Immigration protests threaten to boil in Los Angeles

On Friday and Saturday, federal officials landed on streets and workplaces in Los Angeles County to arrest and deport undocumented immigrants. A large raid was conducted in the fashion district, with some showdowns between protesters and flashing grenades between protesters and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents in Paramount, and in southeast Los Angeles, some immigrants appeared at the Federal Courthouse in Little Tokyo and then brought to the basement, then taken to the van and van to an unknown place. The Department of Homeland Security recently confirmed that a nine-year-old elementary school student in Torrance, who was detained after a hearing in late May and moved to a prison in rural Texas, will now be deported. These are not the first immigration enforcement action taken by President Trump, who has been working to fulfill his campaign commitments to conduct “the biggest deportation action in our nation’s history.” But the strategies were told by Oscar Zarate, who served as the Humane Immigration Alliance, told me: “It’s just not normal.” Lawyers were denied access to detainees; workers took over according to their racial appearance, he said. “There are some rules of participation that are not followed. It’s very dangerous, not only for immigrants, but for citizens.”

Los Angeles is of course an immigration town. One-third of the county’s residents are born outside the United States and more than half speak other languages ​​at home. Los Angeles is a sanctuary city in the Santa State: Local authorities are not allowed to work with federal immigration law enforcement officers. So, as immigration advocates describe as “kidnapping” or “kidnapping” or “missing” or social media discourses, describe me as “kidnapping” or “kidnapping” or “missing.” Protesters marched and shouted, focusing on vehicles and arrests. Some lit the garbage and caught fire, threw rocks and sprayed graffiti (“fuck ice”; “can’t stop da raza!”). The officer responded with a drone, baton, tear gas and rubber bullets. At Ambiance Apparel, they arrested David Huerta, president of the California branch of the Coalition for Service Employees. They also blocked delegations of elected officials and immigration advocates from seeing detainees in court, a formerly conventional form of supervision.

According to the Humanitarian Immigration Rights Alliance, federal agents occupied about 200 immigrants in two days, which helped run hotlines and legal services networks. The Department of Homeland Security confirmed the arrest of 118 people. However, Trump obviously couldn’t stand it or might have seen an opportunity, which was due to friction caused by the intervention of the community. Late Saturday night, his press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced that he would deploy two thousand members of the California National Guard to quell what White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller called a “violent uprising.” Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass objected to the order. They say they can handle the situation themselves. Still, by the early hours of Sunday, 300 National Guard members were in place, as many parades and rallies were held in various parts of the county.

I met about twenty National Guard members on Sunday afternoon at the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles – disguised, armed, helmets, and clutched shields. Behind them are six tactical vehicles. The scene is more provocative than comfort. Hundreds of militants filled the surrounding streets and sidewalks, demanding an end to raids and deportations. The population has not been assembled as directed by any particular group. They wear proud rainbows, kaffyehs, Mexico and El Salvador flags. (Miller wrote on X: “Flying around in American cities to defend the invading foreign flag.”) Prisoners rose behind our small windows and participated in the light from behind their small windows by ignoring the lights.

A woman called to be called Xiomara because she was worried about whether she used her name, her partner, social worker and partner of natives from immigrant families, who held signs that read “If it’s your family, don’t you need to be forgotten? Xiomara told me that she is close to many people who voted for Trump and now regrets the decision. “The administration initially said that deportation was to eliminate people with a history of violent crime.” ” “That’s not what we’re seeing. We have seen them aim at manual labor work. We are tearing the family apart. ” (DHS claims that at least some of the arrested people were “gang members” and “killers” – “worst case scenario.”)

The Los Angeles Police Department did all the work despite the National Guard’s state of war. More than one hundred officers from LAPD looked all equipped with black riot equipment. For hours, they positioned themselves as a human cordon, turned on tear gas and sent confusing instructions to protesters. “Move south!” “Leave the area!” “You can’t go there!” “You can’t leave!” A pair of officers repeatedly pushed me down and pushed me to the sidewalk with batons. (When I was identified as the press, one said, “I don’t care.”) Helicopters and surveillance drones flew low. There are LAPD cars, SUVs (including cars that are dangerously accelerating in the crowd), trucks, motorcycles and later horses.

In the evening, fight against heating. A message from the helicopter threatens crowd arrests and “serious personal injury” unless the area is cleared within a minute. (Nothing happened in a minute.) Protesters threw stones and plastic water bottles on the cruiser and then threw them along Highway 101, temporarily stopping traffic, and members of the crowd caught several driverless Waymo cars on fire, creating a funnel of black smoke. Officers began shooting rubber bullets and besieged protesters near the town hall. She said Xiomara witnessed officers riding a horse “trampling on people.” Aimee Zavala, 29, who left the area around this time, believes the police response has not been recognized. “People will be passionate, but I don’t see protesters with any weapons. I don’t see anyone causing physical harm.” On a sidewalk, I watched a volunteer doctor manage gauze and aspirin for three young men with round, bloody wounds. LAPD arrested ten protesters, totaling 39 over the weekend, and announced all “illegal gatherings” in downtown with X.

Not all weekend demonstrations correspond to specific raids or deportations. Some are more elemental: government casual, spectacular cruel expressions. Days after Trump’s inauguration, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participated in a series of video immigration raids in New York City and also participated in the shelter jurisdiction. Now it’s Los Angeles’ turn, as if immigrant workers, children and families were played as films made for Fox News. Local officials are not completely innocent. LAPD chief Jim McDonnell pointed out over the weekend that the department technically “does not participate in civilian immigration enforcement.” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said the same. “But there is a loophole,” Anthony Bryson, an activist at the SoCal uprising, told me. “If they assist in transportation, it’s not immigration enforcement.” Police attended the raids and protests. They are willing to support their federal counterparts. “The police were there to incite and establish a militarized border.” “It is a myth to believe that Los Angeles is a sanctuary city.” ♦