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Philadelphia's Cinco de Mayo festival cancelled over fears of immigration raids

Philadelphia cancels its popular Cinco de Mayo celebration due to fears and concerns over immigration crackdowns. An organizer of the festival tells us he feels the move was necessary to ensure the safety of the thousands of people who attend the event.
CBC Radio ·
Costumed revelers dance through the streets of south Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the annual Carnaval de Puebla, a traditional Mexican carnival celebration that re-enacts the Battle of Cinco de Mayo. (Charles Mostoller/REUTERS)

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Each spring, thousands of people gather in Philadelphia to celebrate Cinco de Mayo.

They dress up and dance to celebrate the Mexican Army's unlikely victory over French forces at the Battle of Puebla.

But this spring, the streets will be empty. Organizers of the Puebla Carnival say they're cancelling the event. David Piña spoke with As It Happens host Carol Off.
Four year old twins Jazmin (L) and Sarah Chavez from San Bernardino, California attend Cinco de Mayo festivities on May 5, 2010, in downtown Los Angeles, California. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Carol Off: Mr. Piña, how did you come to decide to cancel this carnival this year?

David Piña: We are trying to cancel because whatever happens, right now with politics, with the immigration laws and all that — we don't want to expose my people to something bad. We want to keep them safe. We want to keep the community together and as far from these dangers as we can.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers detain a suspect as they conduct a targeted enforcement operation in Los Angeles, California on Feb. 7, 2017. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Reuters)

CO: What do you think they will exposed to? What do you fear will happen to people?

DP: Because you know right now we heard a lot of stories they catching people driving without license and they find them to not live in this country. They take them away. We don't want that to happen to all the people because a lot of people come and celebrate the event. They come from other cities. It's a lot of people from all over the country. We want to keep them safe.

CO: We've heard that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the U.S., ICE as it's known, just this past week say that they have 248 people in Pennsylvania, Delaware and West Virginia in custody, awaiting deportation. Are people hearing that this is happening a lot — that people are being taken in?

DP: Yeah, that's what I heard and that's why we decided to cancel this event. We don't want more people having the same thing. That's why we are trying to keep the community away from the dangers. IMAGE]

CO: Can you just tell us a bit about this carnival and how you celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

DP: We close the streets, every permit we got from the city. We have live bands so that people start coming in and dancing. We provide food, drinks for all the family because this event is like a family event. We just have a party. After that we march from between maybe 15 to 16 blocks from the street we close to the park playgrounds and we end the party over there.
Mexican immigrants adjust their costumes as they prepare to parade through the streets of south Philadelphia during the annual Carnaval de Puebla. (Charles Mostoller/REUTERS)

CO: It sounds like a great celebration. Aren't you worried though that this is driving you underground? That you will disappear from the sight of people in your city who won't know about your community unless you're out there?

DP: Yeah, we are very sad because it's not the way they're supposed to portray us. We are not a bad people. We are a good people. We are a fun people. We come to this country to do good things. Like myself, I have my own business. The people say you just come to this country and don't pay taxes. But a lot of people, we come to this country and we do everything by the law. It makes me sad because this celebration, we've been doing this for 10 years. We were very excited when we started. Right now, things happened and we stopped this for this year. A lot of people were waiting for the event and right now a lot of people are sad because we are not going to have it. Next year, we hope everything cools down.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. For more on this story, listen to our full interview with David Piña.

Philadelphia ICE Officer Khaalid Walls released the following statement to reporters: "ICE's enforcement actions are targeted and lead driven. ICE does not conduct sweeps or raids that target aliens indiscriminately."

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