Biography
Elias Espinoza was a Mexican-born Orange County packinghouse worker and veteran labor activist. Immigration agents arrested him at his home on October 17, 1951, questioned him about Communist Party activity during the 1930s, and sent him to the Terminal Island detention center. Bail was set at $1,000, and he was eventually released while contesting deportation. He lost his appeal and was ordered deported on September 16, 1954. The reviewed record does not establish the exact date he posted bail.
The National Guardian, November 16, 1953, printed page 5 (PDF page 9) reports a historical age. Contemporary report gives age 53 in November 1953, placing birth in 1899 or 1900; no exact birth date or custody endpoint given. This is an approximate research lead based on the reported age, not a confirmed birthday; the birth-date field has not been filled from it.
John Broman’s page 1 investigation reproduces a growers’ secret blacklist entry printed as Elias Espinosa, formerly of Santa Ana and then Garden Grove, described by the blacklist as a Mexican Communist organizer. This is attributed employer-surveillance and blacklisting evidence, without a new arrest or independent adoption of the blacklist’s ideological allegation. Jose Espinoza in the separate page 2 arrest report is a different named person and is not merged with Elias.
