00:00Well, it's going to be a busy weekend in the Bay Area with several Cinco de Mayo events kicking off.
00:04The holiday is on Monday, but businesses in East San Jose are already preparing for the parade and festival on
00:11Sunday.
00:11It is a boost at a time when anxiety over immigration enforcement is weighing heavily on the Latino community.
00:18And our very own Kevin Coe is live in East San Jose where vendors are already setting up a couple
00:23of days ahead of time.
00:25Hey, Kevin.
00:27Hey, Ryan. It is a couple of days away, but this right here behind me is a very valuable space
00:32for what should be a very busy weekend here on Story Road.
00:36After talking with a lot of businesses and vendors out here, the time could not come any sooner.
00:4225, mihoye. Next year, $50. Well, this economy is going up.
00:48Sylvia Morquecho has been a vendor on Story Road for 25 years. She recently had foot surgery.
00:53They almost cut my toes.
00:55But business has been slow for months, so she's here.
00:59A lot of people, they don't want to come in the streets for all that going on immigration.
01:03And it's going to, you know, basically, a lot of people, they're afraid to spend money.
01:07Sylvia is one of many East San Jose workers who have felt the crunch of a tough economy and ongoing
01:13concerns about ICE activity.
01:15There have been no known reports of ICE since an isolated operation at the Target on Story Road back in
01:21January.
01:22But the incident has caused some unease in the immigrant community, impacting foot traffic for business owners.
01:28San Jose Councilmember Peter Ortiz represents the East Side.
01:32You know, we've continued to hear fear from the public about the impact of ICE presence on the community.
01:38The reality is that we haven't seen them since a few months back when they were present on the East
01:44Side.
01:44And so we have a lot of anxiety. We have a lot of fear. But ICE has not been out.
01:48East San Jose's Cinco de Mayo Festival is providing a chance for the community to unite around something positive.
01:54Road signs are going up on King Road. And in downtown, Luis Ochoa has been in charge of the Cinco
02:00de Mayo Festival at Cesar Chavez Plaza for the past two years.
02:03He hopes Sunday's event will bring people together through tough times.
02:07Celebrate, you know, to know that we're alive, you know, to know that things are good.
02:12And there's reason to be happy instead of, you know, I guess thinking that, you know, things might happen.
02:21Back in the East Side, Sylvia is thinking optimistically.
02:24Hoping for a big weekend ahead.
02:26At this time, I would have had a lot of people already spending money because today's Friday.
02:31But hopefully, I'm praying to, you know, they get here after work.
02:36Brian, the ICE activity that Councilmember Ortiz was talking about, it actually happened here on Story Road at a Target
02:43just across the street.
02:44It is right behind me.
02:46Now, again, there have been no known instances of ICE activity since.
02:50But Councilmember Ortiz tells me that the Rapid Response Network will have patrols out here on Sunday all over the
02:57area monitoring for ICE activity.
02:59All right, Kevin Kove reporting live in San Jose.
