The L.A. immigration standoff
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Protests continued on Monday in California over a crackdown by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Since they broke out on Friday, President Donald Trump has taken control of the National Guard and even threatened to arrest California Gov. Gavin Newsom. California leaders, including Newsom, have resisted the White House effort while also pleading for calm, warning that images of burning Waymos will only invite worse escalations in response.
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Politico
15 minutes ago
- Politico
Bondi says violent LA protesters will face federal charges
At least nine people are facing federal charges for their involvement in protests against immigration enforcement in Los Angeles, Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday. Demonstrators face charges for attacking police with Molotov cocktails, looting and spitting on law enforcement, Bondi said in a TV interview. 'We are going to prosecute them federally,' she said in an interview on Fox News. 'If California won't protect their law enforcement, we will protect the LAPD and the sheriff's office out there.' Sporadic but at times raucous protests broke out in several parts of the Los Angeles area in recent days, prompting President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines despite the fact that Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the additional forces were not needed. Bondi said the Trump administration planned to take a hard line against demonstrators. 'You spit on a federal law enforcement officer no more,' she said. 'As President Trump said, you spit. we hit. Get ready. If you spit on a federal law enforcement officer, we are going to charge you with a crime federally. You are looking at up to five years maximum in prison.' Those charged already include David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was injured and arrested while protesting the arrest of workers in downtown Los Angeles. He was released Monday from federal custody on a $50,000 bond. The Trump administration's decisive treatment of demonstrators — and the president's focus on punishing those who assault police officers — stands in contrast to his sweeping pardons for roughly 1,500 people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, seeking to overturn the election. Trump has deployed up to 4,000 soldiers from the California National Guard to help quell the demonstrations over the protests of Newsom and Bass — who say the moves are worsening tensions. The state has sued to reverse the deployments. The White House also ordered 700 Marines to join the National Guard, though it's unclear exactly what role they will play. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Monday evening that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had asked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to direct military forces to arrest 'lawbreakers.' DHS did not immediately respond to request for comment from POLITICO, and the Department of Defense declined to comment on the story. 'You can run, you can't hide,' Bondi told Fox. 'We are coming after you federally. If you assault a police officer, if you rob a store, if you loot, if you spit on a police officer, we are coming after you.'
CBS News
17 minutes ago
- CBS News
Trump administration activates 700 Marines in Los Angeles area amid ICE protests
The military has activated about 700 active-duty Marines who could be sent to Los Angeles, joining National Guard troops who were sent to the city to respond to protests, U.S. Northern Command said in a statement. Members of the Marine Corps could start arriving in the Los Angeles area as soon as Tuesday, a defense official told CBS News. The Marines are based in Twentynine Palms, a city east of Los Angeles. Northern Command said the Marines will "seamlessly integrate" with hundreds of members of the National Guard to protect "federal personnel and federal property." They have been trained in "de-escalation, crowd control and standing rules for the use of force," the military added. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth also said Monday that around 700 Marines "are being deployed to Los Angeles to restore order." Northern Command said the Marines who were activated are from the 2nd Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, an infantry unit based in Twentynine Palms, California, east of Los Angeles. Hegseth said the Marines are being deployed from a different base — Camp Pendleton, south of Los Angeles. When asked earlier Monday about the possibility of sending in Marines, President Trump said, "We'll see what happens." Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDowell said in a statement that the agency has decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstration and can handle the protests. "The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said in response to the possible deployment of Marines, adding that there needs to be open communication between all agencies to prevent confusion and avoid escalation. California Gov. Gavin Newsom's office said on X earlier Monday that it does not believe the Marines have been deployed yet, writing: "From our understanding, this is moving Marines from one base to another base." Newsom suggested late Monday he could take legal action over the planned use of Marines, calling it illegal: "It's a blatant abuse of power. We will sue to stop this," he wrote on X. Mr. Trump deployed National Guard troops to downtown Los Angeles over the weekend to respond to tense protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests. The Trump administration argues the deployment is necessary to protect federal property and ICE agents from violence. Mr. Trump has accused local leaders of not doing enough to deal with violent clashes at the protests. Newsom opposed the deployment, and the state of California is suing the Trump administration over what it argues is an illegal federalization of the National Guard. Some local officials have argued the deployment could aggravate an already caustic situation in downtown Los Angeles, and say state and local police agencies can handle the protests themselves. "We didn't have a problem until Trump got involved," Newsom posted on X Monday.
Yahoo
21 minutes ago
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Senator Martin Heinrich calls for Torrance County ICE detention facility to be closed
Jun. 9—New Mexico's senior senator is calling for a New Mexico-based Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility to be closed, after his congressional staff observed troubling conditions during a visit in late May. "For years, detainees have been denied adequate access to legal services and medical care while being subjected to inhumane living conditions and continued instances of physical abuse," Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., wrote to Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in a letter Thursday. The Torrance County Detention Facility is owned and operated by CoreCivic in Estancia. Heinrich has repeatedly pushed for CoreCivic's contract to be terminated, including in a December 2023 letter during the Biden administration. "CoreCivic is committed to providing safe, humane and appropriate care for the people in our facilities," CoreCivic spokesman Brian Todd said in a statement, pointing to the facility's overall "good" ratings in its 2024 and 2025 ICE Office of Detention Oversight audits. As the Trump administration has been trying to increase deportations, members of Congress have been attempting to conduct oversight of ICE detention centers around the country. When New Jersey Congresswoman LaMonica McIver and other Democratic officials tried to do an oversight visit to a Newark ICE center in May, she was charged with two counts of assault after a confrontation with officers trying to arrest the Newark mayor. On May 28, Heinrich's staff members were allowed to tour one housing unit at the Torrance County facility, but were denied access to two other housing units, after they heard at least 10 detainees file complaints of abuse, and lack of access to laundry and medical services. According to Todd, detainees have daily access to sign up for medical and mental health services, there are clinics staffed with licensed health professionals and medical personnel on site at all hours. "The agent claimed that a revised ICE visitation protocol prohibited congressional staff from visiting housing units with detainees present," the letter reads. "However, the document the agent cited made no mention of limiting congressional staff visitation to empty pods, and it in fact cited to a statutory authority explicitly forbidding ICE from denying congressional staff conducting oversight access." Congressional staff members found backed-up sinks, a drain in the middle of a common area backed up with sewage water, and non-functioning tablet devices — devices that people detained by ICE use to access legal services, according to Heinrich's letter. The conditions match those described by detainees and advocates, the letter says. Maintenance staff respond quickly to plumbing issues, Todd said in a statement, and the common area drain was backed up with water after debris collected in shower drains, not with sewage. CoreCivic is committed to providing detainees with access to counsel and courts, Todd said, although he did not respond to a question about the broken tablets. TCDF Warden George Dedos confirmed that the detention facility had no water from Estancia for three days, the letter says, and was unable to answer questions about the capacity of the facilities' two back-up water tanks or describe the contingency plan for when there is another water outage, "short of the total relocation of all the detainees." "He told my staff during their visit that the water shortage had not impacted their operations, but that runs contrary to what detainees said during that same visit," Heinrich wrote. His staff were told by detainees that "water was only turned on for one hour every three days for showers, they were provided only two bottles of drinking water per day, and they were unable to flush toilets for days at a time." CoreCivic was notified on April 29 that Estancia was having a water supply issue and tried to reduce its water consumption. Drinking water and bottled water were available, Todd said, and water was provided to help flush toilets "as an added measure to reduce water consumption." The laundry services and showers were placed on a schedule, but "those services were still available to all of those in our care," according to Todd. ICE did not respond to a request for comment.
