Advocates for greater immigrant protections wrestle with…
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Advocates for greater immigrant protections wrestle with Kenner’s new ‘Latin Flavor Fest’
The city of Kenner, which has seen more immigration arrests than anywhere else in Louisiana since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, is set to launch a new festival on Saturday (Sept. 12), the Brasas Latin Flavor Fest. The fest promises good food, entertainment and live music to celebrate Latino culture.
But after the year that Ceci Gomez has faced, she is strongly disinclined to attend the event.
“It’s like on a Saturday, Kenner comes together, everything is great, and then Monday it’s back to business and taking our people and doing all the horrible things they’re doing,” Gomez said.
Gomez is the director of Unstoppable Kenner, a grassroots community advocacy group that came together in the wake of operation Catahoula Crunch, the immigration enforcement surge in and around Southeast Louisiana. Since the group was founded late last year, she has spent much of her time protesting Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement — and her own city’s complicity with it.
Given the police department’s ongoing cooperation with Trump’s immigration agenda, Gomez said she thought the idea of a city-sponsored festival celebrating Kenner’s Latino population, the highest concentration of Latino residents anywhere in the state, was insulting.
“It’s a slap in the face,” she said.
#local
The city of Kenner, which has seen more immigration arrests than anywhere else in Louisiana since President Donald Trump returned to office last year, is set to launch a new festival on Saturday (Sept. 12), the Brasas Latin Flavor Fest. The fest promises good food, entertainment and live music to celebrate Latino culture.
But after the year that Ceci Gomez has faced, she is strongly disinclined to attend the event.
“It’s like on a Saturday, Kenner comes together, everything is great, and then Monday it’s back to business and taking our people and doing all the horrible things they’re doing,” Gomez said.
Gomez is the director of Unstoppable Kenner, a grassroots community advocacy group that came together in the wake of operation Catahoula Crunch, the immigration enforcement surge in and around Southeast Louisiana. Since the group was founded late last year, she has spent much of her time protesting Trump’s aggressive approach to immigration enforcement — and her own city’s complicity with it.
Given the police department’s ongoing cooperation with Trump’s immigration agenda, Gomez said she thought the idea of a city-sponsored festival celebrating Kenner’s Latino population, the highest concentration of Latino residents anywhere in the state, was insulting.
“It’s a slap in the face,” she said.
#local
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