Abandoned taco trucks, ice cream and fruit carts have been spotted across Los Angeles since federal immigration agents began sweeps of street vendors and other workers this summer.
Vendors either run and leave their equipment behind when word spreads that agents are nearby, or are forced to abandon their carts and trucks once they’re detained.
Volunteers in rapid response teams are often the first on scene, working quickly to protect what they can and contact family members to retrieve belongings.
“An issue that we have is when we go … we find the cart by itself, but there’s no identity to the vendor,” said Sergio Jimenez with Community Power Collective, which organizes tenants, street vendors and transit riders in Los Angeles.
Adding to the challenge: vendor carts are large and heavy, leaving family and volunteers scrambling to figure out how and where to store the equipment. Often, it could be hours before someone gets to the location, risking potential impoundment fees.
Earlier this summer, Jimenez recalled, a colleague picked up an abandoned cart near Food 4 Less on 1st Street and stored it at a nearby community organization. The vendor was able to pick up his cart about three days later.
What are city and county leaders doing?
For many vendors, losing equipment means losing an essential source of income. Now, the city and county are taking note and are exploring ways to respond.
On Sept. 3, the L.A. City Council advanced a proposal introduced by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado to waive towing and impound storage fees for vehicles left behind by people detained by federal immigration agents.
The council directed the Los Angeles Police Department and Department of Transportation to return within 15 days with recommendations for how the plan could be potentially implemented. City staff is also looking into whether family members, friends or neighbors could retrieve impounded vehicles at no cost on behalf of a person in federal custody.
Jurado also called for a formal accounting of how many times private property has been abandoned in the public right-of-way or on city property, and asked what protocols exist for “collection, storage, disposal, and release.”
“Without warning, individuals are being plucked out of their lives, causing chaos for their families and loved ones, and often leaving behind property that will still need to be managed,” the directive read. “This sudden and unexpected disruption is not something that can be planned for in advance.”
The county is looking into something similar.
Earlier this summer, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors endorsed a plan by Supervisor Hilda Solis to direct the Department of Consumer and Business Affairs and its Office of Immigrant Affairs to explore a formal program to retrieve and return abandoned vendor equipment in unincorporated areas of L.A.
In her directive, Solis suggests exploring partnerships with faith-based organizations and mutual aid groups to “safely intake inventory and store property found at or near the site of detainment.”
She also suggested county staff look into developing a “centralized and user-friendly” online portal that logs property and equipment by location, date found, and general description for family members to locate and retrieve items.
“These items, often essential to family income and daily life, are abandoned due to forced detentions, not neglect,” according to Solis’ directive. “Charging fees, risking theft of equipment, or risking impoundment would compound hardship on already traumatized households, undermining community resilience and economic stability.”
County staff is expected to return with recommendations toward the end of the month, according to Kimberly Ortega, a spokesperson for Solis.
Advocates are stepping in — and calling for more
To Jimenez, these plans are a step in the right direction.
“I really wish that it wouldn’t take that long,” he said. “It could take months for this to happen.”
For now, Community Power Collective has created an identification card that vendors can place on their carts with their name, number, and emergency contact information. “In case I am a victim of kidnapping, this car or stall belongs to me,” the card reads.
“We’re asking vendors to put that on the card, so in case somebody gets taken [and] a rapid response individual comes and checks the card, there’s key data right there,” Jimenez said.
Jimenez also suggests elected leaders identify space, whether in a council district office or an empty brick and mortar, that could operate as a hub to store and hold abandoned equipment.
“So there’s not a massive loss,” he said. “It will be a matter of how we identify that cart and the individual and make sure it’s the right match.”
Without an official county or city plan in place, Jimenez said volunteers are stepping up to do this work.
“It would be great for the county and city to reach out to folks [to ask], ‘OK, what are you seeing, what do we need to do, how can we facilitate this quickly because obviously, as of today, things are going to get harder,” Jimenez said.
