LA street vendors affected by ICE raids to receive financial aid from new community fund

This story was originally published by Boyle Heights Beat on June 17, 2025.

A coalition of immigrant rights and street vendor advocacy organizations has launched a fundraiser to support vendors struggling with the economic fallout from recent immigration enforcement activity across Los Angeles.

The L.A. Street Vendor Solidarity Fund was spearheaded by Inclusive Action for the City, East L.A. Community Corporation, Public Counsel and Community Power Collective.

The fund aims to provide direct aid to vendors experiencing severe income loss amid the looming threat of deportation.

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Since immigration raids ramped up, street vendors— many of whom sell raspados, fresh fruit or hot foods– have seen their customer base shrink dramatically, mirroring the drop in business in Boyle Heights and the greater Eastside.

According to a GoFundMe page organized by Inclusive Action, the goal is to raise resources “as the crisis continues and until ICE ends the raids.”

“These incidents have spread fear throughout Los Angeles,” the GoFundMe page reads. “Street vendors are afraid to work, and those that are risking vending in our communities are faced with little foot traffic. For many vendors, even one day of lost wages will mean they will not be able to put food on their families’ tables or pay their rent.”

Sergio Jimenez, a senior organizer for Community Power Collective, a local group that advocates for street vendors, tenants and transit riders, said threats of deportation are chilling the open-air market.

“We’re talking about a huge pool of individuals who are all facing the same dilemma – fear of going out, risking not selling anything and the investment with the inflation is just massive. So we created this fund to hopefully support as much as we can during this crisis, and also figure out ways to jumpstart a bit of their safety on this,” he said

While the application process is being finalized, the fund will eventually be open to vendors across L.A. County. Previous fundraising efforts by the same coalition have distributed hundreds of dollars to eligible applicants, though the final amount of aid for street vendors has yet to be determined, Jimenez said.

“We’re trying to raise as much funds as possible to be able to help as many people as possible. Leimert Park vendors, Valley folks, swap meet individuals. We’re trying to make it as flexible as possible, but as long as they are street vendors in general, that’s always been our criteria,” Jimenez said.

According to GoFundMe,100% of donations will go to street vendors, to help cover essentials like food, supplies or rent. As of Tuesday afternoon, the fundraiser has accumulated more than $21,000 of its $300,000 goal.

The coalition of groups has organized successful community fundraisers in the past, including a campaign to raise money to support vendors during the COVID-19 pandemic and open-air economy workers, such as gardeners and street vendors, affected by the L.A. wildfires earlier this year.

Between January and April alone, more than 5,000 workers received one-time payments to help offset the financial setbacks they experienced.