Amid prospect of ICE at World Cup video games, distributors weigh livelihoods towards security

Sergio Jimenez, co-founder of the Community Power Collective, an L.A. nonprofit that advocates for distributors, stated many are “already in the red for not having worked a lot” since final June as a result of ICE raids. Now, he stated, they’re being compelled to weigh their livelihoods towards security.

“We shouldn’t have those choices, to gamble one’s lives just to ensure that there’s an access to an economic opportunity,” Jimenez stated.

SoFi Stadium employees threaten to strike

The union representing employees inside SoFi Stadium has threatened to strike if a number of situations aren’t met — together with holding ICE out of video games.

UNITE HERE Local 11, which represents about 2,000 stadium employees, together with cooks, servers and bartenders, held a rally outdoors the FIFA workplace in downtown Los Angeles on May 1. At the rally, plastic soccer balls rained down upon part of the road as employees holding “Kick ICE out!” posters chanted “ICE has got to go! Ole, ole, ole!”

Isaac Martinez, a 38-year-old cook dinner and store steward who has labored on the stadium for 4 1/2 years, stated employees are scared.

“Sometimes ICE goes off a person’s profile,” he stated. “If I look Mexican, Latino … we are a city that’s full of Latin communities. We’ve seen what happened in Minneapolis, Chicago and here in Los Angeles. So there’s real fear.”