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Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Immigration enforcement sparks outrage, protests in L.A. — but how many arrests?
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security's immigration raids throughout Los Angeles and surrounding counties have been splashed all over television and social media feeds for nearly a month. There were the two women nabbed outside the Airport Courthouse on La Cienega Boulevard on Tuesday after a hearing in a local criminal case. There was the raid at a Hollywood Home Depot on June 19, in which crews of armed, mostly masked agents converged on a parking lot, blocking gates and surrounding the laborers and vendors. For all the attention created and fear induced, the results of the operations remained opaque — until recently, when numbers on the actual arrests were released by Homeland Security. My colleague Andrea Castillo provided the figures, which offer new insights into the size and scope of the operations. From June 6 to June 22, enforcement teams arrested 1,618 immigrants for deportation in Los Angeles and surrounding regions of Southern California, according to the Department of Homeland Security. The 'area of responsibility' for the Los Angeles field office of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement includes the L.A. metropolitan area and the Central Coast, as well as Orange County to the south, Riverside County to the east and up the coast to San Luis Obispo County. As immigration arrests have occurred across Southern California, demonstrators have protested the federal government's actions and bystanders have sometimes confronted immigration officers or recorded their actions. During the same time span, 787 people have been arrested for assault, obstruction and unlawful assembly, a Homeland Security spokesperson said. Homeland Security did not respond to requests for information on how many of those arrested had criminal histories, or for a breakdown of those convictions. Figures about the Los Angeles operation released by the White House on June 11 indicated that about one-third of those arrested up until that point had prior criminal convictions. My colleague Rachel Uranga reported that from June 1 to 10, ICE data show that 722 people were arrested in the Los Angeles region. The figures were obtained by the Deportation Data Project, a repository of enforcement data at UC Berkeley Law. A Times analysis found that 69% of those arrested during that period had no criminal conviction and 58% had never been charged with a crime. The median age of someone arrested was 38, and that person was likely to be a man. Nearly 48% were Mexican, 16% were from Guatemala and 8% from El Salvador. Democrats and immigrant community leaders argue that federal agents are targeting people indiscriminately. Despite the chaotic nature of the raids and resulting protests 1,618 arrests by Homeland Security in Southern California over more than two weeks averages out to more than 90 arrests per day — a relatively small contribution to the daily nationwide goal of 3,000. But perhaps more potent than the arrests, advocates say, is the fear that those actions have stoked. For more info, check out the full article. Immigration raids, arrests and policy Los Angeles-area fires Crime, courts and policing Get wrapped up in tantalizing stories about dating, relationships and marriage. Have a great weekend, from the Essential California team Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editorAndrew J. Campa, reporterKarim Doumar, head of newsletters How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@ Check our top stories, topics and the latest articles on
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Most nabbed in L.A. raids were men with no criminal conviction, picked up off the street
As Los Angeles became the epicenter of President Trump's crackdown on undocumented immigrants, Department of Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem flew to the city and held a newsconference, saying the government's objective was to 'bring in criminals that have been out on our street far too long.' But data from the days leading up to that June 12 appearance suggests a majority of those who were arrested were not convicted criminals. Most were working age men, nearly half Mexican. From June 1 to June 10, Immigration and Customs Enforcement data show that early in the crackdown 722 were arrested in the Los Angeles region. The figures were obtained by the Deportation Data Project, a repository of enforcement data at UC Berkeley Law. A Times analysis found that 69% of those arrested during that period had no criminal conviction and 58% had never been charged with a crime. The median age of someone arrested was 38 years old and that person was likely to be a man. Nearly 48% were Mexican, 16% were from Guatemala and 8% from El Salvador. 'They're not going after drug kingpins, they're chasing hardworking people through swap meets and Home Depot parking lots,' said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The Times. 'You can see the impact of these random raids everywhere in our city — families are scared to go eat at restaurants, kids are scared their parents aren't going to return from the store — the fear is there because they've seen videos of people being shoved into unmarked vans by masked men refusing to identify themselves.' While the Trump administration has been pounding the point that they are targeting the 'worst of the worst,' several data sets released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in recent days show that percentage of people picked up without a criminal conviction is growing as sweeps become the norm in Los Angeles. The data cover a seven-county area from San Luis Obispo in the north to Orange County in the south. Experts told The Times the data confirm what many advocates and officials say: that most of the arrests carried out are on the street. Many were executed in open air locations, like car washes, Home Depot parking lots and street vending spots. Immigrant advocates and local officials say the lack of named targets shows the federal agents are simply racially profiling, allegations that Los Angeles officials are using to lay the groundwork for a lawsuit. Department of Homeland Security officials say the efforts are targeted. 'DHS enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence,' said DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin. 'We know who we are targeting ahead of time. If and when we do encounter individuals subject to arrest, our law enforcement is trained to ask a series of well-determined questions to determine status and removability.' Nationally, the number of people arrested without criminal convictions has jumped significantly and many of those with convictions are nonviolent offenders, according to nonpublic data obtained by the Cato Institute that covers the 2025 fiscal year beginning in Oct. 1 and ending June 15. 'ICE is not primarily detaining people who are public safety threats,' said David Bier, director of Immigration Studies at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, which was leaked the government data. 'Serious violent offenders are a very small minority, just 7% of the people that it's taking into custody.' ICE does not release data on criminal records of detainees booked into its custody. But Cato's nonpublic data showed about nine out of 10 had never been convicted of a violent or property crime and 30% have no criminal record. The most frequent crimes are immigration and traffic offenses. 'That's important because the Department of Homeland Security has made such a big deal about its deportation efforts being focused on people with serious criminal histories,' he said. He also analyzed the UC Berkeley Law data that reflects ICE arrests and found that nationally, five times the number of immigrants without criminal convictions were arrested in the last fiscal year compared to the same time period in 2017. He called the figure 'staggering.' For June alone, he noted that the agency arrested 6,000 people without criminal convictions. McLaughlin said on Monday '75% of those arrests under this Administration have been of illegal aliens with criminal convictions or pending charges.' The public data reveal that figure is 70% over the course of Trump's second term, but lower in recent weeks. That data shows ICE has booked 204,297 people into detention facilities over the past fiscal year. The figure is considered a good approximation for arrests. Of those, a week before Trump took office for the second time, 38% of those booked had not been convicted of a crime. Five months into his term, that number had grown to 63%. Cato's nonpublic data show that the top criminal conviction is immigration followed by a traffic offenses, assaults and drug charges. Bier pins the shift to White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who in May reportedly directed top ICE officials to go beyond target lists and begin arresting people at Home Depots or 7-Eleven convenience stores. The wider sweeps are stressing the capacity of the detention system, where detainees have reported moldy food, dirty towels and no changes of clothes for more than a week at a time. A week before Trump took office, there were about 39,000 people held in detention. By June 15, that figure had grown 42 percent to 56,397. 'It's nearing a historical high,' said Austin Kocher, an assistant professor at Syracuse University who tracks immigration data. And that figure could grow. The administration has asked Congress to fund 100,000 detention beds. Times staff writer Andrea Castillo and data and graphics journalists Lorena Elebee and Sean Greene contributed to this story.
The Guardian
06-04-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
As deportations ramp up, immigrants increasingly fear Ice check-ins: ‘All bets are off'
Jorge, a 22-year-old asylum seeker from Venezuela, reported in February to the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) field office in Portland, Oregon, for what he figured would be a routine check-in. Instead, he was arrested and transferred to a detention center in another state. Alberto, a 42-year-old from Nicaragua who had been granted humanitarian parole, checked in with Ice using an electronic monitoring program that same month. Three days later, he was arrested. Sergei and Marina, a young couple from Russia with a pending asylum case, went into an immigration office in San Francisco in March, thinking they needed to update some paperwork. Agents arrested Sergei and told Marina to come back in a few weeks. For years, immigrants of all sorts with cases in process, pending appeals or parole, had been required to regularly check in with Ice officers. And so long as they had not violated any regulations or committed any crimes, they were usually sent on their way with little issue. Now, as the Trump administration pushes for the mass arrest and deportation of immigrants, these once routine check-ins have become increasingly fraught. Ice does not appear to keep count of how many people it has arrested at check-ins. But the Guardian estimates, based on arrest data from the first four weeks of the Trump administration, that about 1,400 arrests, or about 8% of the nearly 16,500 arrests in the administration's first month – may have occurred during or right after people checked in with the agency. The Guardian reviewed cases in the arrest data, which was released by the Deportation Data Project from UC Berkeley Law School, where people who had previously been released on supervision were now arrested, as well as cases of people with pending immigration proceedings who were arrested in their communities. According to immigration lawyers, these types of arrests are most likely to match arrests that are occurring during or shortly after check-ins – though the actual number of cases may be higher. 'Essentially, these people are low-hanging fruit for Ice,' said Laura Urias, a program director and attorney at the legal non-profit ImmDef. 'It's just very easy to arrest them.' Under the Biden administration, immigration officials had been instructed to prioritize detaining and expelling people who posed threats to public safety, and had criminal records. There were arrests during Ice check-ins during the Biden administration, too. A Guardian analysis found there were 821 arrests per month, on average, in 2024 that appeared to have occurred during or right after check-ins. But officials often used their discretion to allow immigrants who weren't considered a priority for deportation to remain in their communities, on orders of recognizance or supervision. One of Donald Trump's first actions after he was sworn in for his second term was to broaden Ice's mandate – now all immigrants without legal status are prioritized for arrest, including those who have been checking in and cooperating with authorities. 'Under this new administration, all bets are off,' said Stefania Ramos, an immigration lawyer based in Seattle. 'So anyone with an Ice check-in appointment is frantic, looking for a lawyer, trying to figure out what they can do to protect themselves.' Attorneys and advocates cannot advise clients to skip check-ins because doing so would mean violating immigration regulations. And because these immigrants have been complying with Ice requirements, the agency knows their current home and work addresses. Many under Ice supervision had been ordered to wear ankle monitors or use facial recognition apps to check in – and allow the agency access to their real-time whereabouts. But lawyers are advising clients to prepare for the possibility that they could be detained at check-ins, and to bring someone, either a family member or an attorney, along with them. Jorge, the 22-year-old from Venezuela, had been checking in with Ice every three months while awaiting a court date to assess his asylum case. 'Truly, I was never afraid I'd be arrested, because I did everything right,' he said on the phone, from the detention center in Tacoma where he is now being held. When an immigration official in Portland summoned him to sign some paperwork on 20 February, he had no reason to think he'd be relocated to a detention center one state over. 'The truth is, this is so crazy,' he said. 'I have a clean record. That's why I voluntarily went to Ice.' In detention, he's seen glimpses of the news that the president has declared war on Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, that Venezuelan men with no criminal convictions were being sent to a mega-prison in El Salvador. 'I'm afraid,' he said. He isn't from the state in Venezuela where Tren de Aragua operates, and he has no tattoos – which the government has spuriously cited as evidence that men are members of a gang. 'But I don't know what to think. It feels like I am being unjustly imprisoned simply for being Venezuelan.' Jorge had himself fled violence back home. He had first escaped to Colombia in 2022, but he had found it impossible to make money and survive there. That year, he continued north, through the Darién jungle, to Panama, but eventually decided to return home to Venezuela when he realized the US was enforcing its 'remain in Mexico' policy, sending migrants arriving at the southern border back to Mexico. 'I was back for only three months, but I was living a nightmare. I had to leave,' he said. He witnessed multiple homicides and was harassed by local law enforcement. 'I was afraid for my life.' He crossed through the Darién Gap again in 2023, and registered an asylum claim and was given a court date in 2025. In the two years since, he enrolled in community college and completed the accredited irrigation program in partnership with Portland Community College, worked as an advocate with the Voz Workers' Rights Education Project and trained in emergency preparedness. He danced bachata and played on pick-up sports teams in town. 'I left my family in Venezuela, but I found my community in Portland,' he said. 'Now I feel despair. My future is literally hanging in the balance,' he said. On 20 March, a judge denied his appeal for bond – which means he will likely have to remain in detention until September, unless his lawyers are able to successfully appeal. Meanwhile, his friends have been raising money to cover legal expenses and commissary funds in detention. 'I'm trying to keep courage,' he said. 'But I don't know why I'm here.' More than a dozen immigration lawyers, advocates and former immigration officials that the Guardian interviewed for this story said they have been hearing of similar cases across the country. ImmDef, which maintains a rapid response hotline for the families of people who have been detained, has received several calls from people who said their loved ones were arrested at check-ins. But the organization has also seen a number of cases where people went to their check-ins, and encountered no problems. 'It hasn't been consistent,' said Urias. 'We haven't seen much of a pattern, per se.' Ice did not respond to questions about whether its agents are increasingly arresting people at check-ins, or whether the frequency of these check-ins had changed, though the agency acknowledged it received the Guardian's query. Urias was especially worried for one of her clients, a woman who survived domestic violence. She has a removal order but a pending application for a U-visa, which is offered to the victims of certain crimes. 'She had been checking in with Ice since 2016, we actually survived the first Trump administration,' said Urias. Normally, Urias doesn't accompany her to the check-ins but did so earlier this month. But then, the check-in happened without incident – and she was told to come back in a year. 'It was a huge relief,' said Urias. 'But also it feels like there's no rhyme or reason why some people are ok, and others are picked up.' Lawyers and advocates said people such as Urias's client – who have been given prior 'orders of removal' by Ice, but were allowed to remain in the US because they had pending cases or appeals, because they had children or family in the US under their care, or because home countries weren't accepting deportation flights – were among the most vulnerable to deportation at the moment. Ice always had the power to execute removal orders at any time – and now the agency seems particularly poised to wield that power. That's what worries Inna Scott, an immigration attorney in Seattle, whose client had crossed into the US from Mexico as a teenager, and was issued a deportation order in 1997. But he has continued to live in the US since then. In 2021, he was able to get a permit to work legally in the US after complying with Ice's orders to regularly check in. When he reported, as usual, in March this year, immigration officials told Scott that they would likely seek to enforce her client's removal order from the 90s, and instructed them to return in a month. 'My client has no criminal history and has been a well-behaved resident of the country for decades,' she said. 'But now he's all of a sudden subject to detainment.' Ice could reinstate his old deportation order without giving him any opportunity to make his case in front of an immigration judge. Scott said she wasn't particularly shocked because Ice officials made similar arrests during the first Trump administration – which had also issued a broad mandate to deport anyone without legal status. 'But it is unfortunate. These are people without any kind of criminal history. These are people who are not national security risks. They're not fugitives, they are living their lives working lawfully, with their work permits,' she said. 'And they're still being uprooted from their lives and taken to a country they haven't been to in decades.'
