EXCLUSIVE: VA Dept says LA riots forced community center closures impacting more than 600 veterans
FIRST ON FOX: Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins sent letters to California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass this week alerting them to the impact the anti-ICE riots there are having on the city's veteran community.
The letter cites the "violent" riots as the reason why the VA decided to close its Los Angeles Ambulatory Care Center for at least five days. It stated that local agency leaders made the "difficult decision" after the building's outer walls were defaced with graffiti threatening the lives of federal immigration officials.
In total, more than 600 veteran appointments were affected.
"In other words, your state's failure to maintain law and order in Los Angeles is coming between Veterans and the healthcare they have earned," the letters, signed by Secretary Collins, stated. "What has struck me the most about the city and state's response to this ordeal is that your primary concern seems to be virtue signaling your opposition to President Donald J. Trump's efforts to restore law and order throughout the city rather than protecting the hardworking Angelenos who are being victimized by violent rioters and other criminals."
Collins added that the city and state's "lackadaisical response to the riots" raises questions about the safety and security of veterans, particularly those who benefit from federal VA programs, after the National Guard and other federal law enforcement leave the area.
The letter requested both Newsom and Bass respond with specific steps they are currently taking to restore law and order in the area where the VA care center was shutdown. It also requested a status update on state and local investigations into the defacement of the care center that was closed, and requested that state and local authorities pay to repair the damage to the building since, according to Collins' letter, it was their lack of police presence that led to the defacement.
Both Newsom and Bass opposed any federal intervention to quell the riots, calling it unconstitutional and an overreach. Eventually, Newsom, with support from California Attorney General Rob Bonta, filed a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration seeking an emergency restraining order to block National Guard and other military personnel from assisting federal agents with immigration enforcement.
"Defendants, including President Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth have sought to bring military personnel and a 'warrior culture' to the streets of cities and towns where Americans work, go to school, and raise their families," Newsom's lawsuit states. "Now, they have turned their sights on California with devastating consequences, setting a roadmap to follow across the country."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNN
32 minutes ago
- CNN
US Steel and Nippon Steel say Trump has approved their partnership
President Donald Trump has approved a partnership between US Steel and Nippon Steel, the companies said in a release on Friday. 'We look forward to putting our commitments into action to make American steelmaking and manufacturing great again,' the companies said in a statement. The steelmakers also entered into a national security agreement with the US government, the statement said. This is a developing story and will be updated.
New York Times
35 minutes ago
- New York Times
Judge Signals Openness to Granting Bail to Returned Deportee
A federal judge signaled on Friday that she was open to granting bail to Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, one week after he was returned to the United States to face criminal charges following his wrongful deportation to El Salvador. If the judge, Barbara D. Holmes, does end up denying the Justice Department's request to detain Mr. Abrego Garcia as he awaits trial, it would be a significant rebuke of the Trump administration, which has repeatedly accused him of being a dangerous criminal, even a terrorist. But it would also represent a Pyrrhic victory for him and his defense team because, as Judge Holmes pointed out, he would almost certainly be taken into custody by immigration officials. Judge Holmes declined to make a final decision on the question of bail at a daylong hearing in Federal District Court in Nashville where Mr. Abrego Garcia pleaded not guilty to a two-count federal indictment unsealed last Friday. The indictment, which was obtained in May while he was being held in Salvadoran custody, charged him with having taken part in a yearslong conspiracy to smuggle undocumented immigrants across the United States as a member of the violent street gang MS-13. The judge said she intended to issue a written decision about Mr. Abrego Garcia's bail 'sooner rather than later.' During the hearing, federal prosecutors threw everything they had at Mr. Abrego Garcia in an effort to persuade Judge Holmes that he was a flight risk and a danger to the community. In an unusual move, the presentation was made personally by Robert E. McGuire, the acting U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Tennessee. Mr. McGuire brought up two domestic violence complaints that Mr. Abrego Garcia's wife had filed against him years ago. He accused the defendant, a Salvadoran man who had been living in Maryland at the time of his expulsion, of transporting children as part of the smuggling operation. And he asserted there was evidence that Mr. Abrego Garcia had sexually harassed some of his young female passengers. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
CBS News
36 minutes ago
- CBS News
About 200 Marines begin Los Angeles deployment at Westwood Federal Building
Approximately 200 Marines arrived in Los Angeles to begin an assignment to guard the Wilshire Federal Building on Friday, according to an Army general, marking a rare occasion where military forces will be deployed on U.S. soil. President Trump last \weekend federalized and deployed more than 2,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to L.A. after protests erupted in the light of immigration enforcement operations throughout the city and nearby areas. The move to send military has been described as "authoritarian" by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, while Mr. Trump said Friday morning that the "city would be burning to the ground right now" had he not activated the troops. Newsom has challenged the decision in a lawsuit. A federal judge sided with Newsom and blocked Mr. Trump from sending troops on Thursday night, but an appeals court temporarily halted the order later that evening. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit scheduled another hearing on the case for June 17. The troops are allowed to stay in L.A. at least until that date. US Marines walk on the parking lot of the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles, California, on June 13, 2025. A judge has ordered Donald Trump to return control of the California National Guard to the state, saying the president's decision to deploy them to protest-hit Los Angeles over Governor Gavin Newsom's objections was "illegal." Protests against Trump's harsh immigration policies spread on June 11 across the United States despite a military-backed crackdown in Los Angeles and threats by the hard-right Republican president to use "heavy force." ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images During a news conference Friday morning, Maj. Gen. Scott M. Sherman said the Marines arrived in L.A. Thursday night. They began their assignment in Westwood around noon on Friday. Sherman added that the sole mission of the deployed Marines is to protect federal property and personnel, like the Federal Building. The Marines will be armed with weapons and wearing crowd control gear such as a riot shield, baton and gas masks. "I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities," Sherman said. "Rather, they'll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel." Sherman confirmed that the National Guard soldiers who have been deployed since Sunday have also not participated in law enforcement activity. No troops have been injured since arriving in L.A. "They have watched federal law enforcement arrest personnel as they were protecting," Sherman said. "They have not had to detain anyone at this point." It's not yet clear what assignments the other 500 deployed Marines will receive in L.A. Sherman said he couldn't speculate on future operations, but recent training has centered around defending federal property. "That's the mission we've really focused on them to do," he said. "They've already started with the Wilshire [Federal] Building today, and we will progress from there." As of Friday morning, there were 56,300 individuals in ICE detention centers across the country, a record for the agency, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News. On Thursday and Wednesday, ICE recorded 1,400 and 1,600 nationwide immigration arrests, respectively, the statistics indicate. ICE arrests have increased by more than 100% since President Trump's first 100 days in office, but they remain well below the 3,000 daily arrest rate demanded by the White House. contributed to this report.
