The start of Hispanic Heritage Month is right around the corner, but this year, cultural events in Northern California to celebrate it will be muted as a result of continuing immigration enforcement raids.

"We're scaling back the whole celebration part, all of it," said Marco Rodríguez, board president of the Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California.

The Mexican Cultural Center of Northern California traditionally holds a big celebration alongside the civic ceremony of El Grito. But they have cancelled the event this year, citing the current political climate and concerns that such events could be a target for immigration enforcement operations.

"We're concerned we have a large group of Latinos in one area and the fact that it's at the west steps of the Capitol. We're concerned what's going on between California's Capitol and Washington's Capitol and the politicians and we do not want to be a source for the thing they got going on," he said.

Rodriguez said the decision to cancel the celebration portion did not come lightly.

"We had to then call everybody and people take months to prepare for this for dances, costumes, logistics, getting hotel rooms, whatever. People come from a lot of different places," he said.

Winters is also postponing their annual Festival de la Comunidad. Chair of the Winters Community Corazon said the decision was made after recent Border Patrol raids in the Sacramento area.

"We have a lot of people with brown skin in Winters and we're proud of that. But when it becomes dangerous to walk on the street or participate in a festival, people are scared," said Jesse Loren, chair of Winter's Community Corazon.

Instead of holding celebrations out in the open, the group is looking at other options.

"We're looking into ways that are safer. If it was on private property instead of public, having a ticketed event instead of a public event," she said, "we're still going to have a cultural presence, but we're going to do it in the schools."

Thousands of people attend both events each year. Both organizations say the risk is too high, whether it be from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or a false alarm that could send people into a panic and lead to injuries. But optimism still lingers.

"It's very painful for us, but everybody in our community said, 'Hey, you know what, we would rather be safe.' We came back after the pandemic, we'll come back after this," said Loren.

"We look to the future and America has always had a great future and it's a future that's always brighter. Bad things have happened before," said Rodriguez.