The Car Wash Raids

John Carlos Frey sits down with Flor Melendrez to talk about the wave of ICE raids that swept through Los Angeles car washes over the past year. Melendez shares her personal path into labor organizing — growing up the child of garment worker parents, negotiating wages for them as a child, and later working with day laborers before helping build the clean car wash campaign into what is now the Clean Car Wash Worker Center where she is the Executive Director.  The two also discuss the racial and political dimensions of the raids — why car washes, garment factories, and Home Depot parking lots were targeted, and whether the operations reflect broader anti-immigrant sentiment tied to the upcoming election. Melendrez closes with reflections on more raids yet to come, community resilience, the networks that have formed in response to the raids and how people can support the organization's work.  https://www.cleancarwash.org/  https://theraidpodcast.org/ Disclaimer: The statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants on this program are solely their own and do not necessarily represent those of the distributor of the program and any person or entity affiliated with said distributor ("distributor's affiliates").  The distributor and distributor's affiliates are not responsible for, and shall not be liable for, the statements and opinions expressed by the host or participants, or for any content that appears on the program.      Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.