LA protests: Small demonstrations continue after massive ‘No Kings Day’ rally in downtown LA Saturday

Tensions in Southern California could flare up again as President Donald Trump pushes to expand the ICE raids that triggered days of protests, and local businesses are caught in the middle of it all.

While Trump posted a long missive in which he says he’ll expand immigration raids to cities like Chicago and New York, in Los Angeles, the cleanup continues.

The Little Tokyo area in downtown L.A. was the hardest hit by the anti-ICE protests. The small businesses here are paying the price.

“We lost about 50% to 60%… that’s a huge amount,” said Rico Alsaffarini, who has owned Mike’s Deli for the past 15 years.

The demonstrations over the last couple of weeks haven’t just cost him lost business, but he also has to replace his windows. His neighboring business has had its windows boarded up for nearly a week now.

“It’s money wasted and it seems like I’m closed,” said Cos Trujillo, from Aid & Abet Bail Bonds.

Trujillo said his bail bond business had already been suffering since the COVID-19 pandemic. He says the recent protests have made things even worse, which is frustrating since his own grandfather immigrated here from Mexico.

“I support them 100%. I brought my family to come to the protest on Saturday, and we marched, peacefully,” said Trujillo. “So it’s frustrating to see these kids that come after the protests, that are peaceful protests for the most part, and they come and destroy property and vandalize.”

Signs hang throughout Little Tokyo professing the community’s deep ties to immigration. But that message didn’t even keep the Los Angeles Immigration & Photo Services business from getting tagged.

For many of the business owners caught in the middle, supporting the protest against immigration raids is getting harder as they deal with more and more damage.

“Please, please do not destroy or vandalize our community,” Trujillo said.

Since June 7, LAPD has made 575 protest-related arrests, including 14 for looting.