ICE isn’t stopping the El Salvador Corridor. How these street vendors look out for each other

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

Like many vendors along the El Salvador Corridor in Pico Union, Maria Godoy sells goods alongside others on the sidewalk of Vermont Avenue between 11th and 12th streets. Being together offers some sense of solidarity, she said, but fear still lingers.

“With the other vendors, I feel more supported because we’re all together, but there’s also fear that at any moment ICE could come bother us,” Godoy said. “They might come back, so we’re always on alert.”

Some vendors have their papers — permanent resident cards — while others are undocumented. Whatever their status, the vendors are worried about the next immigration sweep that could come through their corner of the world.

Godoy said vendors have relied on a WhatsApp group text maintained by the Koreatown chapter of the LA Tenants Union’s Koreatown and the rapid response group Union del Barrio. The messaging services comes alive when there is ICE activity to warn people in the community.

The corridor, especially the sidewalk along Vermont Avenue where most vendors set up tents, serves a mix of local residents and visitors who come specifically for lunch, drawn by pupusas, raspados, fruit, and other goods.

In early November, federal agents carried out a major immigration raid, detaining several vendors and prompting others to quickly pack up and flee. Videos shared on social media showed people abandoning their stands as officers moved through the streets.

The disruption, vendors say, continues to hang over the street and hurts business.

Street vendor Beatriz arrived in Los Angeles from El Salvador. She sells a variety of fruits and vegetables, including strawberries, mangoes, and pineapples, along 12th street and Vermont Avenue also known as the El Salvador Corridor.

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Marina Peña

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The LA Local

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For more than a decade, Godoy has sold vitamins, cold medicines and arthritis creams along the corridor, many of them products from Mexico and Central America that are hard to find elsewhere in Los Angeles.

But the 52‑year‑old vendor said business has sharply declined in recent months. Her sales, she estimates, have dropped about 60 percent since August.

“The situation is really bad. The economy has gone down a lot and for those of us who run small businesses, sales have dropped just too much. We used to have a lot of tourists who would come, but not anymore,” Godoy said. “This is all we have to survive. We have to pay rent, bills, we always pay taxes, and now we’re not making enough to pay those taxes. Now we’re working and just able to cover the rent.”

The cost of buying items has also increased, Godoy said, but in the current economy she can’t pass those additional costs on to customers.

“People get used to the prices and they notice when something goes up, so we can’t always charge them more because they won’t buy it,” she said.

The only products for which her sales have remained steady are cold and flu medicines.

Another woman, who The LA Local is not naming because she is undocumented, arrived in Los Angeles about a year and a half ago from El Salvador. The single mother began selling fruit along the corridor in December and the possibility of an immigration raid affects her daily work, she said.

She explained how vendors have organized themselves to protect one another.

“Among ourselves, vendors, we are taking care of each other. We have made ways to protect ourselves. If we see something, we warn each other. If something happens, we’re ready to  get together and link arms so that if they take one, they take all of us. If they see a van, someone already warns,” she said.

She sells mangoes, strawberries, pineapples, oranges, mandarins, coconuts, tomatoes and honey — items locals continue to seek out, especially in warm weather — but like Godoy, she said that “sales are slow because people are afraid to go out.”

Lorena Lopez, another vendor, sells ceviche made with clams, shrimp, and octopus along the corridor. Before that, the 45-year-old sold pupusas and yuca. She has been working there since 2013 and said that having many vendors around has both upsides and drawbacks.

The El Salvador Corridor along Vermont Ave. in the Pico Union neighborhood on Monday, Nov. 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California.

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Gary Coronado

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The LA Local

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“If I feel like people are looking out for me, I really feel at ease. It helps a lot and makes me feel safer,” Lopez said. “When there aren’t many vendors here, there are fewer customers. It feels better when more vendors are around, watching out for each other. But at the same time, with more of us here, there’s more competition for customers.”

To help small businesses recover from the economic impact, Los Angeles County started the Small Business Resiliency Fund. The program, run by the Department of Economic Opportunity, gives up to $5,000 in direct financial help to businesses affected by immigration enforcement, covering rent, payroll, and other expenses.

They have already distributed more than $5.1 million in grants to 1,239 small businesses affected by immigration enforcement. The businesses range from storefronts to home-based businesses and sidewalk vendors.

The vendors The LA Local spoke to said they haven’t yet applied for these funds.

Still, with sales down, Godoy said many vendors like her are hoping for support that matches their needs on the ground.

“We would need help with direct resources because right now we’re stuck in the same place with no sales,” she said. “We can’t get a storefront because there aren’t enough sales, so we’re out here on the street. I think people lack empathy and at the same time they’re afraid, and the economy is also bad. When gas goes up, everything goes up.”