How immigration raids are reshaping Los Angeles
In Los Angeles, the sudden disappearance of part of this undocumented workforce after the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in early June has undermined the entire local economic fabric. By extension, the situation has raised fears of rising social and racial tensions.
In this atmosphere of distrust and instability, Mexican American photographer Julie Leopo set out across the immigrant-dependent neighborhoods of Los Angeles for Le Monde. In these now nearly empty places, she met those who, with no other options, continue to work under the constant threat of deportation, in order to support themselves and their families.
Santee Alley market
You have 83.37% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
LeMonde
2 days ago
- LeMonde
How immigration raids are reshaping Los Angeles
Los Angeles has long nurtured a myth of prosperity built on Hollywood and tourism. But in reality, the city's stability depends on a quieter economy, largely sustained by undocumented immigrant workers. According to the Bay Area Economic Institute, this population segment generates nearly 5% of California's gross domestic product and pays more than $23 billion a year in local, state and federal taxes. In Los Angeles, the sudden disappearance of part of this undocumented workforce after the deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in early June has undermined the entire local economic fabric. By extension, the situation has raised fears of rising social and racial tensions. In this atmosphere of distrust and instability, Mexican American photographer Julie Leopo set out across the immigrant-dependent neighborhoods of Los Angeles for Le Monde. In these now nearly empty places, she met those who, with no other options, continue to work under the constant threat of deportation, in order to support themselves and their families. Santee Alley market You have 83.37% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
France 24
5 days ago
- France 24
'A trap' - Asylum seekers arrested after attending US courts
Trump, who campaigned on a pledge to deport many migrants, has encouraged authorities to be more aggressive as he seeks to hit his widely-reported target of one million deportations annually. Since Trump's return to the White House, Homeland Security agents have adopted the tactic of waiting outside immigration courts nationwide and arresting migrants as they leave at the end of asylum hearings. Missing an immigration court hearing is a crime in some cases and can itself make migrants liable to be deported, leaving many with little choice but to attend and face arrest. Armed agents with shields from different federal agencies loitered outside the court hearings in a tower block in central New York, holding paperwork with photographs of migrants to be targeted, an AFP correspondent saw this week. The agents arrested almost a dozen migrants from different countries in just a few hours on the 12th floor of the Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. Brad Lander, a city official who was briefly detained last month by ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents as he attempted to accompany a migrant targeted for removal, called the hearings "a trap." "It has the trappings of a judicial hearing, but it's just a trap to have made them come in the first place," he said Wednesday outside the building. White House defends agents Lander recounted several asylum seekers being arrested by immigration officers including Carlos, a Paraguayan man who Lander said had an application pending for asylum under the Convention Against Torture -- as well as a future court date. "The judge carefully instructed him on how to prepare to bring his case to provide additional information about his interactions with the Paraguayan police and make his case under the global convention against torture for why he is entitled to asylum," Lander said. After his hearing, agents "without any identifying information or badges or warrants grabbed Carlos, and then quickly moved him toward the back stairwell," he said. Lander, a Democrat, claimed the agents were threatening and that they pushed to the ground Carlos's sister who had accompanied him to the hearing. The White House said recently that "the brave men and women of ICE are under siege by deranged Democrats -- but undeterred in their mission." "Every day, these heroes put their own lives on the line to get the worst of the worst... off our streets and out of our neighborhoods." Back at the building in lower Manhattan, Lander said that "anyone who comes down here to observe could see... the rule of law is being eroded."
AFP
6 days ago
- AFP
Outdated footage of kneeling officers misrepresented as immigration protests
"Here is Omaha PD kneeling for illegal immigrants. Unbelievable," says a July 16, 2025 post on Gettr, a platform catering to American conservatives. Image Screenshot from Gettr taken July 17, 2025 Another post on X adds: "Thank God for ICE and our federal agents." The video shows a line of uniformed police officers kneeling and raising their fists in the air in front of a crowd of protesters, before standing to offer handshakes and hugs. Similar posts spread the same clip in June 2025, as demonstrations against deportation raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) flared in cities across the country, with Los Angeles taking center stage following Trump's deployment of National Guard and US military troops to the Democratic stronghold. ICE has scaled up deportation efforts under the Republican president, who made expelling undocumented immigrants a key priority for his second White House term. Dramatic images have shown federal agents, often masked and sometimes armed with assault rifles, chasing down migrants at courthouses, farms and on the streets. The video claimed to show Omaha law enforcement taking a knee is old and unrelated to illegal immigration, however. Reverse image searches revealed that the Omaha Police Department shared the footage June 2, 2020 (archived here). At the time, racial justice protesters were rallying across the country following the murder of Floyd, who died at the hands of a white police officer during an arrest in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Officer Michael Pecha, a spokesperson with the Omaha Police Department's public information office, confirmed to AFP that the clip is "from protests in 2020." "We have not had any large-scale protests in Omaha recently," Pecha said in a July 17, 2025 email. Pecha referred AFP to a 2020 civil unrest report, which explained that the department uploaded the footage to debunk online claims that an officer had performed a Nazi salute (archived here). "In an effort to diffuse tensions near 13th and Howard, a group of officers and National Guard members kneeled with the protesters," it reads. The report said the incident took place June 1, 2020. Another video posted to TikTok at the time shows the moment from a different angle (archived here). The act of kneeling has become associated with advocacy against racism and police brutality in the United States, largely inspired by former National Football League quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who began taking a knee during pre-game performances of the US national anthem in 2016. The mischaracterization of the Omaha video comes just over a month after Police Chief Todd Schmaderer warned Nebraskans to look out for misinformation in response to a fake post that purported to show the department advising residents of future ICE raids (archived here, and here). AFP previously debunked social media posts falsely claiming a video of a Los Angeles Police Department officer kneeling had taken place during June 2025 protests against Trump's policies. In reality, the clip was also from 2020. AFP has fact-checked other misinformation about US politics here.
