"People Can't Look at Us as Just a Hot Place Anymore"

"'Most of the folks here are going to be very friendly and nice, but very apolitical,' he said. 'They just want to survive and hang out with their family and drink some beers and make some carne asada. Chicanismo is, like, for other places.'
"Even Border Patrol agents on bicycles from the El Centro station zipped around the fiesta with smiles. No one booed or made a fuss about it.
"'People are going to know where we're at now,' said Adrian Guillermo-Barrera, who set up lawn chairs for his family three hours before the start of the parade and rally. 'We're not just between San Diego and Arizona.'"

In the Los Angeles Times, Gustavo Arellano visits the Imperial Valley.