The Brief

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on June 10, 2025.

Cesar E. Chavez Avenue — a shopping district known for its predominantly Latino community — was eerily quiet on Monday afternoon. The normal rush of shoppers looking for fresh fruit, clothing, or home goods had mostly disappeared.

Salon chairs sat empty and fruit vendors joked among themselves to pass the time.

“The customers aren’t coming out,” said Christina Guerrero as she stood behind the register of Guerrero Closeout, a clothing and furniture discount store in Boyle Heights.

“And if they don’t come, we lose business,” said her husband, Leo Guerrero. “If we normally have 10 customers, only three or four have shown up.”

After days of federal immigration raids and protests across the region, small business owners in Boyle Heights and East L.A. are wondering how their shops will fare as the city braces for further immigration enforcement actions that one state elected leader said are expected daily for the next 30 days in L.A. County.

Immigration sweeps were reported at Home Depot stores in Whittier and Huntington Park on Monday, following a raid on Friday at Ambiance Apparel in the garment district in downtown L.A., where dozens of people were arrested. Protests erupted in Paramount on Saturday after ICE agents were spotted in the area. Demonstrators have descended onto downtown L.A. since Friday to protest the immigration raids.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports circulated online about alleged sightings of immigration agents near grocery stores in the Boyle Heights area on Monday.

As one vendor along Cesar Chavez put it, “People are afraid.”

A man stands at the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and St. Louis Street on June 9, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Latinx with Plants on Cesar Chavez remained closed on Monday, after closing the previous day, “as a precautionary measure to protect our patrons, community [and] team members from possible violence as unprecedented measures are taken to persecute our Latinx [and] extended POC community in Los Angeles.” The shop reopened on Tuesday.

Enar Romero, who works at Enar’s Toys and Games inside El Mercadito, said business was unusually slow Sunday at the historic Eastside marketplace amid the protests and raids.

“I guess people are kind of afraid just to go out [by] themselves because they don’t feel safe,” said Romero, adding that many don’t even feel safe “within their homes.”

Still, Romero and others decided to open shop on Sunday. “Hopefully nothing happens and hopefully people start coming out more for the week,” he said.

Enrique Rosado, whose brother owns a deli at El Mercadito, thought it’d be a good idea for him and his co-workers to make a plan on what to do if immigration agents arrive at El Mercadito. He said business was not “like the previous Sundays.”

“Lately, because of what’s going on with the raids and with ICE in downtown … it’s slow now,” he said. “We’re going to stay put.”

At a demonstration against ICE on Sunday at Mariachi Plaza, Yesenia Castro, owner of Pink and Boujee in Boyle Heights, urged the public to support small business owners amid the raids taking place across the region.

“I have definitely seen a lot of businesses affected. With everything going on, there’s not that many people on the streets. As small business owners, it’s very important to advocate and keep our communities safe, but at the same time, we have to have our doors open,” Castro said.

“It’s been very difficult. Not many of us can afford to keep our places closed, but I feel if we all look out for each other… we can make a difference,” she added.

A near-empty hallway at El Mercadito in Boyle Heights on Sunday, June 8, 2025.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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Miriam Rodriguez, who serves as president of the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, said supporting small businesses is crucial during this time, as many shops are still reeling over economic uncertainty after the pandemic.

“Right now, our community is scared to be out in public, and it’s really affecting our already struggling local economy,” Rodriguez told Boyle Heights Beat on Monday. “But what I love about our community is that what affects one of us affects all of us. So, I think it’s very important right now that, where possible, we could express the support for our people through our wallets.”

As for Leo Guerrero, of Guerrero Closeout, he already has a plan in mind in case ICE agents show up near his store.

“I’d close it and lock it if I had customers in here,” Guerrero said. “I wouldn’t want to see someone’s family broken up. That’s the way I look at it. I wouldn’t want them to do it to me.”

Boyle Heights Beat reporter Alejandra Molina contributed to this report.

If you’ve noticed more wildlife visiting your yard in recent years — maybe digging up your vegetable garden or even drinking from your pool — you’re not alone.

A recent study from UCLA found that larger predators like mountain lions and bears are more likely to interact with humans and travel closer to population centers in drier years. To determine this, the researchers analyzed state data collected on reported property damage, nuisances, conflicts and sightings.

“It kind of runs the full gamut of how people interact with wildlife around their neighborhoods and their homes,” said UCLA postdoctoral researcher Kendall Calhoun, the lead author on the study.

It's not just P-22. Mountain lions across the whole state are forced to leave their habitats for survival.

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Courtesy Kendall Calhoun

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Different motivations for different animals

As you might expect, different animals might have different reasons for entering populated areas. But in large part, Calhoun said, it comes down to animals’ survival instincts.

The primary motivator for many herbivores is likely to be food. That’s because with less precipitation, there’s also less plant material for them to eat. (Don’t forget: even with all the rain we’ve had recently, much of Southern California is still in a drought.)

“ Deer and elk might be pushed to find those food resources in places that they normally wouldn't go, like agriculture, crops, things from people's yards, persimmons from your tree,” Calhoun said.

And as herbivores get pushed toward humans, the animals that prey on them are too. In fact, the species that saw the highest increases in clashes with humans were omnivores and carnivores, specifically mountain lions, coyotes, black bears and bobcats.

But even these animals have varying reasons for getting close to people.

“Mountain lions might be more inclined to look for supplemental food in livestock — that might be a sheep or a goat,” Calhoun said. “Black bears may be more willing to go into your trash to look for food to help supplement what they're missing in their resource-scarce natural areas.”

Meanwhile, animals of all kinds might enter a yard even when they have enough food to look for standing water.

About the data

Researchers analyzed data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that were reported over the last several years as part of a citizen science initiative.

One important caveat is that the researchers primarily looked at conflicts between wildlife and residents, and there may be differences in how these interactions are reported.

For example, you might not report a deer eating fruit from an overloaded tree as a nuisance, but even a peaceful black bear digging through your trash could raise alarm bells.

 "People also really value having wildlife living alongside them," Calhoun said. "It really is important for us to try to strike that balance where there's pros for both sides, without some of the negative interactions that come with living in close proximity with wildlife species."

Learn more about human-wildlife interactions

There’s more background on the research on UCLA’s website, and you can find the full study here.

You can also learn much more about interactions between humans and wildlife in LAist’s Imperfect Paradise podcast series, “Lions, Coyotes, & Bears.”

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of L.A. County at the end of this year, and organizers say eligible households can sign up for alerts when the service becomes available.

The service — a partnership between L.A. County and internet provider WeLink — is the latest project from the county’s “Delete the Divide,” an initiative meant to bridge the digital divide in underserved neighborhoods.

Major funding for the project comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, as well as a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission.

It’s badly needed

About 23%, or more than 20,000, households in the East L.A. and Boyle Heights area don’t have home internet, according to Delete the Divide.

The service will also soon be coming to South L.A., where more than 40,000 households were identified as lacking home internet.

What you need to know

There will be different plans available — including low-income, market-rate and small business options — at fixed prices. The low-cost plan will start at $25 per month for qualifying families. Those who don’t qualify could also purchase plans starting at $65 a month. Monthly rates are fixed until at least September 2027.

Every plan includes unlimited data, a router and parental controls.

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in South L.A. at the end of this year.

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Courtesy of L.A. County

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Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of East L.A. and Boyle Heights at the end of this year.

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Courtesy of L.A. County

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How it works 

WeLink will install a Wi-Fi router inside a home and a 4-inch radio on the roof to connect the household to the internet.

Interested households can sign up for updates and be notified by WeLink when service is available here.