little tokyo

The strawberry delivery driver was making his last drop-off in Little Tokyo, unloading nearly a dozen boxes onto the sidewalk outside the Japanese American National Museum.

Inside the building, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his allies were holding a news conference about a Democratic Party plan to fight back against President Trump’s efforts to maintain control of the U.S. House of Representatives through redistricting in Texas.

Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios knew nothing of the powerful men’s clash as he stacked cardboard boxes filled with ripe, red fruit Thursday morning. He also didn’t know that dozens of Border Patrol agents were massing nearby.

Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios at his 48th birthday celebration this year.

(Courtesy of the family)

Minguela was caught between the two spectacles. His life was about to be upended.

In the days that followed, Newsom accused the Trump administration of trying to intimidate the president’s political opponents by sending the immigration agents. Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin has said the agents were “focused on enforcing the law” not on Newsom.

Newsom has since submitted a Freedom of Information Act request seeking records from the administration about why agents arrived at the museum as he was announcing his latest skirmish with the president.

For Minguela, who has been in the country for close to a decade, that day felt a lot more personal. He was arrested by Border Patrol agents and now faces deportation back to Mexico. Speaking from behind a plexiglass window at the “B-18” federal detention center in downtown L.A. on Monday, Minguela stressed that he is not a criminal.

“One comes here to work, not commit crimes,” said Minguela, who wore the same red T-shirt and jeans he’d been arrested in four days prior.

When asked last week whether the person arrested outside the news conference had a criminal record, a Homeland Security spokesperson said the agency would share a criminal rap sheet when it was available. After four follow-up emails from a reporter, McLaughlin on Saturday said agents had arrested “two illegal aliens” in the vicinity of Newsom’s news conference — including “an alleged Tren de Aragua gang member and narcotics trafficker.”

Asked twice to clarify whether the alleged gang member and narcotics trafficker were the same person, Homeland Security officials did not respond. But when presented with Minguela’s biographical information Monday, the department said he had been arrested because he overstayed his visa — a civil, not criminal, offense.

Border Patrol Sector Chief Gregory Bovino told Fox News on Aug. 15 that operations were based on intelligence about the alleged Tren de Aragua gang member. They arrested that man two blocks away from Newsom’s news conference.

Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios took this image of a federal agent looking at his identification outside the Japanese American National Museum on Aug. 14.

(Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios)

Two law enforcement sources who asked to remain anonymous as they were not authorized to speak with the media told The Times they had received word from federal authorities that Little Tokyo had been targeted because of its proximity to the Newsom event.

For those who know Minguela, it felt like mala suerte — bad luck.

As Martha Franco, one of Minguela’s employers, put it, “He was in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

::

Like every other weekday, Minguela rose before the sun to start his 2 a.m. delivery route Thursday. He had around eight places to hit.

He’d worked for the same produce company for around eight years and never missed a day.

That day, Minguela left his partner and their three children — ages 15, 12 and 7 — asleep in their home, hours before the kids would head off for their first day of school. His partner, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, had worked the night before as a cashier at a liquor store. She did not get off work until about 12:30 a.m. She brought him coffee as he started his day.

Shortly before 6 a.m., Minguela called his partner to wake her up so she could take the kids to school. Throughout the morning, they checked in with each other on how the day was progressing.

She called to warn him about immigration agents at Slauson and Miles avenues in Huntington Park. Over the last couple of months, as immigration raids became a part of daily life, the couple’s world had slowly shrunk.

Minguela had overstayed a tourist visa after fleeing the Mexican state of Coahuila in 2015 because of violence he faced there, his partner said. She said he had worked servicing ATMs there, was kidnapped twice and at one point was stabbed by people intent on stealing the money. After his employers cut staff, she said, he lost his job, helping drive his decision to leave.

Because he was undocumented, he rarely went out, leaving the house only for work and errands. Minguela began wondering whether it was even safe for him to pick up the kids from school, his partner said. He planned ahead, made copies of his keys and left money for his family in the event that he was grabbed by immigration agents.

That morning, he reassured his partner he was fine. He was heading to his last stop at a tea room in Little Tokyo.

“Ten mucho cuidado,” his partner told him.

Be very careful.

::

The Border Patrol agents descended on 1st Street in Little Tokyo about 11:30 a.m., just as Newsom’s news conference got underway.

They were decked out in camouflage and helmets, their faces obscured by black masks. One wore an American flag neck gaiter. They were armed, some with AR-15-style weapons.

Nearby, Minguela was busy unloading several boxes of strawberries and a box of apples. He didn’t notice the agents until they were close behind him. Then, he ducked back inside the van.

A video shared with The Times shows at least eight Border Patrol agents as they passed the van, its side door wide-open. They did not stop. Then, one appeared to double back and peek inside.

Minguela said he feels he was targeted based on his physical appearance.

When the agent began asking him questions, Minguela said he pulled a red “know your rights” card out of his wallet and handed it to the agent.

“This is of no use to me,” he said the agent told him. Another agent soon joined them.

Minguela told them he didn’t have to talk. But they kept asking questions, he said. What was his nationality? What was his name? Did he have papers?

“They demanded I show them some kind of identification,” he said. “Insisting, insisting.”

The agents were armed, and Minguela said he grew scared. Believing he had no choice, Minguela said, he gave one of the agents his California driver’s license.

Minguela tried to call his partner twice, but she was at a doctor’s appointment and couldn’t answer. At 11:22 a.m., he sent her three WhatsApp messages:

“Amor ya me agarró la migra..no te preocupes.”

“Todo va a estar bien.”

“Diosito nos va a ayudar mucho.”

Federal agents produced a show of force outside the Japanese American National Museum, where Gov. Gavin Newsom was holding a redistricting news conference on Aug. 14.

(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)

Immigration had gotten him, he said, but everything would be fine. God would help them, he assured her.

Minguela sent her a picture of an agent holding his license and seemingly plugging the information from it into a phone. Then, the agent arrested him.

Video captured Minguela, hands cuffed behind his back, as the agent linked an arm through his. He walked Minguela away from the van, toward Bovino.

After conferring with colleagues, the agent walked Minguela back toward his delivery van. Bovino patted the agent on the back and said, “Well done.”

At about the same time, one of Minguela’s employers, Isaias Franco, received a call from Little Tokyo warning him about the immigration activity. He immediately called Minguela, whose cell number is saved in his phone under “paisa,” countryman. Both hail from the Mexican city of Torreón.

No answer.

Franco texted him, trying to tell him what was unfolding.

By that time, though, Minguela was already in handcuffs.

::

Hours before visitation began at the detention center in downtown L.A. on Monday, families began lining up along a driveway where “B-18” was stamped in black on a concrete wall.

Someone had scrawled on the ground in chalk: “Abolish ICE” and “Viva La Raza.” Another message read, “Civil disobedience becomes a duty when the state becomes lawless and corrupt.”

By 11:30 a.m., 18 people were waiting for visitation to start at 1 p.m. In less than an hour, that number had ballooned to 33.

Three siblings there to visit their uncle who had been arrested at a car wash in Long Beach the day before. A woman whose uncle was taken from a Home Depot in Pasadena. Two sisters whose loved one had been arrested at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement check-in.

They carried bags of medication and sweaters for detained loved ones, because they’d heard it was cold inside. Each person hoped to get in before visitation ended at 4 p.m., although it seemed increasingly unlikely for those at the back of the line.

Martha and Isaias, Minguela’s employers, were among the hopeful. It was their third attempt to see him. The day of Minguela’s arrest, they got there too late.

The next day, they arrived earlier and were in luck. On the advice of others in line, they brought a jacket to keep Minguela warm.

In the years they’ve employed Minguela, they’ve only ever seen his serious, professional side. But during the five minutes they got to visit with him Friday, he spent most of it in tears, hardly able to speak.

The couple assured him they would help however they could.

They returned on Monday, this time bringing a blue Ralph Lauren shirt and a pair of black New Balance socks so he could change clothing. Isaias and the couple’s son, Carlos, had both come, despite starting their workday at 2 a.m.

“We’re going to be with him until the end,” Martha said. “He’s part of our family. He’s one of us.”

As the hours wore on, people in line squatted or sat on the concrete to rest their aching legs. Martha flitted around, advising people to bring sweaters for loved ones and letting them know the officers allowed in only one item of clothing for each detained person.

By the start of visitation, 44 people were in line. Martha was No. 19. Families exited red-eyed, tears dripping down their cheeks after getting only a few minutes with their loved ones.

Angel Rodrigo Minguela Palacios several years ago, with his son.

(Courtesy of the family)

About 3 p.m., after waiting three and a half hours, the Francos handed the officer their passports and identification, before finally making it inside. They had to turn off their phones. They could give Minguela only the T-shirt. The officer said no to the socks, a prohibited second item of clothing.

Minguela beamed when he saw the Francos, who greeted him through the plexiglass window. He was trying to maintain his spirits, but said he felt “impotente.” Powerless.

The Francos told him not to sign anything.

“Vamos a estar con usted,” Isaias told Minguela, letting him know they would be with him. He and Carlos fist bumped Minguela through the Plexiglass.

“Échale ganas,” Isaias added, keep going.

::

Minguela’s children have hardly stopped crying since his arrest.

During the eight years he and his partner have been together, he’s helped raise her two children and their 7-year-old son, who is autistic.

Minguela’s lawyer, Alex Galvez, said the hope is that his client will be released on bond, as he initially entered the country lawfully and is the primary breadwinner for the family. The lawyer said he believes Minguela was arrested in defiance of a federal judge’s order that immigration authorities cannot racially profile people or use roving patrols to target immigrants.

“It was a political opportunity. He was one of the two guys picked up right during Newsom’s press conference,” Galvez said. “They had to show something for it.”

Just days before his arrest, Minguela’s family had celebrated his 48th birthday. His partner made him his favorite dish, shrimp ceviche.

Her birthday was Tuesday. The family had planned to go on a rare outing for a dinner of enchiladas de mole.

But they spent the day without him. There was no celebration.

The children asked their mother, as they have every day for nearly a week: When is papá coming home?

Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report.

On bustling Western Avenue in the heart of Gardena, Sakura-Ya and Chikara Mochi sit about 250 feet away from each other, frequented by South Bay residents for decades for fluffy mochi and cakey manju. They’re two of the only traditional Japanese mochi shops in L.A., with blink-and-you’ll-miss-it signage.

Just a block away is Meiji Tofu Shop, a nearly 50-year-old producer that churns out fresh soy milk and tofu daily. Cross the street to find Otafuku — where the Akutsu family has been serving traditional Tokyo soba since 1997.

You’ll find similar clusters of diverse Japanese food in strip malls across Gardena as well as Torrance, which has the largest East Asian population in all of L.A. The two neighboring cities are home to the biggest suburban Japanese community in the United States — and a decades-old restaurant landscape that feels like a time capsule, yet continues to flourish as a haven for classic Japanese cuisine and hospitality.

“It’s like we’re stuck in the ’90s,” said South Bay native Daniel Son, the chef and owner of Gardena’s Sushi Sonagi. “These days, when everything is monetizing and content creating has to be so fresh, they don’t care. They’re just gonna make great product and quietly do it.”

Japanese immigrants first came to the L.A. area in the late 1800s and early 1900s — many from San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake — as strawberry farmers. Unlike Little Tokyo, which has been subject to the whims of tourists and the changing landscape of downtown L.A., the suburban South Bay has maintained a more stable identity, according to Emily Anderson, a curator for Little Tokyo’s Japanese American National Museum.

“In places like Torrance and Gardena, you have the development and preservation of Japanese American food — it [has] layers of history and struggle, but food ultimately being a source of comfort and identity,” Anderson said.

When Torrance became the site of Toyota’s North American headquarters in 1967, more Japanese immigrants, and food, came with it. Over the next few decades, dozens of restaurants opened in Torrance and Gardena, along with a growing number of Japanese supermarket chains like Tokyo Central, Nijiya Market and Mitsuwa Marketplace, giving neighbors a taste of home.

By the time Toyota left Torrance for Texas in 2017, these businesses had proved themselves integral to the region’s culinary fabric. Their networks, once primarily composed of Japanese immigrants and descendant families, had extended to residents of all backgrounds.

“My plan is to be the last bastion of Japanese food prepared the Japanese way,” said former Tokyo resident Kristen McIntyre, owner of homestyle Japanese restaurant Fukagawa in Gardena.

Many Japanese restaurant owners in the area have a “serve what you want to eat” mindset, said Otafuku owner Mieko Akutsu. “We never adjusted the flavor for American people.”

In her case, that means serving three types of soba, including sarashina soba — a white noodle made using the core of the buckwheat plant — which became known as an upscale dish in Tokyo, where regular, darker soba became a popular working-class meal during the Edo period.

Today, restaurants like Sushi Sonagi, which opened in 2023, along with Michelin-starred Sushi Inaba in Torrance, lead the way in bringing Angelenos — and diners from across the country — to the South Bay, where troves of Japanese restaurants and shops, many immigrant-run and cash-only, shine in all their old-school glory. Many don’t have PR firms or flashy Instagram accounts; some will give you a handwritten receipt and others don’t have websites.

“I felt like [opening Sushi Sonagi] in the South Bay almost celebrates the diversity and the rich Asian American culture that’s very deep here,” said Son, who blends his Korean American heritage into his roughly 20-course omakase. “It’s just really cool to bring more life to an area that I feel like is L.A.’s little secret.”

But sushi is merely the cusp of the region’s offerings. Torrance and Gardena are L.A.’s storied destinations for every type of Japanese food imaginable: Yoshoku restaurants, which combine Japanese and Western cooking, coexist alongside traditional izakayas, yakitori joints and newer businesses that hail from Japan. Use these 18 spots as a starting point for some of the best — and some of the oldest — Japanese restaurants that have quietly put South Bay suburbs on the L.A. dining map.

As Gov. Gavin Newsom prepared to announce that he would take on President Trump’s redistricting plans on behalf of California, scores of federal immigration agents massed outside the venue Thursday.

Newsom was set to speak at the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles, when Border Patrol Sector Chief Greg Bovino, who has been leading the immigration operations in California, arrived in Little Tokyo, flanked by agents in helmets, camouflage, masks and holding guns.

“We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place since we won’t have politicians that’ll do that, we do that ourselves,” Bovino told a Fox 11 reporter in Little Tokyo. “We’re glad to be here, we’re not going anywhere.”

When the reporter noted that Newsom was nearby, Bovino responded, “I don’t know where he’s at.”

Newsom’s office took to X to share that agents were outside, posting: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!”

The apparent raid Thursday, during which one person was detained, comes amid calls from elected officials for an end to renewed immigration operations across the L.A. area. Federal agents have carried out a string of raids over the past week, arresting several people at car washes and Home Depot stores.

Immigrant advocates and city leaders had hoped such sweeps had stopped with a federal judge’s July order, affirmed by a U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals panel on Aug. 1. The courts ruled that immigration officials cannot racially profile people or use roving patrols to target immigrants.

In a press conference outside of the museum following the operation, Mayor Karen Bass said, “there’s no way this was a coincidence.”

“This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face. Why would you do that? That is unbelievably disrespectful, it’s a provocative act,” Bass said.

“They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles,” the mayor said, “and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now.”

In an emailed response, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said Bass, “must be misinformed.”

“Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law — not about Gavin Newsom,” she said. McLaughlin added that U.S. Customs and Border Protection “patrols all areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams on the ground to make LA safe.”

Newsom and Democratic allies, including organized labor, were at the Democracy Center at the Japanese American National Museum to announce the launch of a campaign for a ballot measure which, if approved by voters, would redraw the state’s congressional maps to favor Democrats before the 2026 midterms.

William T. Fujioka, chair of the Board of Trustees of the Japanese American National Museum, was attending the Newsom press conference when federal agents jumped out of SUVs just feet away from him in front of the museum.

Video captured of the scene showed federal agents on either side of a man, in a red shirt and jeans, whose hands were cuffed behind his back. As a passerby shouted that they were “cowards,” Bovino said “well done.”

Carlos Franco said he works with Angel, the man who was arrested by federal agents, and said Angel was in Little Tokyo delivering strawberries. His delivery van was still parked outside the museum more than an hour after he was arrested, Franco said. Franco came straight to the scene after he received calls that his coworker had been arrested.

Angel is a “father, a family man,” Franco added.

“He was just doing his normal delivery to the courthouse,” Franco said. “It’s pretty sad, because I’ve got to go to work tomorrow, and Angel isn’t going to be there.”

Saying he was shaken by his friend’s apprehension, Franco advised everyone to “be careful in general, whether you’re undocumented or not.”

DHS did not immediately respond to questions about the arrest.

Fujioka said the agents’ appearance in Little Tokyo “is a parallel of what happened in 1942,” and noting that the museum was built on the location where L.A. residents of Japanese descent “were told to come here and put on buses and sent to camps.”

At 73, Fujioka is a third-generation Japanese American. He said about 20 people were arrested during ICE raids two weeks ago at area restaurants and businesses in and near Little Tokyo Village Plaza.

“What’s happening right now is reprehensible,” he said. “One of the fallacies is that this is only targeting Latinos. If you look at the Vietnamese, Cambodian, Hmong, Chinese, even Japanese communities, they’re being picked up right in court.”

Speaking with community leaders on L.A.’s Westside early Thursday morning, Bass condemned the continued raids and said she believed they violated the temporary restraining order upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals earlier this month.

“Even though we’ve had two successful court decisions, the administration continues with their unconstitutional behavior. Coming and going to Home Depot stores, continuing to chase people through parking lots, detaining them for no particular reason under the auspices that they could be criminals, [it] comes down to one thing — and that is racial profiling,” Bass said.

The Trump administration last week petitioned the Supreme Court to allow mass deportation efforts across Southern California, seeking to lift a ban on “roving patrols” implemented after a lower court found such tactics likely violate the 4th Amendment.

“We know the next step is to go to the Supreme Court, and we are hoping that we will have a good decision there,” Bass said. “But the question looms before us, even if we do have a positive court decision: ‘Will the administration follow the rule of law?’”

Times staff writer Laura J. Nelson contributed to this report.