Fontana Street Vendors Deserve Dignity, Not Discrimination

In cities across California, street vendors are a vibrant part of our neighborhoods. They are entrepreneurs and providers of affordable food and goods for working families. From the frutas frescas on a hot summer day to the tamales sold outside a church service, vendors help weave the fabric of community life. Yet in Fontana, instead of being treated with dignity and respect, these hardworking entrepreneurs have been targeted, criminalized, and pushed out.

That is why our coalition, together with courageous vendors, is taking the City of Fontana to court. We have filed a lawsuit to challenge the city’s unlawful and unconstitutional vending rules. For years, we tried to work with city leaders in good faith, but they refused to listen. This lawsuit is not our first choice; it is a type of last resort after every other door was closed on us. 

Fontana’s mayor, Acquanetta Warren, has led an unrelenting assault on street vendors and immigrant families since 2010, when she publicly supported Arizona’s SB1070 law that targeted immigrants. Instead of building bridges with the community, she has chosen to demonize working people and stand with big business interests. Her record and rhetoric align closely with anti-immigrant politics, prioritizing punishment over partnership, exclusion over inclusion.

The result has been devastating. Vendors, many of whom are immigrants, seniors, and parents, face harassment, tickets, and fines. The truth is, they are small business owners doing what countless families have done for generations, working hard to provide for their children and contribute to the local economy. And many national success stories began with street vendors, Carl’s Jr. started as a hot dog stand, Pink’s Hot Dogs grew from a pushcart. Taco Bell’s roots trace back to a food stand in San Bernardino. By targeting vendors today, Fontana is not only violating state law but also attacking the very values of fairness and opportunity that should define our community.

Street vending is not a crime, and in 2018, California passed SB 946, the Safe Sidewalk Vending Act, to decriminalize sidewalk vending and protect entrepreneurs from discriminatory enforcement. Fontana’s current rules undermine that law. Instead of creating pathways for vendors to operate safely and legally, the city has designed barriers meant to drive them out altogether.

This lawsuit is about more than one group of vendors or one city’s destructive policies. It is about what kind of community we want to be. Do we stand with working families, immigrants, and entrepreneurs who bring life and culture to our neighborhoods? Or do we stand with politicians who would rather silence and punish them in the name of corporate and right-wing political interests?

We choose the side of justice. We choose the side of dignity. We choose to stand with vendors who deserve the same respect and opportunities as any other small business owner. We will NOT be silenced or intimidated. 

The Inland Empire is stronger because of our vendors. They embody the resilience, creativity, and determination that define immigrant communities. It is time for Fontana, and all cities, to abandon failed policies of criminalization and instead embrace an approach that uplifts and empowers street entrepreneurs.

Our lawsuit is one step in that fight. But actual change will come when we shift our policies and our mindset to recognize vendors for who they are: community builders, job creators, and human beings deserving of dignity.

By Javier Hernandez, Executive Director, Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice