Palisades Fire victims hold first community event since deadly blaze
The Brief
Palisades Fire victims held a community event in Santa Monica on Saturday — their first since the fire.
Los Angeles Mayor Bass says that compared to other California wildfires, recovery and rebuilding after the Palisades Fire is ahead of schedule.
Some residents haven't gotten rebuilding permits yet, and say they're anxious to get home.
LOS ANGELES - Residents from Pacific Palisades gathered in Santa Monica Saturday afternoon for the first community event since January's deadly Palisades Fire.
Local perspective
"We're all spread out all over the city," said Brian Lenz. "It's just nice to see everybody together a little bit. Try to remember what the community was like."
Lenz was there with his old neighbor, Steve Shannon. Both Lenz and Shannon had their homes destroyed by the out-of-control blaze.
"It's a pretty s--- club to be part of," said Lenz. "As a group, we're all just trying to figure out the right way forward."
"I haven't hit the part of submitting a permit yet," said Shannon. "Going to do that now, but that will be the part where I find out if the city has it together or not."
What they're saying
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was at the event meeting and hearing from residents.
"We say, permits, and we want them expedited," said Bass. "But tell us how it's going. I'm hearing positive, and I'm hearing negative. That's helpful. That's the way we improve."
Now, more than 100 days since the fire, the massive clean-up continues. Compared to other fires in California history, Mayor Bass says they're ahead of schedule.
"Frankly, the reason why we finished phase 1 and phase 2 so fast is because of the White House," said Bass. "The commitment made by the administration. I feel like every level of government is doing the very best they can."
"[There's] a lot of concerns and uncertainty about the financial pathways," said Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park. "My mission is to move every mountain so we can get these folks home."
Big picture view
Saturday was a bittersweet day for some residents who hadn't seen some of their friends since the Palisades Fire.
"It's just really sad," said Genevieve Vostic. "But it's also really nice to see the community come together."
Residents, going through so much in the rebuild, are anxious to return to the community they call home.
"We see a lot of familiar things [here] even though it's not in a familiar place," said Vostic. "It will come back one day."
The Source
Information in this story is from interviews with Pacific Palisades residents, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, all at Saturday's event in Santa Monica.
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Raids in Southern California rattle immigrant communities — including those in the US legally
LOS ANGELES -- Jacob Vasquez began working at a clothing warehouse in Los Angeles soon after arriving from Mexico less than three years ago. He is among dozens of workers detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA's fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained. The raids have triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the LA area, the latest development in the administration's immigration crackdown. Protests in the city's downtown have ranged from peaceful to raucous, with demonstrators blocking a major freeway and setting cars on fire over the weekend. Immigrant advocates say the workers who were detained do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights. Vasquez has a three-month-old baby, according to his family who spoke to reporters outside the Ambiance Apparel warehouse, a clothing company founded in 1999, and where the young father worked. 'Jacob is a family man and the sole breadwinner of his household,' said his brother Gabriel, speaking in Spanish during a news conference Monday. He doesn't know if he's OK, he later said in an interview. 'We don't know where he is.' Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the raids and the deployment of troops, saying Tuesday that the actions were aimed at intimidating the area's vast immigrant population, one of the country's largest. She said she has heard even immigrants with legal status are being swept up and that the raids may continue for months. An estimated 950,000 people in Los Angeles County do not have legal immigration status, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That is about a tenth of the county's population, and they include cooks, nannies, hotel employees, street vendors, gardeners, construction workers and garment workers. 'Families across the city are terrified," Bass said. 'They don't know if they should go to work, they don't know if they should go to school.' She said many of those detained have had no contact with their loved ones or lawyers. The raids have only fueled unrest in the city, Bass said. 'They were going to go after violent felons, drug dealers, and I don't know how that matches with the scenes that we saw of people outside Home Depot running through the parking lot, because they were afraid that they were going to get arrested," she said. Saraí Ortiz said her father, Jose, worked for Ambiance for 18 years. 'It was really painful to see him arrested on Friday with his co-workers,' she told the crowd in Spanish. A judge signed a search warrant that there was probable cause to conclude that Ambiance was using fake documents for some workers, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not shared details about the arrests. 'Ambience Apparel has never created any fictitious documents for its workers," Benjamin N. Gluck, an attorney representing the company, said in a statement. "The company obeys, and continues to obey, all applicable laws. We support our workforce, many of whom have worked faithfully for the company for decades.' The Trump administration did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking about whether any of the immigrants detained in the raids had criminal records. Los Angeles is one of the nation's largest garment-production hubs with more than 45,000 workers, mostly Latino and Asian immigrants, who cut, sew and finish the clothing, according to the Garment Worker Center. The raids are deepening fears far beyond LA and even among those who are in the country legally, immigrants said. Jot Condie, president and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association, said the fear is keeping away workers and hurting businesses. In LA County last year, food and drink services were a $30 billion industry. Outside a Home Depot in Santa Ana, California, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, a handful of day laborers leaned against their cars waiting to be hired Tuesday, a day after armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers drove up and sent many of the workers running. Junior Ortega, 43, said he saw four people arrested by ICE, while others fled on foot or jumped into a car and peeled out of the parking lot before they were caught. 'They came out with guns, (saying) 'don't move,' '' Ortega said in Spanish. By then, the Honduran citizen who has lived nearly three decades in the U.S. said he had already taken out his green card to avoid making any sudden moves should agents approach him. One of the agents did, and while holding a gun, demanded to see his ID, Ortega said. After he showed it, he said the agent let him go. The day laborer said he recently started carrying not only his driver's license but his green card with him. While he is not directly affected by the immigration raids, Ortega said they still weigh on him and his children. 'Why don't they go and follow the gang members?" he said. "They are coming for people who do things for the country, who pay taxes.'
USA Today
2 hours ago
- USA Today
Curfew enacted for parts of LA; Newsom says Trump chose 'theatrics over public safety'
Curfew enacted for parts of LA; Newsom says Trump chose 'theatrics over public safety' Show Caption Hide Caption Newsom, Trump latest clash in long-standing feud Governor Gavin Newsom hit back at the Trump administration for deploying military troops to LA following ICE protests. LOS ANGELES − Mayor Karen Bass issued a curfew for parts of downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday following intense days of protests over immigration enforcement raids that have left crews to clean up the wreckage and seen thousands of National Guard troops sent to the city. In a news conference, Bass said the curfew will run from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday, in a section of downtown where protests have turned into instances of vandalism and looting. Bass announced the curfew while many people in the city were out marching through the streets and protesting against the ICE raids. The curfew was announced to "stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President's chaotic escalation," Bass asserted in a social media post. "Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted."Four nights of volatile protests have prompted a legal and social media standoff between California leaders and the Trump administration. The conflict centers on Trump's move to deploy Marines and the National Guard in California in response to protests that have sprung up against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps. California Gov. Gavin Newsom filed a lawsuit against Trump for deploying federal troops in the city. Newsom has also accused Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth of trying to use the assets to help ICE conduct raids. A judge set a hearing for the matter for Thursday. Newsom's efforts to block federal incursion in California come after Trump doubled the National Guard presence in Los Angeles to 4,000 and deployed 700 Marines, an escalation estimated to cost about $134 million, according to a Pentagon official. Trump remained all-in on his decisions, posting on Truth Social that "if we didn't send out the National Guard—Los Angeles would be burning right now!" Since Friday, officers have had confrontations with protesters, leading to the use of pepper spray and flash bangs as officials announced more than 150 arrests amid flare-ups of vandalism and violence. Bass on Tuesday said damage was limited to a small area downtown, but noted that the graffiti was "extensive" and required a large response as the city prepares to host the 2026 World Cup. The curfew issued by Bass covers a one-square-mile area of downtown Los Angeles and will last from 8 p.m. Tuesday until 6 a.m. Wednesday local time. Bass announced the curfew while people were marching through the streets, where protests had turned into vandalism and looting earlier in the week. Police have made over 150 arrests in response to the protests, including over 100 the night before the curfew was announced. In a statement about the protests Monday night, Los Angeles police said that "as demonstrators were being disbursed, agitators and miscreants within the crowd looted businesses and vandalized property." The mayor's office did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's questions about whether the curfew would be reissued Wednesday. California officials have said that Trump's move to send federal troops to the city has only exacerbated tensions and prompted more unrest. Newsom delivered a fiery speech Tuesday night, sharing details about what sparked the protests in California's biggest city and what the president's reaction says about the state of the nation. "This situation was winding down and concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown, but that's not what Donald Trump wanted," Newsom said. "He chose escalation, he chose more force, he chose theatrics over public safety." Newsom said Trump did not consult with California law enforcement leaders and commandeered National Guard troops to Los Angeles streets "illegally and for no reason." "This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation," Newsom explained. Newsom said the protests were sparked by unprecedented immigration enforcement raids that saw federal agents "jumping out of unmarked vans" outside Home Depot to detain people. The governor added that a "U.S. citizen nine months pregnant was arrested, a four-year-old girl taken, families separated, friends quite literally disappearing." Trump has said his immigration policy is meant to root out criminals and people illegally in the country, adding that deploying federal troops to Los Angeles was necessary to protect federal buildings from vandalism and keep the peace. "California may be first, but it clearly will not end here, other states are next, democracy is next," Newsom said. "This moment we have feared has arrived. The rule of law has increasingly given way to the rule of Don." CHICAGO — Hundreds of people gathered in the city's iconic Loop neighborhood on Tuesday to protest ICE and the immigration enforcement raids that sparked widespread demonstrations in Los Angeles. Marchers gathered at Daley Plaza near the federal courthouse, marched under the tracks of the El train and down Michigan Avenue. Demonstrators carried Mexican flags, signs reading 'none of us are free unless all of us are free' and chanted a slogan in Spanish insulting immigration authorities. Protesters marched through Chicago at the same time that people took to the streets in Los Angeles. Watch the protests here. --Contributing: Reuters See how Los Angeles protests intensified over one weekend What started as a small protest over immigration raids on Friday ballooned into large demonstrations throughout the weekend. Here's what happened. Judge Charles Breyer balked at Newsom's request to block the Trump administration's use of the National Guard and Marines on Tuesday. Instead, Breyer ordered a briefing on Wednesday and a hearing on Thursday. Earlier in the day, the Trump administration called Newsom's motion for an emergency temporary restraining order "legally meritless," in pursuit of "an extraordinary, unprecedented, and dangerous court order," and claimed the court has no authority to weigh in. - Sarah Wire President Donald Trump said in remarks from Fort Bragg in North Carolina that service members deployed to California are "defending the republic itself" and helping the administration "liberate" the city of Los Angeles. "They're stopping an invasion," Trump said, in late afternoon remarks. The Republican president said California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, are "incompetent" and suggested without evidence that "troublemakers, agitators and insurrectionists" were being paid to undermine federal immigration law. Asked by a reporter if he was accusing Newsom and Bass of paying demonstrators, Trump said "somebody" was but not necessarily the Democratic politicians. "He was just asked by reporters about this remark and he said "somebody" is paying for it, without specifiying who. "And if they're not, they're just troublemakers," he said. "I believe someboyd is paying them." Trump said: "As the entire world can now see, uncontrolled migration leads to chaos, dysfunction and disorder." - Francesca Chambers Trump's deployment of thousands of troops to the nation's second-largest city has unleashed indignation and anger among residents and local officials who say the threat of immigration protests has been dramatically overblown by the White House. "The implication is that Donald Trump is waging a war on us personally," said protester Charlie Knowlton, 30. Immigration agents carrying out Trump's goal of deporting 1 million undocumented immigrants annually sparked a series of sometimes-violent protests in the greater Los Angeles area. Trump has dispatched 4,000 members of the National Guard and 700 Marines to Los Angeles, arguing that local law enforcement is overwhelmed. Few of those troops are actually on the streets, however. The Los Angeles Police Department alone has about 9,000 officers to serve the city of nearly 4 million people sprawling across a land area that's one-third the size of Rhode Island. The larger Los Angeles metro area has more than 18 million residents and covers an area nearly the size of Maine. Local authorities say they have detained about 150 people in connection to the unrest that left small areas of the 5.8-square-mile downtown marred with pervasive graffiti and a few broken windows. No serious injuries have been reported. "We all know this is a power grab," Knowlton said before taking a selfie in front of a line of LAPD officers in riot gear. "What I want right now is for the city police to grow a spine and stand up to the feds." Read more here. The motion says the state on June 9 became aware that the National Guard units in California "would be providing support for counter-immigration operations and not only at federal buildings." "Specifically, these activities—scheduled to begin today, June 10, 2025—will include 'holding a secure perimeter in communities around areas where immigration enforcement activities would take place, and securing routes over public streets where immigration enforcement officers would travel,'' the motion said. The filing did not say how the state received word about the alleged change in operations. The 4,000 California National Guard members called in by the president were originally tasked with protecting federal buildings and other property of the federal government. The Trump administration has not responded to the motion or Newsom's allegation's that the troops were going to used for immigration enforcement. Mayor Karen Bass, asked why Los Angeles would be targeted, said she believes her city is 'an experiment.' 'If you can do this to the nation's second largest city, maybe the administration is hoping this will be a signal to everybody everywhere to fear them—that you federal government that historically has protected you can come in and take over,' she told reporters in a news conference Tuesday. Bass said she would be reaching out to President Trump. Asked what she would tell him, she said, 'I want to tell him to stop the raids. I want to tell him that this is a city of immigrants. I want to tell him that if you want to devastate the economy of the City of Los Angeles, attack immigrants.' − Phaedra Trethan The number of arrests in connection with the demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles shot up Monday evening, according to the city's police department. Police reported on Tuesday that officers made at least 113 arrests. 96 were for failure to follow orders to leave the area. 14 people were arrested for looting. One person each was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and vandalism. Two officers were brought to a hospital for their injuries and released. Several businesses were looted, police said. The crowds of people left around 3 a.m., officials said. LAPD acknowledged the hectic night in a statement: 'Unfortunately, as demonstrators were being disbursed, agitators and miscreants within the crowd looted businesses and vandalized property,' police said. 'We are asking that all residents and businesses continue to report any crimes… Please document with photographs or video before clean up.' The number of arrests was more than double what LAPD reported for Saturday and Sunday when 50 people were arrested. Most were also for failure to follow dispersal orders although among the charges was attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail and assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, according to police. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told reporters she is considering a curfew to restore calm to the city. 'We're looking at things like a curfew,' she said June 10, and she planned to meet with Police Chief Jim McDonnell later in the day to discuss it. She said a curfew wouldn't need to be citywide, but likely focused on the downtown area. − Bart Jansen Authorities have dispatched painters, cleaners, and other workers to scrub away, cover up or fade out widespread spraypaint graffiti around downtown. While the vast majority of protesters have been peaceful, a small number have defaced buildings, sidewalks and streets with anti-Trump slogans, criticism of ICE and police, and exhortations to resist fascism. Federal buildings are among the hardest hit, and there was no sign of the National Guard or Marines protecting those facilities Tuesday. On North Los Angeles Street, contractors were paying particular attention to the asphalt where five Waymo self-driving electric vehicles were burned by protesters, releasing rare Earth materials that can be hazardous. Around the corner, painter's apprentice Tim Brevard, 53, covered up graffiti on a wall with grey paint shot from a sprayer. Under normal circumstances, Brevard's team removes gang graffiti from the same area daily. Now it is political graffiti. City policy calls for removing it within 72 hours of being reported, and the city spends about $14 million annually on graffiti removal, according to its annual budget. 'Down here it's tough because there's fresh graffiti every day,' Brevard said as he paused to wipe sweat from his face with a gloved hand. 'There's always gang graffiti. Every day we do this.' The protests in Los Angeles County began as a reaction to a handful of immigration raids, including one outside a Home Depot and another at a clothing manufacturer in the city's garment district. The raids and subsequent outrage came as the Trump administration stepped up its detention and deportation of immigrants including at workplaces, traffic stops and routine legal check-ins. Protests against these moves have increased, too. While most have remained peaceful, the Department of Homeland Security reported a more than 400% surge in assaults on agents. After small protests against immigration raids in Los Angeles on June 6, Trump took several swift actions, calling in the 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines, drawing ire – and at least one lawsuit – from California officials who accuse the president of stoking tension and escalating unrest. Trump has stood by his actions, saying the deployments were necessary to contain what he described as "violent, instigated riots." About 150 people have been arrested at the protests, which have included flare-ups of unruly clashes, vandalism and looting, but have remained limited to a few blocks in the city's downtown area. As authorities brace for another day of protests and Los Angelenos ready themselves for the increased military presence, read more about how the protests began. Trump said he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act, which would give him more leeway to use the military for domestic purposes as he deploys troops to Los Angeles in response to violent protests. "If there's an insurrection, I would certainly invoke it,' Trump said Tuesday during an event in the White House. 'We'll see. But I can tell you, last night was terrible. The night before that was terrible." Trump deployed the California National Guard to Los Angeles over the objections of Newsom, sparking the lawsuit from the state. Marines also were sent to help the guard after protests erupted over federal immigration enforcement efforts. The troops currently are limited to protecting federal property and law enforcement officers. The Insurrection Act would give Trump authority to use them more broadly. Trump said some areas of Los Angeles, during the protests, where "you could have called it an insurrection. It was terrible." − Zac Anderson U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, asked Tuesday whether Newsom should be arrested, said the governor should be 'tarred and feathered.' 'That's not my lane. I'm not gonna give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested. But he ought to be tarred and feathered,' Johnson, R-LA., said in a weekly press conference. Johnson said Newsom is keeping the administration from implementing federal law. Newsom quickly responded on social media. 'Good to know we're skipping the arrest and going straight for the 1700s style forms of punishment. A fitting threat given the (Republicans) want to bring our country back to the 18th Century.' − Sarah D. Wire Most of the unrest is taking place across a few square miles in a mostly commercial area downtown. The city is sprawled across hundreds of square miles and the county covers thousands of square miles. The vast majority of the metropolitan area has been quiet, with people able to continue their daily routines. Trump has insisted that he had no choice but to increase the level of force in response to growing unrest over his immigration crackdown. CA Gov. Newsom fired back at Trump, border czar Homan California Governor Gavin Newsom fired back after President Trump hinted border czar Homan should arrest him if he interfered in ICE raids. 700 Marines heading to LA for riot assistance; Newsom calls move 'deranged fantasy' of Trump Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told a House committee Tuesday the United States was entering a new phase in which the National Guard would "become a critical component of how we secure that homeland." "The National Guard is a huge component of how we see the future," he told the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. Bryn MacDonnell, a special assistant to the secretary of defense, said the Pentagon is spending $134 million of deploying 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines. Funding is coming from operations and maintenance accounts, he said. − Mayes-Osterman, Cybele Newsom criticized Trump on X Tuesday after Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff for policy, blasted the governor on the same social media site hours earlier. Miller wrote that "when the rioters swarmed, you handed over your streets, willingly. You still refuse to arrest and prosecute the arsonists, seditionists and insurrectionists." Newsom made reference to Trump's decision to pardon or commute the sentences of hundreds of people in connection with the assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. "The only people defending insurrectionists are you and @realDonaldTrump," Newsom wrote. "Or, are we pretending like you didn't pardon 1500 of them?" Several national civil rights groups described the Trump administration's National Guard deployment as an overreach of power that was 'deeply disturbing" and 'reckless." "It is not lost on us that no such show of force was deployed in advance of the January 6 insurrection at our nation's capital despite the clear threat to democracy. The contrast is alarming," leaders wrote in a statement released Monday night. 'Peaceful protesters in Los Angeles are met with military presence, while violent actors in Washington, D.C. were allowed to breach the heart of our government with little resistance. This inconsistency amplifies questions about how power is used and against whom." The right to protest the Trump administration's "unjust policies targeting Black and Brown communities must be protected," they wrote. The groups include the NAACP, the National Urban League, the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, the National Action Network, the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the Leadership Conference, the National Council of Negro Women and the Legal Defense Fund. Separately, Judith LeBlanc, executive director of Native Organizers Alliance Action Fund, called the administration's decision to call in the National Guard and the Marines 'an act of violence meant to silence organizers who are taking a righteous stand against the illegal and brutal ICE raids happening everyday.' − Deborah Barfield Berry Multiple members of the media have reported being caught in the crossfire or targeted by authorities using tear gas or rubber bullets. The incidents included Australian journalist Lauren Tomasi, who was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet on camera in a video that shows an officer appearing to aim at her. A New York Post photographer, Toby Canham, also said he was shot in the forehead with a nonlethal round. British freelance photographer Nick Stern told the BBC he underwent emergency surgery after he was hit in the leg by a plastic bullet. The Committee to Protect Journalists has sounded the alarm over the incidents, warning against the intimidation of journalists. 'Any attempt to discourage or silence media coverage by intimidating or injuring journalists should not be tolerated,' Katherine Jacobsen, program coordinator for the Committee to Protect Journalists in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, said in a statement. 'It is incumbent upon authorities to respect the media's role of documenting issues of public interest.' National Press Club President Mike Balsamo warned that law enforcement "cannot pick and choose when the First Amendment applies. Journalists in Los Angeles were not caught in the crossfire — they were targeted. " -Jeanine Santucci Multiple journalists injured by police nonlethal rounds while covering LA protests Police briefly detained CNN correspondent Jason Carroll while on air Monday night during the network's coverage of the protests. CNN was covering the protests live when in-studio anchors briefly lost contact with Carroll, who could be seen being led away from the protests by LAPD officers with his hands behind his back. Carroll returned to the mic, informing the anchors: "I am being detained." An officer then can be heard telling Carroll: "We're letting you go. You can't come back. If you come back, you will be arrested." CNN issued a statement saying "we are pleased the situation resolved quickly once the reporting team presented law enforcement with their CNN credentials. CNN will continue to report out the news unfolding in Los Angeles." Read more here. − Taijuan Moorman On Monday, California sued the Trump administration, alleging that the president's deployment of Guard troops was unnecessary and unlawful. Newsom later indicated that he will take similar action to prevent the Marines from being deployed, describing the order as a "blatant abuse of power." "It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case," Bass said at a news conference. "A test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government." 'I hate it': LA residents who surveyed vandalism fear more violence in future protests Some day laborers and other community members in Los Angeles County are warily watching federal troops, bracing for more raids and trying to look to the future while looking out for each other. Some are still searching for detained family members. Some say they've seen worse. Jose Luis Valencia, 54, is an undocumented immigrant who was born in the Tepito neighborhood of Mexico City. This week he was looking for work outside a Home Depot in Los Angeles County. "We're a little nervous, but we're here looking for work to survive," Valencia told USA TODAY. "We need money to put food on the table and support our family." Read more here. − Pamela Avila and Trevor Hughes The California governor, in a post to social media blasting Trump's decision to send the military members to California, said Marines are 'not political pawns." Newsom said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was 'illegally' deploying the Marines and argued it was a stunt so Trump could have a 'talking point' at a planned parade in Washington on Saturday to celebrate the 250th birthday of the Army, also the day of Trump's 79th birthday. "The Courts and Congress must act. Checks and balances are crumbling," Newsom added. -Jeanine Santucci Officials at the Los Angeles Police Department said Monday that despite violent demonstrations, local police can handle whatever protesters throw at them and that federal help is unnecessary and could become a hindrance. 'The possible 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,' Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a statement. 'The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively.' LAPD said officers have fired over 600 non-lethal bullets and used tear gas on the "hostile crowd." Among those hit was an Australian journalist covering the protests. At least five officers received minor injuries, according to police. Five police horses also 'were targeted and sustained minor injuries," police said. Read more here. The protests began Friday after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps near Los Angeles resulted in more than 40 arrests. The protests had largely been peaceful but flared up when heavily armed, masked agents raided Los Angeles businesses. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, defended the raids and said those arrested by ICE included a Vietnamese man convicted of second-degree murder, an Ecuadoran man convicted of possession of five kilograms of cocaine, and a Filipino man convicted of sexual offenses. On Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said local immigrant rights groups had confirmed at least five ICE raids in the Los Angeles region. The mayor said officials were still working to compile more information on the raids but noted that in some cases, ICE targeted day laborers and detained people who appeared for scheduled immigration appointments. "As you know, ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said at the Monday news conference. Protests also sprang up in at least nine other cities across the U.S. on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia, and San Francisco, according to Reuters. Protests in Los Angeles were relatively peaceful when they began on Friday, but escalated into scenes of chaos, with electric vehicles lit aflame, large clouds of tear gas and clashes between law enforcement and demonstrators. Trump has backed his move to send in troops, calling the protests 'violent, insurrectionist mobs' and 'lawless riots.' But Newsom said it was Trump who 'instigated violence.' Experts say while there are legal definitions for a riot, the term has become increasingly politicized and encapsulates a wide variety of incidents. In most states including California, the key determinator lies in whether multiple people are involved and whether they are committing acts of violence, Brian Higgins, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York, said. "One person is not a riot and neither is a group that is nonviolent," he said. "They can even be breaking the law, like refusing to disperse. It's when you add in the factor of violence that it becomes a riot." There are some gray areas, he said. Experts also said that while violence is a defining factor in a riot, such violence could be incited by law enforcement. Read more. Contributing: Jeanine Santucci and Phaedra Trethan, USA TODAY; Reuters
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Yahoo
Raids in Southern California rattle immigrant communities — including those in the US legally
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Jacob Vasquez began working at a clothing warehouse in Los Angeles soon after arriving from Mexico less than three years ago. He is among dozens of workers detained by federal immigration authorities in a series of raids in LA's fashion district and at Home Depot parking lots in Southern California. More than 100 people have been detained. The raids have triggered days of turbulent protests across the city and beyond and led President Donald Trump to deploy National Guard troops and Marines to the LA area, the latest development in the administration's immigration crackdown. Protests in the city's downtown have ranged from peaceful to raucous, with demonstrators blocking a major freeway and setting cars on fire over the weekend. Immigrant advocates say the workers who were detained do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights. Vasquez has a three-month-old baby, according to his family who spoke to reporters outside the Ambiance Apparel warehouse, a clothing company founded in 1999, and where the young father worked. 'Jacob is a family man and the sole breadwinner of his household,' said his brother Gabriel, speaking in Spanish during a news conference Monday. He doesn't know if he's OK, he later said in an interview. 'We don't know where he is.' About 10% of LA County residents do not have legal immigration status Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced the raids and the deployment of troops, saying Tuesday that the actions were aimed at intimidating the area's vast immigrant population, one of the country's largest. She said she has heard even immigrants with legal status are being swept up and that the raids may continue for months. An estimated 950,000 people in Los Angeles County do not have legal immigration status, according to the Migration Policy Institute. That is about a tenth of the county's population, and they include cooks, nannies, hotel employees, street vendors, gardeners, construction workers and garment workers. 'Families across the city are terrified," Bass said. 'They don't know if they should go to work, they don't know if they should go to school.' She said many of those detained have had no contact with their loved ones or lawyers. The raids have only fueled unrest in the city, Bass said. 'They were going to go after violent felons, drug dealers, and I don't know how that matches with the scenes that we saw of people outside Home Depot running through the parking lot, because they were afraid that they were going to get arrested," she said. Saraí Ortiz said her father, Jose, worked for Ambiance for 18 years. 'It was really painful to see him arrested on Friday with his co-workers,' she told the crowd in Spanish. A judge signed a search warrant that there was probable cause to conclude that Ambiance was using fake documents for some workers, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has not shared details about the arrests. 'Ambience Apparel has never created any fictitious documents for its workers," Benjamin N. Gluck, an attorney representing the company, said in a statement. "The company obeys, and continues to obey, all applicable laws. We support our workforce, many of whom have worked faithfully for the company for decades.' The Trump administration did not respond to emails from The Associated Press asking about whether any of the immigrants detained in the raids had criminal records. Day laborer makes sure to show his green card Los Angeles is one of the nation's largest garment-production hubs with more than 45,000 workers, mostly Latino and Asian immigrants, who cut, sew and finish the clothing, according to the Garment Worker Center. The raids are deepening fears far beyond LA and even among those who are in the country legally, immigrants said. Jot Condie, president and chief executive of the California Restaurant Association, said the fear is keeping away workers and hurting businesses. In LA County last year, food and drink services were a $30 billion industry. Outside a Home Depot in Santa Ana, California, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southeast of Los Angeles, a handful of day laborers leaned against their cars waiting to be hired Tuesday, a day after armed Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers drove up and sent many of the workers running. Junior Ortega, 43, said he saw four people arrested by ICE, while others fled on foot or jumped into a car and peeled out of the parking lot before they were caught. 'They came out with guns, (saying) 'don't move,' '' Ortega said in Spanish. By then, the Honduran citizen who has lived nearly three decades in the U.S. said he had already taken out his green card to avoid making any sudden moves should agents approach him. One of the agents did, and while holding a gun, demanded to see his ID, Ortega said. After he showed it, he said the agent let him go. The day laborer said he recently started carrying not only his driver's license but his green card with him. While he is not directly affected by the immigration raids, Ortega said they still weigh on him and his children. 'Why don't they go and follow the gang members?" he said. "They are coming for people who do things for the country, who pay taxes.' _____ Taxin reported from Santa Ana, California. Associated Press writer Julie Watson contributed to this report from San Diego, California.
