4th of July celebrations canceled, postponed across LA area over immigration raids

LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Some Fourth of Julycel­e­bra­tions across the Los Ange­les area are being can­celed or post­poned over com­mu­ni­ty fears fol­low­ing weeks of immi­gra­tion enforce­ment raids across the region.

Among the impact­ed events is Los Ange­les Coun­ty’s Glo­ria Moli­na Grand Park Sum­mer Block Par­ty.

n a post on Insta­gram, orga­niz­ers said it was being post­poned out of “an abun­dance of cau­tion” and that they are com­mit­ted to bring­ing it back lat­er this sum­mer.

We know this is dis­ap­point­ing news. We were so look­ing for­ward to cel­e­brat­ing with all of you at #TheP­ark­forEvery­one. Please know that your safe­ty is our absolute first pri­or­i­ty,” the post read.

The Block Par­ty was sched­uled for 4–9:30 p.m. Fri­day at the down­town venue. A new date has not yet been announced.

Addi­tion­al­ly, the L.A. Coun­ty Depart­ment of Parks and Recre­ation announced that this year’s East Los Ange­les Rockin’ 4th of July cel­e­bra­tion was can­celed in response to the recent ICE activ­i­ty.

Offi­cials also said it is post­pon­ing the Sum­mer Movies & Con­certs series, includ­ing at Sch­abarum Park.

These post­pone­ments and can­cel­la­tions come amid oth­ers in recent days includ­ing the cities of Bell Gar­dens and Cud­ahy and Los Ange­les City Coun­cil­woman Ysabel Jurado’s Dis­trict 14 — all of which are major­i­ty His­pan­ic com­mu­ni­ties.

Inde­pen­dence Day events in Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Lin­coln Heights, and North­east Los Ange­les are also being post­poned, accord­ing to the Boyle Heights Beat web­site.

“We’re respond­ing to the cri­sis with the pres­ence of fed­er­al agents in the com­mu­ni­ty,” Jura­do spokes­woman Ale­jan­dra Alar­con told the media out­let.

In can­cel­ing its 66th Annu­al Inde­pen­dence Day Parade, the El Sereno Bicen­ten­ni­al Com­mit­tee not­ed that “our par­tic­i­pa­tion is usu­al­ly robust with over 1,200 peo­ple march­ing in the parade. The peo­ple who par­tic­i­pate in the parade are some of the most patri­ot­ic peo­ple you would meet. They believe in the promise of this land, of life, lib­er­ty and the pur­suit of hap­pi­ness

“This year we will have to can­cel our cel­e­bra­tions. We stand with our com­mu­ni­ty. The safe­ty of our par­tic­i­pants, spec­ta­tors, and vol­un­teers is at the fore­front.”