Attacks on street vendors should be charged as hate crimes, Santa Ana councilman says

In what would be a first for California, the city of Santa Ana will consider whether to classify attacks against street vendors as hate crimes, which could offer additional safeguards for vendors in the predominantly Latino city.

Councilman Jonathan Ryan Hernandez, 29, said that he’s noticed an increase in attacks against street vendors and that viral videos seem to show a pattern of verbal and physical assaults with an undercurrent of anti-Latino racism.

“These aren’t robberies. These people are not having their food stolen; they’re not having their shopping carts taken from them,” Hernandez said. “They’re getting beaten up and spit at, and then these people are walking away.”

At Tuesday’s regular City Council meeting, Hernandez will propose the ordinance, which he said will let street vendors know that the city is willing to fight for them. Growing up in Santa Ana, Hernandez was close with his neighborhood ice cream man, or paletero.

Hernandez, whose family is from Jalisco, Guadalajara, in Mexico, said there is not enough support for street vendors and the immigrant community in Santa Ana. He wants to change that with his proposal.

“We’re in their corner,” Hernandez said. “They’re not alone. And for anybody who thinks that disrespecting street vendors is acceptable, we’re looking to hold them accountable.”

If approved by the City Council, the motion would go to the city staff to start work on an ordinance, which would then return to the council for a final vote in 30 days.

Hernandez said he hopes it could be a model for other jurisdictions across California. Elsewhere in the region, cities including Anaheim and Santa Monica have cracked down on street vending, blocking unpermitted vendors from selling in certain areas.

The Orange County district attorney’s office and the Santa Ana Police Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment about attacks against street vendors or whether there has been an increase in reported assaults on Latino residents.

Last year, Cudahy resident Edin Enamorado armed Los Angeles street vendors with pepper spray, Tasers and in some instances personal security after a string of attacks in Long Beach, as reported by L.A. Taco.

Senior organizer Sergio Jimenez of the Community Power Collective’s Street Vendor Justice program said more recorded attacks against street vendors may be going viral, but it’s mainly because street vendors are taking back some agency and recording their attackers.

Many street vendors are undocumented, monolingual businesspeople who might not be familiar with their 1st Amendment rights in the United States, Jimenez said. He’s hopeful that support from law enforcement and educating street vendors on their rights can go a long way to building a safer community.

“A lot of it has to do with outreach, education and raising the social consciousness,” Jimenez said. “What we’re telling them is, ‘Hey, you know what? You got to record these things, step away and record and narrate everything that’s happening to retell your particular point of view.’”