Benjamin Marcelo Guerrero-Cruz was walking his family’s dog in Van Nuys last week when Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents took him, according to a GoFundMe page started on behalf of Guerrero-Cruz’s family. The 18-year-old rising senior at Reseda Charter High School was scheduled to start the academic year Monday, along with more than half a million other students in the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Instead, Guerrero-Cruz is spending his first week of school in a detention center — “in a freezing detention cell with 50 strangers,” the GoFundMe page alleges.

The detainee locator tool on the Department of Homeland Security website confirms that Guerrero-Cruz, who was born in Chile, is “in ICE custody.”

In a statement to KTLA-TV, a Homeland Security official said: “Benjamin Guerrero-Cruz, an illegal alien from Chile, overstayed his visa by more than two years, abusing the Visa Waiver Program under which he entered the United States, which required him to depart the United States on March 15, 2023.”

The fundraiser’s organizer, Rita Silva, alleges that Guerrero-Cruz does not currently have access to basic hygiene or an adequate food source.

“He has only water, and since being detained, he has not had proper access to a bathroom, there are just two toilets for everyone to share. He is cold, scared, and one of the youngest there,” Silva says. “Other detainees, many older than him, have taken him under their wing to protect him.”

The fundraiser looks to help Guerrero-Cruz’s single mother with legal services, immigration fees and living expenses while caring for her 5-month-old twin sons and 6-year-old son.

As the school year starts this week, LAUSD is forced to deal with the reality of the ongoing ICE raids throughout the city and being monitored for how it plans to protect students and families.

This week, my colleague Howard Blume reported that a 15-year-old boy was reportedly handcuffed, detained and had guns drawn at him by immigration agents just outside Arleta High School on Monday. The situation was later described as an alleged case of mistaken identity by L.A. schools Supt. Alberto Carvalho. “He was not an adult,” Carvalho said. “This is the exact type of incident that traumatizes our community and it cannot repeat itself.”

The teenager — a student with disabilities who attends a different school — was with his family members when the arrest occurred. He was ultimately released after his family intervened, L.A. Unified School District officials said.

“Such actions — violently detaining a child just outside a public school — are absolutely reprehensible and should have no place in our country,” Kelly Gonez, the LAUSD District 6 school board member who represents Arleta High, said in a social media post.

“As we prepare for the start of the school year this week, we are doubling down on our efforts to protect students and families such as by providing safe zones outside of our campuses, working with partners,” she continued in her statement. “I denounce these violent aggressions, the continued unconstitutional targeting of our Latino community and call on the federal government to immediately stop harassing, abducting and tearing apart our communities.”

Speaking to the concern that Gonez and many parents across L.A. have regarding student safety, Carvalho said that the district will create and expand “safe zones” around campuses before and after school, and that everyone must work to protect the most vulnerable populations.

Carvalho will send staff across the school system beginning the first day of classes to patrol the streets around schools and ensure the safe passage of students from school to home. The safe zones will cover areas most affected by immigration enforcement.

In recent weeks, Carvalho said LAUSD has been equipping households with informational packets that explain “the rights of our children and their parents, but also providing easy access to the resources that we have available to all of them.”

Additionally, LAUSD is working to reroute buses to make transportation more accessible to families and has created a “compassion fund” to provide general help for families, including legal assistance.

LAUSD officials aren’t the only ones looking out for students as classes start. Community organizations are equipping parents and fellow concerned citizens with tools and plans for how to ensure a safe start to the academic year.

On Wednesday night, Unión del Barrio — an independent political organization advocating for immigrant rights and social justice — held a Zoom meeting called “Community Plan to Defend Our Schools.”

Guadalupe Carrasco Cardona, an LAUSD educator, coordinator and leading member of Unión del Barrio, spoke to the Times ahead of the meeting.

“It’s really going to be about community members coming out around the school areas [and] even small businesses,” she said. “I know at my school a lot of students go to the liquor store, they pick up their little munchies, they pick up their coffee or beverages and things like that. And so it’s a callout to all those other folks to know what to do in the event that ICE is in their vicinity and how they can help protect all students.”

The agenda for Wednesday’s online gathering was in part informed by the crowdsourced concerns from parents and educators.

“A lot of parents are concerned about transportation, [specifically] what’s going to happen from their house to the bus and then on the bus and then from the bus to school,” Cardona said. “We have a lot of parents who are afraid of what happened at the Arleta orientation. I know at my school, we have a lot of parents that have been asking for alternative ways to complete all the paperwork that’s necessary for students to register for the new school year.”

But for Cardona, Thursday, the first day of classes in the district, will become the new reference point for how deeply affected families in the school system were by ICE over the summer.

“As a teacher I fear for students that don’t return, that aren’t just like in hiding, but that may have been been kidnapped and deported without us knowing because over the summer it’s really difficult to keep track,” Cardona explained. “Some things happen by word of mouth, but some things just happen, especially during the mass raids. We’ve been trying to keep track, but it’s been very difficult to confront.”

The organization’s goal is to have families’ trips to school be as uneventful as possible so that students can focus on getting an education.

And although LAUSD has put forward a strong face and message about student protection, Cardona expressed concern about the district’s current, seemingly nonexistent implementation strategy.

“I have not as an educator — and I’m also a coordinator, so I actually deal with buses — heard a single peep about how [the student protection strategy] is going to be different and what I need to be doing for my students so that it’s different than last year, for instance,” she said.

“I’m very happy about the fact that L.A. Unified, L.A. elected officials and our leaders are at least in word in support of our migrants and immigrants. So that’s huge because that gives us the support to do this outside organizing that we’re doing,” Cardona said. “I mean, it’s not enough because it would be better for us to have actual official resources and support instead of us just doing this on our own.”

More than 350 people logged into the Wednesday night Zoom call, on which Unión del Barrio leadership shared phone numbers for community members to dial if they see suspicious activities, fielded questions from participants and gave a tutorial on how to spot ICE vehicles. (A helpful hint: Their cars are usually American brands and have unusual license plates.)

“We feel that as teachers, we are part of the front line of the defense of our students and community. We’re proud of that, because not only do we get to work with students and educate them, but we also have that responsibility to make sure that they are OK,” said Unión del Barrio member Ron Gochez, who also serves as an LAUSD teacher in South L.A.

“What we are asking, our call to action to community members is every one of us lives near schools — it may be schools where your own children go, it may be schools that you don’t have children at, but it’s in your neighborhood,” Cardona said Wednesday night to an online crowd that included United Teachers Los Angeles union members and concerned citizens.

“We are asking you to come out. Show up to your local school tomorrow. Tomorrow’s schools start at 8:30 a.m. throughout the L.A. area or whichever city that you’re in. Come out be the eyes and ears.”

Free back-to-school vaccinations

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

As the academic year kicks off, Cedar-Sinai is offering free back-to-school vaccinations and general health screenings for young kids and teens through its mobile clinic. The program does not ask about immigration status and all clinics take place on LAUSD property.

The goal of the program is simple: Increase access to family healthcare and protect communities from diseases.

The mobile clinics look to provide as smooth a transition into the school year as possible by checking off inoculations required by institutions.

“Kids entering transitional kindergarten need boosters for measles, mumps, rubella, chickenpox, diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis (whooping cough) and polio. This includes the DTaP vaccine — given to younger children — which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis,” Cedar-Sinai nurse practitioner Anne Traynor said in a news release. “Older children, especially 11-year-olds and teens, receive the Tdap booster, which offers continued protection against the same three illnesses but in a smaller dose appropriate for adolescents and adults. It’s not just one age group; we’re vaccinating children from birth through age 18.”

“These vaccines protect against childhood preventable illnesses — measles, chickenpox, pneumonia, meningitis,” Cedar-Sinai pediatrician Arthur Cho said in a news release. “In the past, we saw high rates of these infections. Today, because of vaccines, we rarely see them. When children aren’t vaccinated, they’re at greater risk of getting sick, ending up in the hospital, or even worse.”

As for the people with vaccine hesitancy, Cho “understands the concerns” but continues to trust the studies and science behind it all.

“We’ve studied these vaccines for decades. Side effects are generally mild — fever or some swelling — but the alternative is far worse,” Cho said. “These diseases still exist and can be deadly. Getting vaccinated protects your child and others in the community.”

To see where the mobile clinics will pop up throughout August, click here.

Exploring singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley’s Latinx roots

(Mary Guibert and Magnolia Pictures)

This week De Los editor Suzy Exposito spoke with Mary Guibert, the Panamanian-born mother of late musician Jeff Buckley, about what it was like to raise the musical legend. Buckley’s life and tragic death have resurfaced into the public conscience thanks to a recent documentary about his life, “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley,” which received a limited release Aug. 8 and is expanding to more theaters this weekend before going to HBO later in the year.

In the piece, Guibert recounts moving to Orange County as an immigrant from the Panama Canal Zone in the ‘60s. She mentions the joyous and the fraught connections she has to Latinidad and how she shared her heritage with her son. Guibert also discusses what finally led her to agree to work with director Amy Berg on the new doc.

Stories we read this week that we think you should read

Unless otherwise noted, all stories in this section are from the L.A. Times.

Chicano Moratorium 55th Anniversary

It’s been nearly 55 years since more than 20,000 demonstrators marched through East Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 1970, for the National Chicano Moratorium Against the Vietnam War. But the protest for peace devolved into conflict between demonstrators and sheriff’s deputies. By day’s end, hundreds were arrested and trailblazing Latino journalist Ruben Salazar was dead.

In 2020, The Times commemorated the event’s 50th anniversary with a holistic account of the actions that took place that day, the cultural moment in which it occurred and its lasting political/social/cultural ramifications.

Check out our coverage here.

Immigration and the border

• ‘Help me, please!’: Video captures ICE arrest outside L.A. courthouse
• L.A. volunteers who document ICE raids are being arrested. How to do it safely
• The Chicano artist melting ice blocks in Riverside has a bigger story to tell

Education

• Los Angeles public schools to open with unprecedented protections for immigrant children
• Agents detain student at gunpoint near school; safe zones to be expanded around LAUSD campuses
• L.A. school year begins with lookouts for ICE — as well as normal thrills, jitters
  

Arts and Entertainment

• Rauw Alejandro to receive Hispanic Heritage award, teases new album ‘Cosa Nuestra: Capítulo 0’
• Original cast member David Zayas plays a pivotal role in ‘Dexter: Resurrection’
• Ángela Aguilar, regional Mexican royalty, plots her next power move
• Gone too soon, an unsettled life finds focus in ‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’
• Hollywood takes a wrecking ball to Los Angeles
• ‘Superman’ used to chase Nazis. Now it’s the tamale lady
  

Rest in Peace Boyle Heights Beat’s Carmen Gonzalez

• The journalist Carmen Gonzalez told the story of her community, L.A.’s Boyle Heights (NPR)

(Jackie Rivera / For The Times; Martina Ibáñez-Baldor / Los Angeles Times)