deported to a third-country, she will then be sent by that country back to Cambodia despite an immigration judge already acknowledging she would most likely be tortured.

Reuters found that 22 people who were deported to Ghana as a third-country were then sent to their country of origin last year, despite court orders in the U.S meant to prevent that from happening.

For now, Luu-Ng is focused on getting Yi out of detention.

When San visited her sister at the Adelanto detention center on Jan. 18, Yi said she’d just had a nightmare, with scenes from her time under the oppression of the Khmer Rouge.

She told San being detained reminds her of those times, and she tries to keep her mind on other things.

“Remember during the Khmer Rouge,” San told Yi. “You know what we do. We need to have hope.”

Yi told her sister she had been trying to fill her time by teaching the other detainees how to do traditional Cambodian dances.

“How do you do it? How do you get the music?” San recalled asking Yi.

“She said she just sings.”

Conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center have improved, but serious concerns remain, according to Rep. Robert Garcia, who represents Long Beach, and other members of Congress who visited the facility Friday.

At a news conference immediately following the visit, the representatives described unsanitary conditions in the showers and kitchen areas, food that looked inedible and inadequate access to medical care.

Improvements to water

Rep. Norma Torres of Pomona, who has visited Adelanto 25 times in an oversight capacity, said the only improvement she saw this time was that the facility installed water filtration systems in response to a July court order requiring ICE to ensure people held there have access to clean drinking water 24 hours a day.

Garcia told LAist he would leave it up to the independent monitors appointed by the court to determine if the facility was fully complying with the order. The monitor overseeing overall conditions at the facility released its first report, containing 12 recommendations for improvement, earlier this month. The federal government recently purchased the facility from the GEO Group Inc. for $950 million. GEO Group is still under contract to run day-to-day operations there.

The visit was unannounced

Garcia, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said officials at the facility kept the delegation waiting in the lobby for half an hour before starting the tour, despite a recent court order requiring the Trump administration to grant elected officials access to immigration detention facilities.

“We should have been allowed to visit immediately,” Garcia said. “That is the law.”

Garcia and other representatives said it appeared the facility had been cleaned just before the tour started. The representatives also said they were not allowed to speak with people detained at the facility because ICE officials said they were conducting a point-in-time count and people were confined to their cells.

What’s next?

The representatives said they will take recommendations back to the oversight committee and plan to continue unannounced visits to immigration detention centers, including Adelanto. Should Democrats take control of the House of Representatives in November, Garcia and other representatives said they will increase oversight of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement. Attorneys representing people held at Adelanto in a class-action lawsuit have asked the court to enforce the July order requiring improvements to the facility based on the independent monitor’s first report and reports from people detained there.

In a rare move, Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia on Friday said his office issued a subpoena to Olympics organizing committee LA28, demanding it hand over documents detailing its finances, contracts and budgets for venue construction projects.

The action comes after LA28 failed to include a detailed list of its contracts in its recent budget report to the city, despite a contract requiring their disclosure.

The Games Agreement between the city and LA28 requires the committee to submit the name, type, amount, term and purpose of each contract it has entered into worth more than $1 million. It also requires the organizing committee to give updates on venue improvements, including schedules and budgets.

The controller issued a request for those details in a letter to LA28 in August, but said he turned to legal action because the organization still hasn’t satisfied its obligations. The city of Los Angeles is the financial backstop for the Games, and will be on the hook for cost overruns if LA28 doesn’t turn a profit.

“The Controller’s Office completed a review of all LA28 documents within the City’s possession and determined that the financial documents requested are either incomplete or wholly absent,” Mejia’s office wrote in a news release issued Friday.

The controller's office told LAist Friday that it worked with the city attorney on the LA28 subpoena and that it "has the full support and backing of the City Attorney’s office."

LA28 did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

There is precedent for city controllers issuing subpoenas, but they’re not common.

Former City Controller Ron Galperin told LAist that he only issued a subpoena while he was in office one time.

“It’s a power that controllers don’t necessarily exercise a lot, but when it’s the right time, it’s an important tool,” he said.

City officials have seen some of the documents Mejia is demanding, but only in passing. Sharon Tso, Chief Legislative Analyst and a top Games negotiator for the city, told a city council committee last month that she had seen a list of LA28's contracts in a meeting, but that the city didn't have hard copies due to concerns that public disclosure could harm negotiations sponsor deals.

After city councilmembers demanded to see the contracts, Tso and City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo requested LA28 submit its contracts. Tso told LAist in an email Friday that they were still waiting on LA28's response.

LAist has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated. For the most up-to-date information about the fire you can check:

• CalFire incident page
• Evacuation map
• OC Fire Authority
  

Six homes burned in the Norte Fire, which broke out Friday in the San Clemente and San Juan Capistrano areas. The fire spread to more than 460 acres and forced evacuations, Orange County Fire Authority Chief T.J. McGovern said at a news briefing Friday evening.

Who’s under evacuation orders

The evacuated areas are San Juan Capistrano Zones 4, 5 and 10 and San Clemente Zones 12 and 13.

Shelters in the area — the San Juan Capistrano Community Center and the San Clemente Community Center (addresses below) — have space and will accept small pets, said Justin Chevalier, chief of police services for San Clemente.

Chevalier said police would maintain “high visibility” as a deterrent to anyone wanting “to take advantage of the situation.”

How fast the fire moved

Due to weather and topography, this fire moved fast,” McGovern said. “It was a wind-driven event.”

The fire ignited around 11:30 a.m. near Portico Del Norte and Eminencia Del Norte in San Clemente, according to Cal Fire. The Orange County Fire Authority received a call at 11:33 a.m. and sent crews that were already on standby, McGovern said.

“When the call came in, we had a robust response already ready to go from the air and the ground, and I can tell you — that made a difference,” he said.

Injuries and containment

No residents were hurt, but two firefighters were injured and were being treated at a local hospital, McGovern said.

The fire, which was at 465 acres Friday night, was 0% contained as of 6:45 p.m. About 400 firefighters were working the fire, with 400 more on the way, and crews planned to stay on the fire line overnight, McGovern added.

Fire weather across Southern California

Other fires have broken out across Southern California amid gusty winds and dry conditions, including the Bryson Fire in the Santa Monica Mountains above Malibu. Red flag warnings are in effect through Saturday, according to National Weather Service, with cooler weather and a chance of light rain expected over the next few days.

 

The basics

• Acreage: 465 acres as of Friday night
• Containment: 0%
• Structures destroyed/impacted: At least six homes
• Deaths: None
• Injuries: 2 firefighters injured and receiving treatment at a local hospital
• Personnel working on fire: Multiple helicopters and water-dropping aircraft, along with ground crews
  

Evacuation map and orders

Orange County evacuation map

• SCL12
• SCL13
• SJC04
• SJC05
• SJC10

Evacuation shelters

San Juan Capistrano Community Center
25925 Camino del Avion,
San Juan Capistrano, CA 92675

San Clemente Community Center
100 N Calle Seville
San Clemente, CA 92672

Listen to our Big Burn podcast

Fire resources and tips

Check out LAist's wildfire recovery guide

If you have to evacuate:

• Why fire officials don't want you to stay and defend your home
• How to get packed up
• How to leave your house
• What evacuation terms mean and how to sign up for alerts

Navigating fire conditions:

• How to drive in high winds and fire danger
• How to prep for power outages
• How to navigate poor air quality

How to help yourself and others:

• Resources for fire victims, evacuees and first responders
• If you want to help fire victims, resist the urge to volunteer
• How to help find lost pets

How to start the recovery process:

• What to do — and not do — when you get home after a wildfire
• How to make an insurance claim
• How to safely clean up wildfire ash

What to do for your kids:

• How to talk to children about wildfires and losing a home
• What parents should know about wildfire air quality

Prepare for the next disaster:

• Fire season is here. Make sure you're signed up for these alerts
• Every day is now fire season. Let's get you ready for the next wildfire
• Yes, wildfires are getting worse. The history that got us to this moment

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Día de los Muertos, or Day of the Dead, is a time to honor the memory of loved ones who have died. The holiday’s most beloved traditions include building ofrendas at home or visiting cemeteries to decorate the graves of those who have departed. 

The celebration, widely observed in Mexico and other Latin American countries, also brings colorful, vibrant events to Los Angeles. On or before Nov. 1 and 2, cempasúchil-covered altars, intricately designed sugar calaveras and pan de muerto will spring up. 

We’ve rounded up a list of mostly free events on L.A.’s Eastside and downtown to celebrate the cherished cultural holiday.

Oct. 17: Día de los Muertos at El Sereno Community Arts 

El Sereno Community Arts presents its 17th annual Día de los Muertos community celebration with a day full of activities for the whole family. The event will feature free arts and culture programming, community altars, live musical performances and food from local vendors. The festival will also feature artwork and handmade catrinas made from the arts center’s community workshops. 

Oct. 17: What We Carry: East L.A. to Palestine at Tonalli Studio 

Tonalli Studio will open its Día de los Muertos exhibition and ofrenda to showcase how land, home and family are threatened today. What We Carry tells the stories of resilience across generations from the communities of East L.A. to Palestine. Guests are invited to add names, prayers or written statements to this year’s “East L.A. to Palestine” ofrenda. 

Oct. 18: Paint and Sip at Cafe Niña 

Join the beloved coffee spot for a morning decorating a miniature altar to add to your ofrenda at home.  Each ticket will include your choice of a coffee or matcha, a paint set with a miniature ofrenda and a light brunch. Tickets are limited, so be sure to grab yours through their Instagram page. 

Oct. 18: Crafting Party at Benny Boy Brewing 

Benny Boy Brewing is hosting its 4th Annual Día de los Muertos Crafting Celebration, featuring sugar skull decorating sessions. There will be an assortment of crafting materials to choose from and additional items include a clear box to display your completed sugar skull, ribbon, cempasuchil flowers and a customized tealight candle. Guests can purchase a small or large skull and get free face-painting. Please note that the event is for guests 21 and over. 

Oct. 24: Calavera LGBTQ+ Festival by Latino Equity Alliance 

The Latino Equity Alliance will celebrate its annual Calavera LGBTQ+ Festival with an evening of drag and musical performances, dancing, community resource booths and an altar. In collaboration with the Get Out the Vote Initiative, the festival will also feature a free, nonpartisan, L.A. County Mobile Voting Center located outside the venue for the public to access. 

Oct. 24 – Nov. 2: Día de los Muertos at Gloria Molina Grand Park 

For 10 days, Gloria Molina Grand Park will transform into an exhibition space honoring cultural traditions through art, community altars and remembrance. Kicking off the festivities with an opening ceremony, attendees can enjoy live musical performances from El Río, Grupo Bella, Anaís Azul, and Mariachi Arco Iris de Los Angeles. The celebration will honor indigenous roots by including a sacred processional and blessing from Ohtli Yollotl Collective. Guests can explore up to 17 unique altars from local artists and organizations on display and are encouraged to contribute to the event’s designated community altar by leaving a photo, note, or memento in remembrance of a loved one. This year’s theme is “The Power of One” and is curated by artist Consuelo G. Flores. Guests will be able to participate in family-friendly activities, including free face painting, sugar skull workshops and wellness offerings from community partners. 

Oct. 25: Family Day at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes 

For an afternoon full of family-friendly activities and entertainment, LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes welcomes attendees to participate in this year’s community celebration. Featuring three workshops that explore traditional practices, including painting skull masks, flower accessories and herb bundles. Food from Tamales Veracruz y Más and Sammy’s Elotes y Más will be available for purchase. This year’s celebration will feature a number of live entertainment acts, including Banda Filarmónica Los Alebrijes, Grupo Folklórico Princesa Donaji, and Los Elejidos de Asís de los Muertos. LA Plaza encourages guests to contribute to their Ofrenda Comunitaria.

Oct. 25: Las Fotos Project Community Wellness Day 

In partnership with Youth to the People, Las Fotos Project is hosting its bi-monthly community wellness day with a Día de los Muertos celebration. The event will feature family-friendly activations like art-making, including their signature vela decorating station, calavera or catrina face painting,  a community ofrenda, and a stylized portrait station. Guests can enjoy light bites and beverages and explore the free clothing swap station and community resources available, including special guest Soluna to discuss their free mental health resources. In partnership with Polo’s Pantry and Saticoy Food Hub, there will also be fresh produce available while supplies last. 

Oct. 27: Community Ofrenda at SuperNova Thrift 

Beginning Oct. 24, SuperNova Thrift invites the community to take part in the making of their Día de los Muertos altar. People are encouraged to bring a photocopy of their loved ones with their name, a letter, drawing, or memory, flowers, and small nonvaluable offerings. Participants are also welcome to join by being a helping hand in the making of the altar. The altar will be open for viewing at the storefront from Oct. 27 to Nov. 2, with three special days of remembrance.

Oct. 30: 1st Street Community Block Party

The 1st Street Collective, a hub for the businesses along Boyle Heights’ 1st Street corridor, is back with its Día de Muertos Community Block Party at Mariachi Plaza. This year’s celebration will feature music, dancing, family-friendly activations and local vendors. Enjoy free face painting, live art installations, performances, a community altar and more for people of all ages. 

Nov. 1: Día de los Muertos at Plaza de la Raza 

Join Plaza de la Raza’s annual outdoor community celebration, which will include hands-on workshops, musical entertainment, art and local vendors. Attendees can join a variety of crafting workshops, from calaca puppet making to papel picado, alebrije making, and flower making with altarista Ofelia Esparza and family. Attendees can also walk through a vendor marketplace and explore the artwork and altar installations that will feature over 25 participating artists.  Live performances include members of Ozomatli, El Mariachi Manchester, Danza Divina de Los Angeles, Tiny Tots Folklorico, Plaza de La Raza Mariachi and Folklorico students, and Folkor Pasión Mexicana.  

The Boathouse Gallery will also be open for its “El Velorio” exhibit, featuring original work from over 200 local artists and curated by Superchief Gallery, Irene Hernandez and Manny Martinez. The exhibit will be on display from Oct. 10 to Nov. 7. 

Nov. 6 – 8: Every Altar Begins with a Story by Colibri Dance Theatre & Casa 0101 Theater 

This Día de Los Muertos, a contemporary theatrical dance production takes center stage at Casa 0101. Presented by the Colibri Dance Theatre, the performance will be full of stories of love, family, resilience, joy, grief, forgiveness and strength.  In this showcase, an altar comes to life as told through the eyes of CUENTOS characters “La Catrina,” “El Catrin,” “Alebrije,” and “Calacas.” Attendees can experience a night of movement, music, and poetry that honors Día de Muertos traditions and cultural practices. 

Nov. 7 : Cafecito + Little Piñata Workshop 

Join this community collaboration between Healing in Spanglish and Little Piñata Guy for a mini piñata workshop to dedicate and honor loved ones. Each attendee ticket includes coffee from Anhelo Coffee, Pan de Muerto by Repostería Aguilar, and materials to create your own mini piñata. Spend your morning remembering your loved ones and crafting with community. Tickets are limited. 

Nov. 7: Día de los Muertos at Self Help Graphics & Art 

To round out their monthlong community art workshops and events, Self Help Graphics and Art will host its 53rd Annual Día de los Muertos celebration. This year’s celebration is in partnership with the Smithsonian Folklife Festival and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Latino. The communal gathering will begin with a procession at 2 p.m. at Mariachi Plaza led by Danza Azteca Chicomecoatl and will end on the corner of 1st Street and Anderson Street, outside Self Help Graphics, for the festivities. Attendees can shop through the “Muertos Market,” featuring local artists and artisans, local food vendors, Self Help Graphics prints for sale, face painting, and arts activities for all ages. The celebration will also include a main stage for live musical performances from Extra Ancestral, Chulita Vinyl Club L.A., Jimetta Rose and the Voices of Creation, La Santa Cecilia, The Red Alibi, Mendez High School Mariachi, and headliners, Los Lobos. 

Nov. 7 – 8: Floricanto’s Fiesta de Día de los Muertos

The Floricanto Center for Performing Arts and Danza Floricanto will host a Día de los Muertos-themed showcase for its 24th annual program. For one weekend only, the Center will be transformed into a cemetery, and a series of characters, including the show’s guide “La Catrina,” will lead audiences through an evening of storytelling and dance. The showcase will feature themes of love, death, mental illness, teen pregnancy and immigration. Show doors open 30 minutes before showtime.