A Call to Stand Up❣️

Hi Shortie,

I’m sitting in a buzzy café, trying to finish this issue I’ve been working on, but I can’t focus. The couple next to me is having a passionate conversation bouncing between immigrants and protests. It’s impossible to ignore, much like what's happening around us right now.

While I touched on the current zeitgeist last week on Instagram, I’ve been wrestling with how—and whether—to address it here. But, as I struggle to concentrate, I take this as a sign that I need to speak on what's weighing heavily on my heart.

Last year, I wrote an analysis on the impact of the election results on fashion, centering the conversation around our shared interest. Mosha Lundström did an exceptional job addressing how ICE raids targeting undocumented garment workers in Los Angeles have disrupted the Made in America apparel manufacturing.

However, what’s unfolding now goes beyond just the economic value of immigrants. It’s about our shared humanity and the very core of our nation—the Constitution.

While the circumstances vary, one constant remains: ICE and CBP’s blatant disregard for the law. People—citizens included—are being disappeared by these agencies.

Regardless of your stance on immigration, the Constitution guarantees civil rights to all, regardless of their status. ICE and CBP’s actions—hiding their identities, covering their faces, detaining people without due process, and relocating detainees so they can’t be found—should alarm us all.

Having grown up in Mexico, in a system that sometimes felt like a “flexible” democracy, I can’t help but notice that America is beginning to feel eerily similar. The very foundation of this democracy is under threat.

So today, I speak to you as a fellow citizen who values law and order. I urge you to stand up for our democracy, for our country, in any way that feels right to you.

It’s time to stand up for our Constitution.

Sincerely short,

Lwany

Immigration raids in LA strike fear into the fashion industry

By Madeline Schulz, Reporter, Vogue Business