Tear gas, flags and legal battles as ICE protests continue nationwide
Tear gas was fired into a crowd of protesters in Las Vegas. At least eight people in Seattle were arrested as a protest was declared illegal. Police detained 10 people in another day of protest in New York.
These are just some of the coast-to-coast rallies on Wednesday in the growing movement to oppose the U.S. government's immigration policies as ICE agents continue to carry out raids on suspected undocumented migrants across the country.
Protests also broke out in Los Angeles, the epicenter of the country's attention, after unrest and curfews followed ICE raids in the city on Friday. More than 200 people have been arrested in Los Angeles this week, police said.
Major rallies are also expected nationwide on Saturday to coincide with President Donald Trump's military parade.
Las Vegas
Many of the hundreds who attended the Las Vegas rally carried Mexican flags, some waved the Stars and Stripes, and others featured flags from Central and South America.
In what appeared to be a tense standoff, police told protesters to move back while one video showed a long line of police firing what appeared to be tear gas. Las Vegas Police said it declared the protest an "unlawful assembly."
One video showed protesters surrounding the Lloyd D. George courthouse and chanting, "If we don't get it, shut it down."
Washington State
A state of emergency was declared, and a curfew was imposed on Wednesday in Spokane, Washington, from 9.30 p.m. to 5 a.m. local time by Mayor Lisa Brown, as footage posted to X showed police officers detaining people and tying their hands with zip-ties.
At least 30 people were arrested, according to local broadcaster KREM, and video showed tear gas being fired there too as people protested outside an ICE field office.
In Seattle, at least eight people were arrested. Police said officers were peppered with fireworks, rocks and pieces of cement, while firefighters extinguished a dumpster fire.
California
Videos and photographs of high-profile ICE raids on Wednesday showed people clashing with, running from, and being arrested by immigration agents in California.
In Los Angeles' historic Mexican neighborhood of Boyle Heights, two vehicles pinned a passenger car at an intersection in what the Department of Homeland Security called "a targeted arrest of a violent rioter" who had allegedly punched an immigration officer.
In Downey, another predominantly Latino city southeast of Los Angeles, officials from Downey Memorial Christian Church and others confronted a group of five armed men in plainclothes and tactical gear who 'swarmed' a man sitting under a tree in the church's parking lot, according to church pastor Al Lopez.
"When we said, 'We don't want this on our property,' this gentleman just shouted again: 'The whole country is our property," Lopez, a pastor at Downey Memorial, told reporters.
His wife and senior pastor Tanya Lopez recalled telling the men — whom she said identified themselves only as "police" — they weren't welcome on church property, and getting closer, at which point 'They did point their rifle at me, and they said, 'You need to get back.''
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told Fox News Wednesday night defended federal actions to deport suspected "criminals" and described the protests in L.A. as "pure anarchy."
"What the brave men and women of ICE, the brave men and women of the Department of Justice, all our federal partners, and the brave men and women of the Los Angeles Police Department, I have to think that all we're trying to do is our law enforcement mission, and we have to deal with this," he said.
Legal fight over use of troops
In California, Trump has deployed thousands of troops, including 700 active-duty Marines, to Los Angeles to quell protests. The move has raised fears that Marines have not been properly trained for interacting with civilians.
On Wednesday, the Department of Justice formally responded to California's lawsuit seeking to block the military from involving itself in immigration enforcement, calling it a "crass political stunt" that is "endangering American lives." A court hearing is set for Thursday in San Francisco.
Attorney General Rob Bonta argued in a Tuesday court motion that the Trump administration's deployment violates the Posse Comitatus Act, an 1878 law that bars federal troops from participating in civilian law enforcement efforts.
"The federalized National Guard and active-duty Marines deployed in Los Angeles will engage in quintessential law enforcement activity in violation of the PCA," the motion said.
A military official with knowledge of the operation told NBC News that the Marines would not conduct arrests and would only transport and guard ICE agents.
In San Antonio, Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott called up National Guard members to help keep demonstrations peaceful. "Texas is a law-and-order state, and we will use every tool that we can to ensure order across our state," he said Wednesday.
The city's outgoing mayor, Democrat Ron Nirenberg, said the governor wasn't asked to send in the guard and didn't give city leaders advanced notice. Nirenberg urged peaceful protest and expressed confidence that the city 'knows how to do this right.'
Demonstrations in San Antonio remained peaceful Wednesday night. Some National Guard members sent to keep the peace were seen playing the popular card game 'Uno' at a table.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Walmart staff warn shoppers over avalanche of price hikes on all your favorite products
Walmart employees say they're being hit with a flood of in-store price updates — and they're sounding the alarm online. Screenshots from workers' handheld inventory devices show thousands of items being repriced across entire stores — in some cases, more than 15,000 in a single location. Another said that at their store, just in the clothing section, there were '4,000 today'. 'Lately my section has been getting 5,000 to 9,000 a week,' another added, saying it was a 40 to 50 percent increase over usual. Not all of the adjustments are price hikes. Some will be markdowns or seasonal promotions. But the sheer volume has workers overwhelmed — and it's raising eyebrows as Walmart deals with inflation-weary shoppers, rising supplier costs, and renewed pressure from President Donald Trump's tariffs. Independent analysts have told that the President's signature policy would make products more expensive. Walmart confirmed as much in its most recent earnings update, revealing it would raise prices in direct response to the new tariffs. The grocery giant — which imports 60 percent of its goods from China —said it would have to pass along the 'unprecedented' costs of Trump's trade war on to consumers. 'Pricing fluctuations are a normal course of business and are influenced by a variety of factors,' Joe Pennington, Walmart's global press office lead, told 'We remain dedicated to managing inventory well and managing costs to maintain everyday low prices. 'Nothing about the current environment changes our focus — in the last quarter we had 6,500 rollbacks which is 1,000 more than the previous quarter.' Last month, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon warned that prices would rise in response to sweeping tariffs on Chinese goods — a comment that drew backlash from President Donald Trump. 'Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain,' Trump threatened on social media. 'Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, "EAT THE TARIFFS," and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!' Walmart has since modestly backtracked on its higher price warnings, repeatedly saying it is trying to 'keep prices low.' But attempts to skirt the tariffs will be challenging. Previously, a Walmart employee posted a picture of a price change on a Hasbro doll - the price increased by over 40 percent Meanwhile, a growing number of staffers are posting on social media, claiming products are getting more expensive. For example, in another thread, an employee posted a picture of a Hasbro My Real Baby doll's price surge, shocking the tag from $34.97 to $49.97 — a nearly 43 percent increase. For industry analysts, Walmart's pricing changes are seen as a bellwether for the rest of the retail economy. The retailer has over 4,800 stores across the US. It was the largest company by revenue in the world in 2024. Because of its sheer size, wherever Walmart's pricing goes, other stores will likely follow. But the retailing giant isn't the only chain under tariff pressure. Several retailers have warned that their prices will also climb with Trump's tariff regimes. Executives from Best Buy and Target have also warned of incoming price increases tied to the new trade policies. And when Amazon said it would label tariffs as a separate line item on some product listings, the White House publicly called the move a 'hostile and political act.' The e-commerce giant quickly scrapped plans to advertise the tariff increases after the call-out.
BBC News
2 hours ago
- BBC News
Hiding in the fields - farm workers fearing deportation stay in California's shadows
The women crouch down motionless, kneeling between endless rows of fruit bushes, almost hidden from view."Are you from ICE?" one of the women, a farm worker in a hat and purple bandana, asks us assuring her that we're not with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which has been raiding nearby farms and arresting workers over the past week, she straightens her back, rising slightly out of the dirt."Have you seen any ICE vans? Are there patrol cars out there?" she asks, still unsure if we can be trusted and she can woman, an undocumented migrant from Mexico, has been picking berries in Oxnard, California since arriving in the US two years ago. It's a town which boasts of being the "strawberry capital of the world".As her work shift ended on Wednesday, she and her co-workers hid in the fields, waiting to be picked up by a friend and unsure whether it was safe to venture out into the parking the previous day, nine farms in the Oxnard area were visited by ICE agents, say local activists, but without search warrants they were denied entry and instead picked up people on the nearby streets, arresting 35. The workplace raids are part of President Donald Trump's goal of arresting 3,000 undocumented immigrants per day. On the campaign trail he had vowed to deport noncitizens accused of violent crimes, a promise that received widespread support, even among some Hispanics. But in Los Angeles there was a public backlash and street protests that sometimes turned violent, prompting him to controversially send in the military to the second largest city in the US."They treat us like criminals, but we only came here to work and have a better life," says the woman, who left her children behind in Mexico two years ago and hopes to return to them next year."We don't want to leave the house anymore. We don't want to go to the store. We're afraid they'll catch us." Large-scale raids on workplaces in California's agricultural heartland haven't been seen for the last 15 years, says Lucas Zucker, a community organiser in California's Central Coast that seems to have changed this past week."They are just sweeping through immigrant communities like Oxnard indiscriminately, looking for anyone they can find to meet their politically-driven quotas," he than 40% of US farmworkers are undocumented immigrants, according to a 2022 report by the US Department of Agriculture. In California, more than 75% are undocumented, according to the University of California, at farms and businesses that rely on the agricultural industry throughout California, and across the entire country, have ramped up this arrests have raised fears of shortages to America's food supply, if the migrants are arrested or forced into hiding, afraid to come to work. This impact has not been lost on the White House. Despite winning the election decisively after promising mass deportations, Trump on Thursday acknowledged the tough time his crackdown is inflicting on the farming sector."Our farmers are being hurt badly. You know, they have very good workers. They've worked for them for 20 years. They're not citizens, but they've turned out to be, you know, great."Who has been arrested by ICE under Trump?In April, he said that some migrants may be authorised to continue working in the US, on the condition that they have a formal recommendation from their employer and that they first leave the US. The result of one raid on Tuesday in Oxnard, a municipality 60 miles (100km) from downtown Los Angeles, can be seen in a video posted to Instagram by a local flower short clip shows a man running in a vast field of crops, through a haze of thick morning fog, as agents give chase on foot and in trucks. He is then seen falling to the ground, among the rows of plants, as agents move to arrest the BBC visited Oxnard on Wednesday, a US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) truck was seen parked outside an organic produce trucking company. A security guard insisted their visit was not related to immigration, saying: "This is not ICE. We would never let ICE in here."Many tractors and trucks sat idle surrounded by acres of farmland, as an unknown number of workers chose to stay and peril in Newsom's fight with TrumpJesus polished luxury cars in LA - then ICE showed upThe impact is having ripple effects on other businesses. Watching from her family's Mexican restaurant, Raquel Pérez saw masked CBP agents attempt to enter Boskovich Farms, a vegetable and herb packing facility across the her business, Casa Grande Cafe, has only one customer during the normally busy lunch hour, because farm workers have stayed home. She estimates that at least half of her normal clientele are undocumented."No one came in today," says her mother, Paula Pérez. "We're all on edge."Raquel says she's more concerned now for the future of the restaurant - serving chilaquiles, flan, and other Mexican delicacies - than she was during Covid, when her customers continued their work as usual, keeping the nation supplied with fresh foods."They don't realise the domino effect this is going to have," she says about the raids. Other companies around her that rely on agriculture have already been affected. The adjacent business buying and selling wooden pallets is closed, and a local car mechanic too."If the strawberries or vegetables aren't picked, that means there's gonna be nothing coming into the packing houses. Which means there's not gonna be no trucks to take the stuff." A migrant selling strawberries from his truck on the side of the road says the raids have already had a devastating effect - on both his business and his hopes of becoming a legal resident of the US."Fewer people are going out for trips, and they buy less from me," says Óscar, who comes from the Mexican state of Tlaxcala and, while undocumented himself, has children who were born in the US."I'm scared, but I can't stop going out to work. I have to provide for my family," he says.Óscar says he has been working to finalise his immigration status, but with ICE agents now waiting outside courthouses for migrants seeking to process paperwork, he's unsure of what to do next."There aren't many ways left to be here legally."
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
Jane Fonda, 87, shocks Melbourne crowd with X-rated Trump rant and admits her 'shop is closed due to flooding' in astonishing tell-all
Hollywood legend Jane Fonda certainly got her money's worth – and then some – during a rumoured $300,000 appearance in Melbourne, holding absolutely nothing back despite battling a pesky cold. The 87-year-old Oscar winner, known for her trailblazing activism and iconic aerobics videos, unleashed a tirade against Donald Trump, dropping the F-bomb not once but twice, to a stunned crowd of more than one thousand women. Fonda, who reportedly eased her jet lag with a lavish stay in a diplomatic suite at the Park Hyatt and a shopping spree down Collins Street, gave a marathon performance. She charmed fans during a meet and greet before her no-holds-barred interview with Liz Hayes. The veteran star hilariously recounted her past sex scenes with Jon Voight, quipping she wished she'd had an 'intimacy coordinator that was tough.' But it was her candid admission about her current love life that truly raised eyebrows: 'I've closed up shop due to flooding,' she declared, to roars of laughter. From A-list scandals and red carpet mishaps to exclusive pictures and viral moments, subscribe to the DailyMail's new showbiz newsletter to stay in the loop. The event, part of former Swisse Vitamins CEO Radek Sali's Wanderlust talkfest at the Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, began with a rather serene half-hour guided meditation on Thursday. However, any sense of calm was shattered once Fonda took the stage. It was Fonda's fiery 'call to arms' that proved the most explosive part of her appearance. She launched into a blistering attack on US President Donald Trump, labelling him 'that fu—er' as she urged the crowd to make a difference. The Grace and Frankie star was born in New York in 1937 to legendary Hollywood star Henry Fonda, and she is the sister of late actor Peter Fonda and aunt of retired actress Bridget Fonda. The seasoned activist, famously dubbed 'Hanoi Jane' for her stance against the Vietnam War, proudly spoke of her more recent arrests in her 80s for non-violent civil disobedience during climate change rallies. 'It feels so good to be arrested,' she confessed, highlighting her lifelong commitment to fighting for her beliefs. 'People who do things that are stupid, bad and cruel and hostile, like the people running my government now; they're not bad people, they're unwell,' Fonda declared, in her assessment of the former US leadership. The veteran actress also weighed in on American politics, acknowledging the millions who voted for Trump. 'In the United States, 78 million people voted for Trump, not all of them MAGA,' she noted. However, Fonda predicted a swift change of heart for many: 'But working class people are really hurting in the United States, men and women. They're going to have buyer's regret very soon about voting the way they did.' In a powerful and expletive-laden speech, Fonda roared: 'F--- those neoliberals and fascists and people who don't move to love. We have to move to love and empathy.' But it wasn't just politics on the agenda. During the pre-show meet and greet, the eternally youthful Fonda was quizzed on something far more personal: her sex life. And true to form, she answered with her signature bluntness. 'I don't get naked in bed with anybody anymore,' Fonda stated matter-of-factly. Then, in a candid admission that left jaws on the floor, she added: 'If I was going to have sex, I would want it to be with a 20-year-old. I like certain kinds of skin.' But I don't want to impose my old skin on somebody else, so I decided to quit altogether, and I'm so happy about it,' she concluded. Fonda was spotted at Sydney Airport on Friday, cutting a chic figure as she was wheeled through the terminal ahead of her highly anticipated one-off show, called In Conversation with Jane Fonda. Wearing oversized sunglasses, a sleek navy coat, face mask and sneakers, the Hollywood legend looked every bit the global icon as she rested in a wheelchair. Fonda will take the stage alongside Hayes at ICC Sydney Theatre on Sunday.
