Jessica Juarez was whispering along Alondra Boulevard, filled with trash cans, and her voice ripped as she helped clean up the community with other residents on Sunday morning.
The volunteers were Paramount’s parents and neighbors, equipped with plastic bags, latex gloves and masks.
Law enforcement was irritating the air the day after protesters in Alondra Boulevard fired gas tanks and grenades.
“I’m proud of the power that our community, demonstrated,” said Juarez, 40. “Like they put so much fear into the most important situation, what is this? These guys didn’t even clean up on their own.”
The Trump administration said Saturday that Paramount was sent to national focus the next day after the weekend as protesters would send 2,000 National Guard into Los Angeles when they attack local businesses.
Tensions rise again in the Los Angeles area on Sunday, as protesters face federal and local authorities in downtown Los Angeles
Paramount is a small 54,000 city southeast of Los Angeles, known for how its residents and government officials worked in the 1980s to transform their hometown from a withered “rust belt” community to a national award-winning community.
The city’s website says Paramount’s crimes (more than 80% of residents are Latino) have fallen to an all-time low.
Residents said they were shaken by chaos between federal immigration authorities and protesters on Saturday.
The scorch marks in the intersection outside the Home Depot on the Alondra Boulevard Show, the Flash Bang grenade is extinguished.
Over the weekend, multiple police agencies responded to the city. By Sunday morning, a group of disguised National Guards were stationed in a commercial park with an armored vehicle where the Homeland Security Department was located.
Union organizers and local residents Ardelia Aldridge and Alejandro Maldonado organized the cleanup nearby.
“It’s Sunday’s solidarity,” Aldridge said.
Paramount’s smoke shrouded smoke shrouded riot gear police side is far from the close friend’s community, once known as the “city of the United States” and was particularly praised by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for its turnaround.
“The whole community is praying for everything to stay peaceful and the community moves forward,” Peggy Lemons said in an interview on Sunday.
“Paramount is a community of blue-collar workers who do their best every day,” Lemons said.
“Today, some people are angry that the federal government enters their city,” she said. “That comes from fear.”
Federal officers fired cans of smoke at protesters near the business park on Saturday, and fruit-green smoke landed in nearby residential communities.
“Why do you call it, in addition to attacks on Paramount and the people who live here?” Maldonado said. “People in the community stand on unjust immigration policies.”
In many ways, Paramount became the starting point for the rising federal response to the National Guard.
“It seems they do want to fight this little guy,” Aldridge said.
There is a clear fear in the community.
He watched police fire tear gas on Saturday afternoon and then came out Sunday morning to help clean up Alondra Boulevard. He learned that some people may have been out of control during the protests, but believed that people outside the business park just wanted the answer.
“And we still don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he said.
“I’m so happy to see the people here,” he said of Sunday service. “There’s a real feeling of being overwhelmed. God is good. The most important thing is good.”
