Mexico fans flood Fourth Street as raids fade

Mexico fans – After Mexico beat South Korea 1-0 in the World Cup, downtown Santa Ana erupted along Fourth Street with horns, flags, and impromptu celebrations—contrasting sharply with the city’s fear a year earlier, when federal immigration enforcement and the National Guar

Thursday night in downtown Santa Ana, Brenda Jaimes pushed through an ecstatic crowd and stopped in the middle of Fourth Street. She threw her head back and shouted “Me! Me!”—then asked for something bigger.

An hour earlier, Mexico had beaten South Korea 1-0 in the World Cup. In response. thousands poured into neighborhood bars and restaurants. watched the victory spill onto the streets. and kept the noise going with horns. noisemakers. and chants of “México!” and “¡Sí se puede!” Flags appeared on banners. painted on cheeks. and—seemingly everywhere—on Jaimes’ tube top. Fans stood on the backs of trucks. boogied in the street. and waved Mexico’s colors like the match were still unfolding in front of them.

In the middle of it all, an Orange County Fire Authority truck flashed its sirens to cheers. A line of drivers cruised down Fourth Street—described as the historic cultural and economic heart of Latino Orange County—high-fiving and letting people shake their cars as if the whole corridor had become a bounce house.

Jaimes wanted the kind of moment you remember for years. She lay down in the arms of men in green Mexico soccer jerseys. They counted to three, launched her about eight feet upward, and then caught the laughing Jaimes.

Scenes like that repeated across Southern California after the match, from Koreatown to Boyle Heights to Pacoima to Huntington Park. It happens whenever Mexico wins big in soccer, but the pachanga was especially intense in Santa Ana.

A year earlier, Fourth Street had looked different—empty. Federal immigration agents were seizing people across the city. The National Guard set up a roadblock complete with an armed Humvee for over a month. just a block away from where the celebration surged on Thursday. One of the most Latino big cities in the country had trembled in fear then. On Thursday night, it erupted in joy.

Sandra De Anda stood out amid the noise. wearing a Stetson and a Tigres Mexican soccer club jersey while waving a South Korea flag. De Anda is the director of policy and legal strategy at the Orange County Rapid Response Network. Last June. a Santa Ana native. she joined thousands as they marched down Fourth Street for days demanding that ICE and the National Guard leave town. Through the rest of 2025. she and others with the Rapid Response Network fought la migra in courthouses and through fundraisers for immigrant detainees and their loved ones.

“‘This here is the antithesis of the raids last year,’” De Anda said. Her boyfriend rushed off to join the celebration, but she stayed long enough to frame the contrast. “‘They tried to take our community down, but they had no chance,’” De Anda added. “‘We Mexicans always get beat down, but we have pride. Tonight, you see how we stand up when we need to.’”.

Jaimes agreed. “‘It’s so important to do this especially after last year,’” she told the crowd after a short turn as a Cirque du Soleil performer. “‘We don’t care what Trump can say about this. It was his birthday recently — who cares? This right here is real.’”

At one point, another young woman shrieked as she sailed above the crowd. Jaimes pointed, then looked toward the reporter. “‘Throw yourself también [also], bro!’” she said.

Even the background details of the night carried the weight of what had been there before. The reporter kept slapping the hoods and windows of cars until their hand turned black with soot—then watched the street keep moving, loud and bright, as if trying to outrun the previous year’s atmosphere.

Seeing Mexico become the first country to win its World Cup group would be thrilling any year. But the tone of the celebration. the story insists. feels different in 2026 as President Trump continues to meddle in Latin American affairs while the administration’s immigration enforcement keeps sweeping across the country.

The anger and the fatigue behind the cheers are part of what explains the ferocity. Few things irk Trump and his followers more than Mexicans succeeding at anything. Eleven years ago this week. he announced his presidential campaign by saying that Mexico was “not sending its best” immigrants but instead. people he claimed were mostly rapists and drug dealers. Trump. the piece notes. has spent two terms obsessing over the U.S.-Mexico border. attacking anything that reeks of diversity. and demeaning Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum.

That backdrop also helps explain why Mexican Americans waving the ancestral homeland’s flag can draw backlash from conservatives and some liberals. Rooting for Mexico’s soccer team. the piece argues. brings out particular venom—along with accusations of treason—even though other diasporas root for teams tied to their heritage and often face far less opprobrium.

The report frames El Tri as something larger than a match for many fans: an emblem of what it means to be Mexican—people who always seem to get bad breaks, who often don’t win against the powers that be, yet keep fighting for a better day while having fun.

That argument reaches beyond sports. The story says Americans of all ethnicities should back Mexico along with the U.S. team in this World Cup, which Trump has already sullied. It points to a claim that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security denied a Somali referee entry into the country because he was allegedly “talking to some very bad people. ” as described by the White House World Cup task force. It also notes that the Trump administration forced Iran’s squad to base its training camp in Tijuana. requiring players to fly to matches in Los Angeles and Seattle instead of taking every other team’s short bus trip.

The piece also recalls what happened on Thursday in a different part of the same celebration. Sydney Tran took her turn at the Fourth Street procession in a Honda Civic packed with friends. The crowd shook her car so hard that the 23-year-old Westminster resident couldn’t turn up the music when people shouted at her to do it. Tran. wearing a Mexico soccer jersey. said she was Vietnamese but that it was “wonderful” to see her Mexican friends happy—adding that they deserve to be happy because “it’s been rough for them” and “it’s been rough for all immigrants.”.

By the time the reporter left, festivities were still in full swing. Restaurants that were usually closed by 10 p.m. had lines out the door. Dance parties sprouted on sidewalks. Rancheras, funk, and oldies blasted everywhere. Police were nowhere to be seen. unlike last year. when police broke up anti-ICE protests with rubber bullets and tear gas.

For a moment, cynicism crept in. Mexico. the piece says. won on a fluke goal and two miraculous saves. and the team appeared to have little chance of beating soccer titans like France and Argentina once the knockout stage begins. The immigration team, it adds, has vowed that more raids are forthcoming. The only hope offered in the story’s closing breath is that the overwhelmingly young crowd will turn the intensity of its pride into votes at the ballot box this November.

Then the writer chills out. For one night. for a few hours. life felt better—Mexican Americans got to breathe and scream and let frustrations out in a way that didn’t look like fear. Reality would return the next morning. But Thursday night left its own record behind: a street where joy had room to exist. and where “Sí se puede” wasn’t just a chant. it was a declaration.

Santa Ana Fourth Street Mexico World Cup South Korea 1-0 ICE raids National Guard roadblock Latino community immigration enforcement Mexican American pride Trump administration Tigres jersey Orange County Rapid Response Network