Paramount, a proud Latino suburb, thrust in center of Trump crackdown

Jessica Juarez walked along Alondra Boulevard with a trash bag full of spent gas canisters, her voice hoarse as she helped clean her community with other residents Sunday morning.

The volunteers were parents and neighbors in Paramount, armed with plastic bags, latex gloves and face masks.

An acrid odor lingered in the air the day after law enforcement fired gas canisters and flash bang grenades at protesters on Alondra Boulevard.

“I’m proud of our community, of the strength we showed,” Juarez, 40, said. “It’s like they put so much fear into Paramount, and for what? These guys didn’t even clean up after themselves.”

Paramount was thrown into the national spotlight over the weekend as the Trump administration on Saturday said it would send 2,000 National Guard troops into Los Angeles after a second day in which protesters confronted immigration agents during raids of local businesses.

Tension rose again Sunday in the Los Angeles area as protesters faced off with federal and local authorities in downtown L.A.

Paramount, a small city of 54,000 in southeastern Los Angeles County, is known for how its residents and government officials worked in the 1980s to transform their hometown from a blighted “rust belt” community to one that gained national awards.

The city’s website says that crime in Paramount, where more than 80% of residents are Latino, has fallen to all-time lows.

Residents say the chaotic clashes between federal immigration authorities and protesters on Saturday left them shaken.

Scorch marks in the intersection outside the Home Depot on Alondra Boulevard show where flash bang grenades went off.

Multiple police agencies responded to the city over the weekend. By Sunday morning, a group of camouflaged National Guard troops were stationed in a business park with armored vehicles where a Department of Homeland Security office is located.

Union organizers and local residents Ardelia Aldridge and Alejandro Maldonado helped organize a cleanup effort in the neighborhood.

“It’s solidarity Sunday,” Aldridge said.

The images of Paramount shrouded in smoke and flanked by police in riot gear were a far cry from the close-knit community that was once named an “All-America City” and received a special commendation from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors for its turnaround.

“The whole community is just praying that things stay peaceful and the community moves forward,” Mayor Peggy Lemons said in an interview on Sunday.

“Paramount was all about a community of blue-collar workers who are doing their best to get by every day,” Lemons said.

“Today there are people who are angry about the federal government coming into their city,” she said. “That comes from fear.”

On Saturday, federal officers fired smoke canisters at protesters near the business park, and that putrid green smoke descended onto the nearby residential community.

“What else do you call it but an attack on Paramount and the people who live here?” Maldonado said. “People in the community were standing up to unjust immigration policies.”

In many ways, Paramount became the starting point for the escalating federal response that has brought the National Guard.

“It really does seem like they wanted to pick a fight with the little guy,” Aldridge said.

There’s a palpable fear in the community, Pastor Brian Warth at Chapel of Change said as a band played an upbeat song during Sunday service.

He watched Saturday afternoon as police fired tear gas and then was out on Sunday morning to help clean up Alondra Boulevard. He understands that some people may have got out of hand during the protest but believes that people who were outside the business park simply wanted answers.

“And we still don’t know what’s going to happen next,” he said.

“I’m pleased and shocked to see people here today,” he said about Sunday service. “There’s a real unknowing feeling. God is good. Paramount is good.”