Here are some normal things that normal people hope to do throughout the week: Go to a doctor's appointment. Take your kid to soccer practice. Live your life in peace, and not fear.
Chrissa Olson here. I've been following Weekly staff writer Celia Jiménez's coverage of the immigration enforcement operations in Salinas this past week, and I'm thinking about how the presence of ICE outside the Monterey County Jail, which prompted a lockdown, has impacts that echo far beyond the initial protests, and into the normal, daily lives people are trying to live.
This past week, maybe somebody did not go to their doctor's appointment: Medical interpreter Celina Alejo, who went to the protest outside the jail on Nov. 5, told Jiménez that the amount of interpretations she's done has dropped from about seven to eight per day, to one to three. Alejo primarily serves farmworkers at clinics in Salinas. In a cease-and-desist letter to ICE, County Counsel Susan Blitch said ICE vehicles blocked access to employee parking for the Natividad Medical Center.
Even if you wanted to take your kid to soccer practice, it might have been canceled: Salinas resident Lisa Navarro also told Jiménez that she's recently seen practices canceled and low game attendance. By the jail is the Salinas Regional Soccer Complex, where ICE vehicles were also spotted outside, according to the cease-and-desist letter.
And peace—it's not exactly conducive to peace to see videos of ICE chasing someone down or facing off against protesters.
ICE hasn't responded to a single request for comment from Jiménez, and just hours after county counsel sent the cease-and-desist letter, ICE officers were back again outside the Salinas jail.
I encourage you to read the stories Jiménez has gathered about the ways they have cast a shadow over daily life.