Families of detained Indigenous workers speak out after Los Angeles immigration operations

CBS News

5 hours ago

Community leaders and the families of immigrants detained by federal law enforcement at a Los Angeles warehouse last week spoke out on Monday, calling on California leaders to step up their efforts to protect local migrants.
The news conference was held outside of an Ambiance Apparel warehouse in South L.A. On Friday, SKYCal footage showed federal agents detaining people outside of the warehouse, as well as at an Ambiance storefront in the Fashion District on Towne Avenue.
Outside of that warehouse on Monday, families affected by the operations gathered with signs showing pictures of their loved ones, offering their support. The family members of those detained say agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement took dozens of workers away from the facilities.
"Our loved ones were kidnapped on Friday, June 6, by ICE, with the support of the Los Angeles Police Department," said Perla Rios, an Indigenous community leader in L.A., through a translator. "These workers are heads of households, where they have left their families and loved ones to fend for themselves."
LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has repeatedly refuted claims that the department aided ICE in conducting immigration enforcement.
"While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual's immigration status," McDonnell said on Friday.
LOS ANGELES, CA - JUNE 6, 2025 - - An employee of Ambiance Apparel talks with protesters behind the gate after several employees from the company were taken into custody by federal agents in the Garment District in downtown Los Angeles on June 5, 2025. Dozens of protesters gathered at that location and at one point, federal agents had to shove protesters out of the path of a van that was being driven into the building's parking lot. (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Genaro Molina
Elena Jung Jee Vermeulen, a fellow for the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, said she was affected by flashbangs while attempting to speak with detained individuals on Sunday by police dressed in riot gear.
"Instead of upholding the constitutional rights of those detained, [law enforcement] prepared to repress those rising up against these atrocities," she said.
A man who identified himself only as Carlos described seeing his brother being taken away by ICE agents.
"The only crime he committed was trying to live a better life and trying to get ahead and work," said a man who identified himself only as Carlos, speaking about his brother. "Because of that dream, I had to watch him get chained up like he was some kind of animal."
Carlos questioned why local and state officials weren't doing more to prevent federal agents from conducting the operations in L.A.
"Where's the sanctuary California promised us," he questioned.
SB-54, otherwise known as the California Values Act, and signed into law by then-Gov. Jerry Brown in 2017, designated California as a "sanctuary state." The law ensures that public resources, such as a local police department, are not used to assist federal immigration enforcement like ICE.