ALTADENA, Calif. – On the outskirts of Los Angeles, where the scars and scorched landscape from wildfires remain, uncertainty keeps rising.
Sergio Hernandez said he felt it this week while standing on the lot where his family home of 44 years burned down six months ago from the deadly wildfires − and roughly 13 miles from where protesters set fire to self-driving Waymo taxis in downtown Los Angeles.
Now, Hernandez's grief is compounded. The protests sparked by controversial raids carried out by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement taking place across Los Angeles County are further heightening fears in America's largest county, a place still recovering from the wildfires tragedy.
"I thought COVID was bad," Hernandez, 43, told USA TODAY. "But, no, I was wrong. This is much worse."
Down the road, Eduardo Escobedo, 40, who runs his second-generation, family-owned tree trimming service, shares a similar sentiment.
