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Days after the Trump administration sued Los Angeles over its sanctuary city laws, the ACLU and other groups have filed a new federal lawsuit. They argue that unidentified, masked agents have been racially profiling and arresting people in Southern California without probable cause or access to lawyers. As NPR's Mandalit del Barco reports, the scrappy journalists at an independent news outlet called L.A. Taco have been reporting on the continuing immigration raids.
MANDALIT DEL BARCO, BYLINE: Javier Cabral's cell phone has been blowing up with texts and calls from Angelenos snared in the immigration roundups.
JAVIER CABRAL: Are you the homie that got arrested?
DEL BARCO: L.A. Taco's editor-in-chief and his small team of journalists chronicle eyewitness accounts of the raids, and they verify news tips. On their social media site, they also post videos sent to them by people like Jason Brian Gavidia, a 29-year-old U.S. citizen.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
JASON BRIAN GAVIDIA: Homeboy here took my phone, dog. He arrested me, knowing I'm American, and I proved it to this guy.
DEL BARCO: In the video from June 12, Gavidia can be seen getting handcuffed and interrogated by masked men in the LA suburb of Montebello. He later told L.A. Taco and NPR that agents let him go, but they detained one of his friends. A spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirms that during the incident, agents detained and released a U.S. citizen with no outstanding warrants, but they took another person into custody and arrested yet another for assaulting an agent while attempting to flee. This is just one of many stories L.A. Taco has been documenting as immigration sweeps continue across Southern California at car washes, swap meets, warehouses and taco trucks.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
EDGAR DEVORA: They just took all my employees - all of them. It's crazy.
DEL BARCO: L.A. Taco posted this video sent by Edgar Devora, co-owner of Jason's Tacos in East LA. It shows the food truck abandoned with carne asada still sizzling on the grill. Devora told L.A. Taco and NPR that one of the employees and two clients were taken during an immigration raid. This type of incident has become all too familiar, says L.A. Taco commentator Memo Torres.
MEMO TORRES: Folks are scared and rightly so.
DEL BARCO: Torres gives regular updates on L.A. Taco's Instagram feed.
TORRES: On Western and Virginia, agents took taqueros, eloteros and other street vendors. They were seen at the Home Depot in Hawthorne. And they also took a young man today who was at a bus stop on Cahuenga.
DEL BARCO: On its subscription-based website, L.A. Taco also has tips on what to do if agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement come knocking, and a list of pro bono or low-cost legal resources.
(SOUNDBITE OF FLASH GRENADES EXPLODING)
DEL BARCO: During protests against ICE and President Trump last month, L.A. Taco posted videos sent by demonstrators getting tear-gassed or having flash grenades thrown at them by officers in riot gear. And journalists Cabral and Janette Villafana livestreamed from the streets.
(SOUNDBITE OF MONTAGE)
CABRAL: What's up, everyone? I'm in downtown LA. A bunch of police have just started to get here. It's pretty - it's getting pretty scary.
JANETTE VILLAFANA: I had to run to get away from where they were shooting.
DEL BARCO: L.A. Taco has come a long way from 2006 when it began as a lifestyle blog about graffiti, cannabis and tacos. Five years ago, the outlet won a prestigious James Beard award for its food journalism. Beyond recommending the best street tacos, the outlet's coverage expanded to investigative reports on the LA Police Department, the #BlackLivesMatter movement and now the ICE sweeps.
EVELYN MCDONNELL: L.A. Taco has really come into its own by covering the ongoing immigration raids and the ongoing resistance to them. They are out there reporting and speaking for a community that is in extreme crisis.
DEL BARCO: Loyola Marymount University journalism professor Evelyn McDonnell says L.A. Taco has become a go-to news source for the community and other journalists. She says their savvy use of social media adds to the traditional ethos of alternative and community-based journalism.
MCDONNELL: They are providing daily and even hourly coverage. I've seen them debunk false videos online that other outlets were spreading.
DEL BARCO: McDonnell says much of that success has to do with 36-year-old editor Javier Cabral, who started out as an East LA teen with a food blog before becoming a protege of the late LA Times food writer, Jonathan Gold.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
CABRAL: (Singing in Spanish).
DEL BARCO: Cabral also leads a punk band, and it's that same intense energy of his music that he and his reporters infuse into their journalism.
CABRAL: We don't want to fearmonger, but it's really crazy out there. And we're just trying our hardest to move as fast as we can but also just keep our journalistic integrity.
DEL BARCO: L.A. Taco has begun a collaborative media lab for trained and aspiring reporters, social media content creators and community members. And this fall, the outlet is teaming up with the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. Cabral will help teach a course on influencer-style community journalism. Mandalit del Barco, NPR News, Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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