At LA graduations, some families risk ICE detention to shower students with gifts and hugs

Since early June, Huntington Park residents have witnessed federal immigration agents chase, question and detain their neighbors at stores, churches and more.

The same day this week that the U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security appeared in the Southeast L.A. neighborhood to help lead those operations, about 1,200 people gathered at an auditorium a few miles away to celebrate the area’s students — the graduation of Maywood Academy High School’s 230 seniors. But because of the ongoing ICE crackdowns, for many families, attending the event was marred with anxiety.

“I was really scared for my family to come out here, ‘cause I didn't know if they were going to get picked up by ICE,” said Lorraine Guzman, part of Maywood’s class of 2025.

Other Los Angeles residents have weighed the risk, too. Some schools set up live streams of the graduations for families who didn’t feel comfortable attending because of their immigration status.

But, ultimately, thousands of families poured onto Los Angeles Unified school campuses to celebrate, in many languages, their seniors’ accomplishments in person, and to shower them with gifts and hugs.

“It's really hard not to feel angry and just really stuck with everything that's going on in the world,” said Wilson High School graduate Hanna Corona. “But I also think we also really wanted to celebrate all that we accomplished.”

Denise Pacheco called out of her grocery store shift to help her parents and little sister sell leis, flowers and stoles along the sidewalk outside of Wilson High School. She said: “It's really scary right now. I don't want them to get deported. I know my dad made a struggle to bring my whole family here, so I was like, ‘It's OK to give a little struggle …for them.”

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Alexa Alvarado’s mortarboard, right, reads in English "For my mother, with the small amount she had, she gave me everything." “ She was my biggest inspiration  through completing high school and pursuing a career,” said Alvarado, who plans to study criminal justice at Cal State Fullerton in the fall and wants to become a police officer.

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District, families prepare for the possibility of graduation raids

Jose Eduardo Reyna’s family also debated who would attend his graduation at Wilson High School in El Sereno.

Reyna has three step-sisters who arrived in L.A. as refugees from the Mexican state of Sinaloa two years ago. His mom, Isabel, said immigration officials went to the family's home in recent weeks. The family was not there, but she saw the officials on their home cameras. LAist agreed not to publish Isabel’s last name to protect the privacy of her stepdaughters.

Before deciding whether it would be safe for the whole family to attend, Isabel consulted with a website that crowdsources ICE sightings.

"They were able to come amongst all their fear, but they're here, thankfully, and enjoying it,” Isabel said.

“ It was a little bit heartbreaking,” she added, “because it should be something happy.”

Though LAUSD does not collect information about students’ immigration status, an estimated 10% of L.A. County residents are undocumented.

Board Vice President Rocío Rivas spoke at Wilson High School's graduation Tuesday evening. The three stripes on her robe's sleeves represent the doctorate she earned from Columbia University. She said: " I always mention I'm a proud Mexican immigrant because I want [the students] to see themselves reflected in me and vice versa. It was a lot of sacrifice and for me it's an honor because I'm the first one in my family to have a doctorate."

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Ahead of the graduation ceremonies, LAUSD leaders announced that school police would be deployed to set up a loose perimeter around these events, not all of which take place on school grounds.

Superintendent Alberto Carvalho said those officers could intervene and interfere if immigration enforcement officials arrived without the proper documentation to be there.

The district also directed school leaders to move attendees quickly into venues to avoid long lines outside that could be targeted by immigration raids and allow attendees to shelter in the venue should one occur.

A friend and student, taken

At the Maywood Academy graduation, at least two LAPD officers were stationed close to the auditorium entrance. On their way out, two L.A. Sheriff’s deputies sat in a golf cart next to a vendor peddling leis and graduation-themed toys.

Mau Trejo, an organizer with the activist group Students Deserve, also attended the Maywood graduation. They beamed with pride while watching the student activists they’ve worked with receive their diplomas. Together, they’ve advocated to end policing in schools.

For Trejo, seeing police outside the auditorium was unsettling. With so many law enforcement agencies in the area — including ICE, the National Guard and the Marines — “How can people even tell the difference?” they said.

Wilson High School sits atop Ascot Hills in El Sereno. The continuing legacy of the school's connection to the Chicano rights movement was present in students' speeches throughout the night.

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Trejo, along with students and faculty at the graduation, said one Maywood student is currently being detained, allegedly during a check-in with immigration authorities.

According to a fundraising page, Johanna is a 10th grade asylum seeker, as well as an athlete on the swim team and a member of the hiking club. Now she, her mom and her sister are in custody at a detention center in Texas.

LAUSD declined to confirm any details about the student. In an email, a district spokesperson said: “Due to student confidentiality laws, we are unable to share private student information. However, we are currently monitoring, and through our partners, providing legal support to several students impacted by immigration enforcement activity.”

Last Monday, Superintendent Carvalho said the district was aware of at least six students whose families were affected by the raids, and that one student was allegedly detained with a parent and transported from L.A. to Texas in federal custody.

Henry Marsos tied a Mexican flag around his shoulders and decorated his mortarboard with the name of his parent’s hometown in Oaxaca. “ Es obvio que no estoy de aquí. Pues estoy feliz de haber logrado llegar hasta aquí,” Marsos said. “It’s obvious that I’m not from here, but I’m happy to have gotten here."

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Jose Eduardo Reyna said the walkouts at Wilson High School stuck with him, even though he didn't participate. “I just feel like we had a voice,” Reyna said. His parents and grandparents are from Mexico.

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At the Maywood graduation ceremony, Christopher Sanabria Cortes was drenched in stoles, ropes and leis. He’d also affixed a plush rat resembling Remy, the lead character in Disney’s Ratatouille, to his shoulder. “I'm feeling very proud,” he told LAist.

Asked about the ICE crackdowns over the past few weeks, his tone became somber. “I've tried to stay positive,” he said, but learning that a classmate has been detained was a big blow. “It's affecting our community at such a deep level,” he added.

Yitzel Jimenez, a history teacher who’s been at Maywood for two years, had a lot of feelings to reconcile. Coming to school and hearing about Johanna “was very devastating,” she said. Johanna “was such a valuable member of our community, and she still is.”

At the same time, Jimenez was happy to see her first class of seniors walk the stage.

“It's beautiful to see them celebrate their accomplishments, despite everything [that’s] going on,” she said.

‘What a world’

When these students started freshman year in 2021, masks and weekly COVID-19 tests were required. Since then, they’ve balanced the rigors of academics and extracurriculars with momentous elections and January’s fires.

“Your education happens within the context of this broader, historic, environmental, economic, political, and social realities. What a world we're sending you off into,” said Gregorio Verbera, Wilson's principal. “But you’re bright and talented and armed with courage and compassion.”

Verbera noted students walked out of school six times in February to protest President Donald Trump’s immigration policies and called them “ an exercise of your constitutional rights to voice and act and live out your passions and your concerns.”

"Honestly this day and age is very scary, not just what's going on here in L.A., but what's going on globally," said John-Paul Rodriguez, a graduating Wilson High senior. His advice for other students? “ I don't think there is a correct way to go around preparing yourself. It's literally just make sure you have a strong enough chin to take the blows.”

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“ I'm kind of scared for my parents and I know it's very hard for like my community and immigrants that come here,” Daniela Alvarado said. “This will not stop us and this just shows that we can strive for better.” When Alvarado starts studying neuroscience at UC Riverside she will be the first in her family to go to college.

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Student activism has a long history on the Eastside. In 1968, Wilson students were the first to walk out in protest against unequal education for students of color. That walkout spread throughout East L.A. Today, those students’ actions are seen as the start of the urban Chicano rights movement.

Hanna Corona, senior class president, was among those who walked out this winter. She emceed Wilson’s graduation.

She spoke in English, but switched to Spanish to address her mother from the podium.

“ Eres mi fuerza, mi ejemplo y la razón por la que sigo adelante,” said Corona, calling her mom the reason she keeps going. “Mil veces. Gracias.”

Corona and nearly 40% of her graduating peers earned a California-wide honor, for their skill in speaking, reading and writing in more than one language.

“Never forget to be proud of where you come from and of the people who helped you get here,” Corona told them. “When you walk across the stage, do it with pride for yourself, for your families, and for those who couldn't be here beside us, but whose sacrifices carried us forward.”

The mortarboard of Julie Franquez, who will attend Cal State Fullerton to study chemistry and plans to become a nurse. Her summer plans include getting a job “to  help my family out just give back to my parents throughout the summer.”

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At Maywood, meanwhile, salutatorian Mayah Rhianna Flores, standing beside school authorities, said walking out of class earlier this year “was one of my proudest moments.”

“As we marched through our local streets, we made our voices heard,” she said. “We will be remembered as the class that made a difference. A class that stood up for what we believe in, who spoke up for our parents and grandparents when they were told they didn't have a voice. We were united not only by our culture, but by our shared belief that education can help us fight for justice and freedom. I'm incredibly proud to call myself a member of this class.”

Atop their white robes, several of her classmates wore stoles resembling the flags of countries their families hail from. Many of their caps also bore the same message: “Para mis padres” — “For my parents.”