The LA immigration riots are US politics at its worst
This weekend's immigration protests in LA showed every element in American politics at its absolute worst. The right was rabidly xenophobic, President Trump belligerent and authoritarian. Democratic leadership clueless, unfocused, weak and in denial – and the left manipulative and deliberately violent. Anyone with a whit of sense stayed as far away from the proceedings as possible.
The right does no one any favours when they discuss America's immigration problems as a war for the future of civilisation. Maybe in the case of the Egyptian national who torched elderly Jewish people in Boulder last weekend, they have a point, but not when it comes to the quotidian ICE immigration operation that just went down in LA.
But opposing that operation isn't exactly something on which the left should hang its balaclava either. Judging from the vociferous weekend-long passion play we saw unfold, you'd think that ICE had loaded the residents of an orphanage or a nunnery into a van, gouged out their eyes, and sent them to a windowless dungeon.
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Scottish Sun
29 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Trump insists riots would have ‘completely obliterated' LA without National Guard and demands Dems say ‘THANK YOU'
A lawmaker warned the chaos is the 'tip of the iceberg' LA DESTRUCTION Trump insists riots would have 'completely obliterated' LA without National Guard and demands Dems say 'THANK YOU' DONALD Trump has doubled down on his decision to send the National Guard to Los Angeles after days of unrest in the city. The president said California Governor Gavin Newsom should be thanking him for deploying the troops to protests downtown against federal immigration raids. 8 A protester jumps over a burning car with his bike in Los Angeles on Sunday Credit: The Mega Agency 8 Masked rioters wave a Mexican flag while standing on top of a burning self-driving car in Los Angeles Credit: Getty 8 LAPD officers shoot rubber bullets at protesters as they march through the streets on horseback Credit: Getty 8 A burning Waymo taxi near the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles Credit: Getty However, Newsom was furious with Trump's decision to send federal service members without his permission and slammed the move as "illegal" and "immoral," as he plans to bring a lawsuit against the Trump administration over it. Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, insist that the peaceful protests turned into riots on Sunday night only in response to the National Guard showing up. But Trump said on Monday the city would be "completely obliterated" if he hadn't mobilized the Guard. "We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated," he wrote on Truth Social. "The very incompetent 'Governor,' Gavin Newscum, and 'Mayor,' Karen Bass, should be saying, 'THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.'" He continued, "Instead, they choose to lie to the People of California and America by saying that we weren't needed, and that these are 'peaceful protests.'" Rioters looted shops, set self-driving Waymo cars on fire, and blocked off the 101 Freeway on Sunday night after the National Guard was deployed. Cops used tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls to push back the protesters, even shooting a TV reporter with rubber bullets live on air at the terrifying scene. Newsom has asked Trump to withdraw the troops and threatened to sue the Trump administration after the president authorized 2,000 troops to storm the city. This is the first time in decades that a state's National Guard has been activated without the governor's permission, which Newsom called a "serious breach of state sovereignty." On Truth Social, Trump called for anyone hiding their identities behind masks to be arrested immediately. He added, "Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free." Now, 500 Marines are waiting in a "prepared to deploy" status at a base that sits about 142 miles east of Los Angeles. The city is bracing for more violent clashes on Monday as Trump's new travel ban comes into effect, furthering his crackdown on immigration. More than 100 people were arrested in ICE raids last week as agents targeted the city of Paramount, which has a predominantly Latino population in Los Angeles. LAPD chiefs have now voiced concerns over the use of deadly weapons by the rioters. Trump vowed to support law enforcement in the protests and said he will make sure his administration "sends whatever we need to make sure there's law and order." 8 LAPD Metropolitan Division officers clash with demonstrators Credit: Getty 8 Dozens of self-driving cars were set on fire by rioters Credit: Getty 8 Police officers take cover under an overpass on Highway 101 in downtown Los Angeles as activists lob rocks and fireworks at their vehicles Credit: Getty 8 Read our Los Angeles protests blog for the latest updates...
NBC News
32 minutes ago
- NBC News
Trump travel ban hits immigrant family coming to U.S. amid bloody civil war in Myanmar
A Burmese American woman was eager to bring her siblings over to the U.S. from Myanmar amid a more than 15-year wait for visas. She'd been hoping to reunite with them since the 1990s, during military rule in her home country, so her brother's family could start a life in the U.S. But a day after she bought the plane tickets, President Donald Trump ordered a travel ban that included Myanmar. The woman, 51, and her husband, who were granted anonymity due to fear of retaliation, had sponsored her brother and sister-in-law to immigrate to the U.S. The siblings were then were hoping to bring their own adult kids, too, so that they wouldn't have to fulfill mandatory military service in the country's active civil war. With the travel ban in effect Monday, they said the policy has a heightened impact on people from war-torn countries like Myanmar who had hopes of finding sanctuary in the U.S. 'It's really frustrating because we were on the cusp of securing their safety to leave that situation,' said her husband, 57, adding he felt like a 'rug got pulled out from under us in an instant.' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said Trump's policy is in the 'best interest of the American people and their safety.' 'His commonsense, country-specific travel restrictions include places that lack proper vetting, exhibit high visa overstay rates, or fail to share identity and threat information,' Jackson said. 'The restrictions fulfill the President's day one promise to protect American citizens from dangerous foreign actors who may come to the United States and cause us harm.' The travel restrictions, announced on Wednesday, completely bar entry to the U.S. for people from Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in addition to those from Afghanistan, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen. Other countries, including Cuba, Laos and Venezuela, are under partial travel restrictions. According to Trump's proclamation, several of the countries on the list had declined to accept the repatriation of their nationals while others had visa overstay rates that the administration deemed 'unacceptable.' A few countries lacked 'the competence of the central authority' for issuing passports, the proclamation said. Jackson also pointed out a section in the proclamation that allows for applications for refugee status. 'Nothing in this proclamation shall be construed to limit the ability of an individual to seek asylum, refugee status, withholding of removal, or protection under the [international Convention Against Torture], consistent with the laws of the United States,' the proclamation said. However, after he took office, Trump limited refugee admissions for almost all countries including Myanmar. And in May, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to revoke the temporary legal status of more than 500,000 immigrants that was granted by the Biden administration. Those immigrants came from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and are now subject to deportation. Myanmar was among the nine countries in the latest proclamation that Trump also targeted during his first term. In fiscal year 2023, the U.S. issued 13,284 visas to the country, with business and tourism permits making up the most common types of visas. Myanmar recorded 1,384 overstays that fiscal year, equating to an overstay rate of almost 30%. The new travel ban comes as Myanmar's violent military regime fights to hold on to power after it seized control from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi in a 2021 coup. Since then, violence has escalated across the region as the military clashes with ethnic minority rebel groups and pro-democracy militias. 'Junta forces have slaughtered thousands of civilians, bombed and burned villages, and displaced millions of people,' Tom Andrews, United Nations special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Myanmar, said in a press release earlier this year. 'More than 20,000 political prisoners remain behind bars. The economy and public services have collapsed. Famine and starvation loom over large parts of the population.' Under the new travel ban, anyone who obtained a visa prior to the policy is still able to come to the U.S. But there's confusion over how the restrictions will be implemented and enforced. The Burmese American woman and her husband are among those with concerns, particularly as there have been several cases of lawful permanent residents and citizens being swept up in the dragnet of Trump's immigration policies. 'It's terrifying to think that they could be randomly picked up because somebody had a bad day at the office, or somebody didn't do their job or didn't believe that their visa was true,' the woman's husband said. 'It's quite frankly terrifying.' For the woman, reunification with her brother has been a long time coming. She became a citizen in the late 1990s and began the process to help bring her sibling over a few years later. At the time, Myanmar had been under the control of a strict military junta that held power from the 1960s until 2011, and for decades had kept the country in a state of extreme isolation and deprivation. She said her brother, whose children were just a few years old then, hoped to come over and root his family in more stability. 'Their circumstances in Myanmar at that time were very, very bad. That was the system that I grew up in. There was no future for them, no prosperity,' the woman said. 'My brother was concerned for his children's future and education.' Amid moves and address changes, the couple said they never received the standard letter notifying them that the woman's brother had been able to progress in his visa process. They assumed the wait was a product of notorious immigration backlogs. It wasn't until the situation in Myanmar intensified again in recent years that the couple found out that the brother was close to finally being able to immigrate. But by then, the woman said, her brother's kids had aged out of the system. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, those who turn 21 before being approved for legal permanent resident status are no longer considered a child for immigration purposes and need to file an entirely new application, prolonging the green card process. At this point, the woman said, her brother and sister-in-law said they were willing to risk possible detention to come to the U.S., particularly if it meant easier access to the American immigration system that would enable them to fight to get their children to come over as well. However, with Myanmar's military draft in effect, the family is particularly concerned for their safety now that the travel ban adds another barrier to leaving. 'The reason they wanted to come here was for their kids,' the woman said of her brother and sister-in-law. 'Now, it's really hard to bring my nephews here to save their lives.' Quyen Dinh, executive director of the Southeast Asia Resource Action Center, said the bans are ultimately another part of 'the engine of Trump's mass deportation machine.' 'It's focused on demonizing immigrant families and communities by denying them family reunification, that we all rightfully deserve to be whole — especially now, when the world is more dangerous than ever,' Dinh said. Rather than protecting individuals' safety, Dinh said, she believes Trump's policy punishes those who need an escape from dangerous conditions. 'It perpetuates the violence that is happening across the world, as opposed to creating conditions for peace or humanitarian relief, and for these families who've been separated,' Dinh said. She also said she views the ban as evidence that the U.S. is misunderstanding its role as a humanitarian leader. 'We've got people who are legitimately trying to escape a civil war,' the woman's husband said. 'Now, because of some arbitrary decision by the Trump administration to pick a certain number of countries … without consideration of the actual cases, without an exception policy, it hurts them. They've done nothing wrong.'
The Independent
40 minutes ago
- The Independent
Kamala Harris accuses Trump of using National Guard to ‘provoke chaos' in LA
Kamala Harris has criticized the Trump administration's decision to send in the National Guard to tackle anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles, calling it a "dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos." Harris claims the protests against Trump's crackdown on undocumented migrants were "overwhelmingly peaceful" and that ICE's actions are part of a "cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division." The protests have resulted in clashes between demonstrators and police, with authorities using tear gas and flash grenades. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco criticized Harris's statement, accusing her and California Governor Gavin Newsom of "gaslighting" Americans. ICE operations in Los Angeles County have resulted in the arrest of 118 accused illegal immigrants, despite local resistance.
