LASD honors restaurant for helping deputies during immigration protests
By Matthew Rodriguez
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LOS ANGELES (KCAL, KCBS) — The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will honor the employees of a Compton restaurant for helping its community during the anti-ICE demonstrations this summer.
When the protests began during the first weekend of June, La Ceiba Restaurante served as a haven for both deputies and protesters during the demonstrations, with owner Elizabeth Mendoza and her staff helping anyone who came through their doors.
Mendoza, who immigrated from El Salvador, said she sympathized with the protesters, giving them water, food and napkins because the immigration operations affected many of her longtime customers.
“My kids, my husband, we’re OK,” she said in June. “But, I know a lot of people. They don’t have papers. They don’t have anything, but they want to work.”
As the protests escalated on June 8, a violent clash between protesters, law enforcement and other agitators erupted a few feet away from La Ceiba’s front door. Mendoza described the altercation as a war zone.
Amid the chaos, two deputies stumbled into the restaurant after being exposed to tear gas. Mendoza and her staff quickly rushed to their aid, flushing out the chemicals from the deputies’ faces with milk. As more deputies walked into La Ceiba, the restaurant’s staff escorted some to the freezer so they could cool down and handed out food and water.
Mendoza said she helped both the protesters and deputies because they are a part of her community.
“I need to help when the people need me,” Mendoza said in June. “People like me, they work for the community.”
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