After being detained by ICE for nearly four months while taking a regular route to work, a Culver City man named Palatero has returned safely to his family and is on the verge of receiving his green card.
In June, Ambrosio “Enrique” Lozano was detained by masked federal agents while selling paletas, or frozen fruit snacks, outside a church. A striking photo of his abandoned ice cream truck Going viral on social mediapromoting community efforts to bring him home.
Lozano, who lives in South Los Angeles and has driven a Palatero cart in the Culver City area for more than 20 years, was one of thousands of undocumented immigrants detained in Los Angeles this summer as part of the Trump administration’s ongoing mass deportations. ICE raids rock Southern California triggered widespread protests Federal Government Immigration Policy.
After 114 days in detention, Lozano was granted a green card on Wednesday through a 245(i) petition that relied on A little-known provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) Allows certain individuals who are not eligible to apply for lawful permanent residence in the United States
Lozano was reunited with his family two days later at his sister’s home in South Gate, her niece, Kimberly Noriega, told The Times on Saturday.
Lozano walked in the door and was greeted with “Welcome home!” balloons and tres leches for a birthday he spent in detention. Noriega cooked him a sumptuous feast, including barbecue, tortillas and “a big bag of old tortillas” – the first thing he mentioned to her on FaceTime after his release.
“As difficult as it was, we never lost faith and we always trusted in God,” Noriega said. “I feel like it’s a small victory in a bigger thing.”
Lozano was selling his paletta in front of the Iglesia Bautista Libre Resurrección church in Culver City on the afternoon of June 23 when he was picked up by ICE agents and taken to an undisclosed location in an unmarked vehicle.
“He told them, ‘Why are you targeting me? I’m just doing my job,'” Noriega said. Lozano has no criminal record and his customers love him. But the agent didn’t relent.
Noriega said Lozano was allowed to quickly call his wife and explain the situation, but about 40 seconds into the call, his phone hung up. For days, his family was unable to obtain additional information about his whereabouts.
Noriega later learned that her uncle tried to text her aunt after arriving at the detention center but received no reply. ICE agents then took his phone.
With the help of the Community Self-Defense Alliance Donate Noriega and her family found legal representation for Lozano from the community. Later, more than 150 people, many of whom had purchased palettas from Lozano over the years, wrote letters of support to help him in court.
Noriega said Lozano’s attorney, Ebony Espinosa, always believed Lozano would get a green card. But Noriega could never be sure, and the uncertainty haunted her.
“There’s so much pressure,” Noriega said. “My aunt was crying and my mom was losing her complicity in trying to do everything.”
Things got worse when Lozano’s wife, Anita, struggled to answer questions during the court hearing and feared she was ruining her husband’s chances of being released.
Fortunately, the judge was patient with Lozano’s family and even allowed them to take a two-hour break to retrieve photos proving his marriage to Anita.
“My aunt literally took the pictures off the wall because we couldn’t find her wedding album,” Noriega said. “You know, she took the biggest pictures, like those huge 20-by-20 pictures, and we took those with us.”
The court resumed for a few minutes, long enough for the opposing committee to withdraw its appeal, and then the judge told Lozano, “Welcome to America.”
Lozano clasped his hands in front of his face as if in prayer, full of gratitude.
“God gave him the strength to keep going every day,” Noriega said.
After his release, Lozano was surprised to see how much attention his story received, Noriega said. She told her uncle that he now had a powerful message to share with other detainees.
“You can tell them to be strong,” she told him. “If this happens to you, it can happen to someone else.”
