A Shrimp Cocktail, A Family’s Dream and the ICE Assault on Our Community

Four years ago this month, my wife and I pulled into the bustling parking lot at 1901 E Pacific Coast Highway in Long Beach. It was our first visit to Mariscos El Garage, a family-run seafood truck we had just read about in a moving LA TACO feature. The lot was packed. Lines were long. Tables overflowed with customers laughing, eating and soaking in the vibrant energy of a Latino-led enterprise in full bloom.

That day we joined the crowd – two old Gringos stepping into what felt like a joyful street festival. Behind the window, I found Chef Elsa Barragán hard at work. Her daughter took our order, smiling with ease, and when I told her we had read their story, her eyes lit up. A short while later, as we enjoyed our first bite of the legendary shrimp cocktail – crafted from a recipe passed down in secrecy from Elsa’s father on his deathbed – Elsa herseIlf stepped out of the truck. She made her way through the crowd and walked directly up to us. She welcomed us like family. She told us more of their story – how she and her husband started this business with all their children working alongside them. We never forgot that moment. And we kept coming back.

Until Thursday, July 3.

When we pulled in this time, the difference hit like a punch to the gut. No crowd. No full tables. No music. No festival vibe. Just an empty lot and a quiet food truck.

Elsa greeted us with the same warmth as always. “How’s your wife? I see her staying out of the heat in the car, yes?” Her young son took my order. Her spirit was as radiant as ever, but the absence of community around her was unmistakable.

On the drive home, my wife and I voiced the same concern: something had changed. That night, I sent Elsa a message. I asked gently if ICE operations were hurting their business. Her reply broke my heart:

“Yes, unfortunately, our business has been directly impacted by recent ICE operations in the area. We’ve seen a noticeable decline in our customer base, and the fear and disruption they’ve caused have hit our community hard.”

Let’s be clear about what’s happening here. Trump’s ICE agenda isn’t about public safety – it’s about public fear. It’s about targeting communities of color, criminalizing working-class immigrants and sending masked, armed agents into our neighborhoods not to protect us, but to terrify us.

Elsa’s family didn’t just build a food truck – they built a community hub. A place of pride. A place of entrepreneurship. A place of joy. And now, because of government-sanctioned fear campaigns, their tables sit empty. Their dreams are under siege. And so are the livelihoods of countless other small businesses across Long Beach and beyond.

This isn’t just an immigrant story. This is an American story – about hard work, family, food, culture and the right to thrive in peace.

It’s time for all of us – Latinos, Black folks, Asians, and yes, Gringos like me – to show up. Not just in words, but in action. If you live in Long Beach or anywhere near it, go. Go to Mariscos El Garage. Order the shrimp cocktail. Sit at one of those tables. Tip big. Bring friends. Bring your neighbors. Make it a celebration again.

Because when government fear tactics hollow out our communities, the only real answer is community itself.

And if we allow the most vibrant, hardworking families among us to be driven into the shadows, then we are complicit in the very erasure we claim to abhor.

Support Elsa. Support every small business like hers. Show up. Speak out. And let’s turn ICE’s campaign of fear into a local campaign of fierce solidarity.

Visit Mariscos El Garage at 1901 E Pacific Coast Hwy, Long Beach, CA 90806. Find them on Instagram @mariscoselgarage for updates.

Stephen Downing is a resident of Long Beach, a retired LAPD deputy chief and former bureau chief of training. He writes on policing, civil liberties, and the rule of law in Exposing the Con, Defending Democracy. You can follow his work at stephendowning.substack.com.