Nearly four months after being detained by ICE while working his regular route, a Culver City palatero has returned safely home to his family — and has a green card on the way.
In June, Ambrocio “Enrique” Lozano was taken into custody by masked federal agents while selling paletas, or frozen fruit treats, outside of a church. A striking photo of his abandoned ice cream cart went viral on social media, catalyzing a community effort to bring him home.
Lozano, who lives in South L.A. and has manned a palatero cart in the Culver City area for more than 20 years, was one of thousands of undocumented immigrants detained this summer in L.A. as part of an ongoing mass deportation effort by the Trump administration. The ICE raids have rattled Southern California and fueled widespread protest against the federal government’s immigration policies.
After 114 days in detention, Lozano on Wednesday was granted a green card through a 245(i) petition, which relies on a little-known provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that allows certain individuals who are otherwise ineligible to apply for lawful permanent residence from within the U.S.
Two days later, Lozano reunited with his family at his sister’s home in South Gate, his niece Kimberly Noriega told The Times on Saturday.
Walking in the door, Lozano was greeted by “Welcome home!” balloons and a tres leches cake for the birthday he’d spent in detention. Noriega had cooked him a feast of carne asada, costillas and “a whole big old pack of tortillas” — the first thing he mentioned to her on FaceTime after he was released.
“Even though it’s hard, we never lost faith, and we always trusted God,” Noriega said. “I feel like this is a small victory in something that’s way bigger.”
Lozano was selling his paletas in front of Iglesia Bautista Libre Resurrección in Culver City on the afternoon of June 23 when he was taken by ICE agents and driven off in an unmarked vehicle to an undisclosed location.
“He told them, ‘Why are you guys picking on me? I’m just doing my job,’” Noriega said. Lozano had no criminal record, and his customers loved him. But the agents didn’t relent.
Lozano was permitted to quickly call his wife and explain the situation, but after 40 seconds or so on the phone, his call dropped, Noriega said. His family couldn’t obtain more information about his whereabouts for days.
Noriega later learned that her uncle had tried to text her aunt when he got to the detention center, but there was no reception. Then ICE agents took his phone.
With the help of the Community Self-Defense Coalition and donations from the community, Noriega and her family were able to find legal representation for Lozano. Later, more than 150 people, many of whom had purchased paletas from Lozano over the years, wrote letters of support to help him in court.
Noriega said that Lozano’s attorney, Ebony Espinoza, was always convinced Lozano would get his green card. But Noriega could never be sure, and that uncertainty haunted her.
“It was so much stress,” Noriega said. “My aunt was crying and my mom was just losing her cahoots trying to do everything.”
Matters grew worse when Lozano’s wife Anita struggled to answer questions during a court hearing and feared she’d ruined her husband’s chances at release.
Luckily for Lozano’s family, the judge was patient with them, even allowing them a two-hour break to retrieve photos proving his marriage to Anita.
“My aunt literally took the pictures off of her wall because we couldn’t find her wedding album,” Noriega said. “She took the biggest pictures, you know, like those 20 by 20 huge ones, and we just carried those.”
Court resumed for a couple minutes, long enough for the opposing council to withdraw its appeal, and then the judge told Lozano, “Welcome to the United States.”
Lozano clasped his hands in front of his face, as though praying, in gratitude.
“God gave him the strength to keep going every single day,” Noriega said.
Following his release, Lozano was shocked to find out how much traction his story has gotten, Noriega said. She told her uncle he now has a powerful message to share with other detainees.
“You can tell them to stay strong,” she told him. “If it happened for you, it can happen for others.”
