The coffin is a muted light blue with silver accents, topped by a spray of white roses and long eucalyptus leaves. Around it are more flower arrangements, yellow sunflowers and red roses framing a photo of Roberto Carlos Montoya.
In the photo, he wears a black hoody and green khaki pants, arms crossed over his chest, feet wide apart, brows furrowed, the smallest of smiles on his face.
The scene played out in Montoya’s native Guatemala this week, according to his niece, who thanked supporters on the GoFundMe platform on Sept. 7.
“Thank you to all your support my uncle is already at his home,” wrote Mariela Mendez. “God blessing you all. My family and I, we are really grateful to see how many good hearts still on this world.”
A collage of photos assembled by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network shows jornalero Carlos Montoya at work, with family, and as a young man. Montoya died on Aug. 14 after being struck by an SUV on the 210 freeway, while fleeing federal immigration agents at the Home Depot in Monrovia. (Photo courtesy of NDLON)It was the end of a journey for the jornalero who spent three years in the San Gabriel Valley, living in Arcadia and finding work outside the Home Depot in Monrovia, where he died on Aug. 14. Montoya, the father of four daughters and grandfather to one, was 52.
He was fatally hit by a Ford Expedition as he ran up an exit ramp on the 210 freeway, believed to be fleeing federal immigration agents at the nearby Home Depot.
Such raids, federal authorities say, are necessary in the Trump administration’s massive dragnet, which seeks, as Trump officials say, to “deport the worst of the worst.”
They cite success in the crackdown, despite an L.A.-based federal judge’s limits on the kinds of raids agents can conduct in Southern California.
Those limits were lifted this week when the U.S. Supreme Court granted the Trump administration’s emergency request to lift a temporary restraining order barring federal immigration officials from conducting “roving patrols” and profiling people based on their appearance in Southern California.
In the Monrovia case, the Department of Homeland Security denied officers chased Montoya and said in a statement released the day after his death that “they “were not aware of this incident or notified by California Highway Patrol until hours after operations in the area had concluded.”
Protesters descended on the site on Aug. 14, and more than 300 attended a vigil organized by the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON) as well as the Party for Socialism and Liberation on Aug. 15.
NDLON, the workers’ rights advocacy group, later organized the GoFundMe campaign with a goal of raising $45,000. About 1,000 donors have given $40,412 as of Thursday, Sept. 11.
Any funds left over after the funeral expenses are paid will go to Montoya’s daughters, who live in Jutiapa, Guatemala, organizers said.
“As Roberto Carlos Montoya’s body now rests in his native land, we continue to honor his memory, his work, and his legacy,” said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of NDLON. “We also continue to fight for him and for justice — demanding that the government investigate the cause of his death and deliver justice to his family and to the entire day laborer community.”
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection report on the incident, which identified him “an unknown pedestrian,” was released on Aug. 25.
It included an interview with a Border Patrol agent reporting he ran after a man out of the Home Depot parking lot but abandoned the pursuit and did not see the man being struck by a vehicle.
NDLON officials are calling on Gov. Gavin Newsom and Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta to launch an independent investigation on Montoya’s death.
The California Highway Patrol was investigating.
“Carlos Montoya died as a direct result of an enforcement action that had no place in our communities. The entire premise of storming a day laborer site like this is rooted in criminalizing poverty and immigration status,” said Jose Madera, director of the Pasadena Community Job Center. “We demand full transparency, accountability, and justice.”
On Sept. 11, there were no signs of the two memorials where crowds left flowers and candles.
A large white cross with Montoya’s name on it, carried in procession during the Aug. 15 vigil, is also gone.
A solitary bouquet of red, yellow and white flowers, mostly dried and faded, and wrapped in white paper, stand tied to the “One Way” sign planted on the island between Evergreen Avenue and the 210 freeway exit, near where Montoya lay after being struck.
About 200 feet away, at the Home Depot parking lot, two groups of day laborers stood looking to work. Three men stood under one tree, while another trio waited by a black truck, the word “HAULING” handwritten on the side.
Alvarado, of NDLON, spoke of Montoya on Labor Day, saying immigrant allies will make sure people remember why he died.
“When they take it down again, we’re going to put it back up,” he said of the memorials. “We’re not going to let the story of Carlos Montoya go unnoticed as just another death.”
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