El Salvadorian restaurant staff praised for helping officers hurt in LA riots: ‘They're humans'
A Salvadorian restaurant owner helped cops who were hurt in the riots rocking Los Angeles, even though she sympathizes with some of the protesters — and footage of her actions is now going viral.
'They're humans,' eatery owner Elizabeth Mendoza told The Post of the injured officers she and her workers assisted as they sheltered in her Compton restaurant La Ceiba in the heat of the city's riots Saturday.
'And they were just doing their duty, trying to protect everyone around,' Mendoza said, explaining she didn't think twice when the cops asked for help.
5 Elizabeth Mendoza let police officers battling protestors into her restaurant to help them after they were teargassed.
Ringo Chiu
Mendoza and some other local Hispanic workers said that while they agree with the demonstrators' cause — migrants' rights — violence and looting are no way to achieve anything.
'Spray painting and all this damage, that's not helping anybody,'' said Pedro Perez, a worker at a nearby Boost Mobile that was damaged.
'And right here, where they were spray painting, mainly all these people are all Hispanic owners.'
'The whole point is to be united, and you guys are damaging your own people's businesses. I just think it's stupid,' he said.
Mendoza said she was working at La Ceiba that afternoon as clashes across the city between police and demonstrators protesting ICE's recent mass arrests of illegal immigrants grew increasingly violent.
As a face-off grew particularly heated nearby, several sheriff's deputies were caught in a cloud of tear gas and staggered into the restaurant and asked for help.
5 Mendoza immigrated to the US from El Salvador 30 years ago, and opened La Ceiba in 2015.
Ringo Chiu
Mendoza jumped into action and joined her staff, fanning down the cops and giving them milk to pour over their burning eyes — even letting one of the officers stand in the restaurant's freezer to cool down.
The scene — of Latin Americans readily helping police hurt trying to contain protests for migrants — quickly gained attention online, with many praising Mendoza and her staff for their integrity and humanity.
Mendoza, a US citizen who immigrated to the US 30 years ago, said she supported the protesters' cause, although she added that looting and violence were no way to achieve anything.
'Things should be done properly. That's not the way to handle the situation,' she said.
5 Los Angeles descended into chaos over the weekend with protests after ICE carried out mass raids on illegal immigrants
AFP via Getty Images
5 A boarded-up T-Mobile in downtown Los Angeles was looted.
Ringo Chiu
The restaurant owner said many of the protesters are from her community — and ended up working to help protect her business from some of the vandals.
'There were a lot of people also protecting the restaurant. Most of the protesters around here, they are like family, so they were protecting the place,' she said.
Not every business nearby was so lucky: Many in the strip mall neighboring La Ceiba were vandalized over the weekend.
5 Mendoza said she supports the protesters' cause but doesn't believe in rioting or looting.
Ringo Chiu
Mendoza said she is hopeful that the riots will calm down and that ICE won't deport hard workers who are truly in the US to chase the American dream.
'I want this to have a peaceful ending and to make them be smarter about deporting people and run background checks to make sure they are not deporting people who are just here for a better life,' she said of federal agents.
'They need to be deporting people who are really here for the wrong reasons.'
LA's riots were sparked on Friday after ICE carried out several raids across the city and protesters attempted to intervene.
Demonstrators eventually showed up at a downtown detention center where detainees were believed to be held, and after violence broke out in places, President Trump sent in the National Guard to quell the chaos.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Bloomberg
21 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Ex-Columbia Grad Student Arrives in Newark After Release
Ex-Columbia Grad Student Khalil arrives in Newark Airport after release from ICE Custody. (Source: Bloomberg)
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Mahmoud Khalil met with cheers at airport in New Jersey
A crowd erupted into cheers for Mahmoud Khalil, his wife and child as they arrived at Newark Airport on Saturday following Khalil's released on bail from a Louisiana ICE detention center, more than three months after he was arrested outside his apartment on Columbia University's campus. CNN's Gloria Pazmino was at the airport for his arrival, which included the presence of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Pasadena cancels swim programs at three parks, citing fears over immigration raids
The city of Pasadena canceled swimming lessons and other recreation programs at three of its parks on Saturday, citing concerns about possible immigration enforcement by federal agents. Lisa Derderian, a spokesperson for the city, said officials made the decision after seeing posts on social media that showed "what appears to be federal enforcement activity" at Villa Parke, a city park located a block north of the 210 Freeway. Programs were canceled "out of an abundance of caution" at Villa Parke, Robinson Park and Victory Park to avoid "the potential escalation of conflict that unannounced federal enforcement activity causes," the city said in a social media post. Officials with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Customs Border Protection agencies did not immediately respond to inquiries from The Times. Read more: Reports of immigration raid at bus stop in Pasadena spark outrage The city's announcement comes just days after federal agents detained people at a bus stop at Orange Grove Boulevard and Los Robles Avenue, a few blocks from Villa Parke. That operation drew an angry response from U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, whose congressional district includes Pasadena, and other politicians. Chu said one unidentified agent, in an incident caught on video, pointed a gun at a man seeking to take video of the agent's license plate. "The ICE agent jumped out of the car and pointed a gun as though he was going to shoot the young man, just for shooting a video of that license plate," she said. "It's outrageous." Times staff writer Rong-Gong Lin II contributed to this report. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
