How did a rumor about an ICE raid on a homeless shelter escalate to Mayor Bass?

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14 hours ago

At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Karen Bass made a startling claim.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had appeared at a homeless shelter that day, among other sensitive locations in Los Angeles, she said.
But what actually happened at the Whitsett West Tiny Home Village in North Hollywood remains murky. The shifting narratives reflect the anxiety of Angelenos amid ICE raids targeting immigrants at Home Depots, churches and retail centers.
In L.A., a "sanctuary city" where local officials do not participate in federal immigration enforcement, tensions with the federal government are at an all-time high. After some protests against the raids turned violent, the Trump administration called in the National Guard and the U.S. Marines.
With federal officials keeping the city in the dark on immigration enforcement actions, City Council members and the mayor sometimes rely on the rumor mill.
ICE's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, quickly responded to Bass' comments, saying they were "false."
"[ICE] is not in homeless shelters," the agency wrote on X. "This rhetoric from [the mayor] and California politicians demonizes the brave men and women of law enforcement."
The Whitsett West Tiny Home Village, which is on city property and is run by the nonprofit Hope the Mission, has beds for about 150 people in shed-like structures off the 170 Freeway near Whitsett Avenue and Saticoy Street.
According to Laura Harwood, Hope the Mission's deputy chief program officer, people in a car tried to get access to the tiny home village on Thursday afternoon, telling security guards that they were American citizens who wanted to see how their taxpayer dollars were being used. The guards did not admit the visitors, who were wearing civilian clothes.
"This is a really unusual situation. This really doesn't happen," Harwood said.
Other employees saw some men looking into the complex from different sides and taking pictures.
A worker at the tiny home village, who requested anonymity because he has family members who are undocumented, told The Times that he was returning from lunch when he spotted two DHS SUVs with tinted windows down the block.
Tiny home staffers were concerned enough that they reached out to City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who came to the complex.
"We got reports that some ICE agents were around in the area viewing the location from both the front and the backside entryways," Nazarian said on Instagram.
Nazarian said that immigration agents appearing at the tiny home village would be a "fear mongering" tactic.
The targeting of interim homeless housing could dissuade people from moving off the street, or push those in shelters to leave out of fear, said Rowan Vansleve, Hope the Mission's president.
"Last Thursday, ICE entered our city, and provoked the city, by chasing people through Home Depots and car washes and showing up at schools. And today, showing up at emergency rooms and homeless shelters," Bass said at the Thursday press conference.
Bass' team confirmed to The Times that she was referring to the incident at the Whitsett West Tiny Home Village.
City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said that community organizations and local elected officials have been sorting through reports of DHS sightings to see if they are credible.
"We have seen situations where people say federal agents are here, and then when someone goes, it turns out they were never there or were gone an hour ago," Hernandez said.
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.