serrano

“There’s like sadness, maybe grief. I think a lot of fear, a lot of fear is going around these communities. And yeah, people are walking around just very cautious, very cautious,” said Cristina Serrano, 37, as she was doing mitt work at Panda Boxing Gym, near the corner of Westlake Avenue and 8th Street.

At Panda Boxing, the gym’s owner now regularly walks up and down the block looking for signs of trouble and to make sure that people in the gym feel safe, said Serrano.

The risk of being arrested and deported versus the need for economic security is plaguing undocumented vendors throughout Los Angeles, said Elba Serrano, the associate vice president of East L.A.

Around 80% of their clients are undocumented, Serrano said.

The problem now, Serrano explained, is that to secure permits, vendors must file an I-10 form, which categorizes filers by their citizenship status.