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Yahoo
a day ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
LAPD's Top Cop Jim McDonnell, Son of Irish Immigrants, Lauded By Police Colleague
LAPD's Top Cop Jim McDonnell, Son of Irish Immigrants, Lauded By Police Colleague originally appeared on L.A. Mag. The city's top cop, Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell - who has been battling criticism from some City Councilmembers angry that his department would not "warn" local politicians of pending immigration raids - said Friday that local and federal enforcement, including the National Guard, and the Marines, have maintained separate missions. His leadership during the city's unprecedented crisis has been applauded in his hometown by police peers, including former Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis, who was at the helm of the BPD when the Boston Marathon was bombed in 2013. "Los Angeles is facing an extremely complex situation, but there is no one better equipped to serve the citizens of that great city than Jim McDonnell," Davis told Los Angeles. "Jim is one of the most respected and experienced police chiefs in the country." McDonnell, the son of Irish immigrants who raised him in a Boston housing development near Fenway Park, has been thrust into the center of an ugly political battle between his boss Mayor Karen Bass and the Trump Administration, who accused the LAPD of abandoning federal agents under attack in DTLA last week, a claim the Chief flatly denies. McDonnell, another colleague, retired Massachusetts State Police Lieutenant and current homeland security expert, Joe Lawlesss, said McDonnell should be applauded for staying "above the political frey" while making the safety of this city and his cops the priority. The praise comes as the LAPD enters the third night of a curfew over a heavily vandalized one-mile section of DTLA, destruction that occurred while his cops came under attack from agitators armed with commercial-grade fireworks, concrete blocks, and hammers. He's also sparred with some local politicians, among them City Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who got heated at McDonnell at a City Council hearing earlier this week. Padilla, who took over former City Council President Nury Martinez's seat in the city's Sixth District, asked him McDonnell why the LAPD cannot give politicians notice of any Department of Homeland security, actions in the city, telling him he should act: "in the spirit of your loyalty to the city of Los Angeles." McDonnell responded calmly. "You're asking me to warn you of an enforcement action? No we can't do that." Padilla barked, "Why not?""That would be obstruction of justice," McDonnell responded. "You might want to talk to the city attorney about that.' This week a City Hall employee who works as an aide to Ysabel Jurado has been put on unpaid leave following their arrest at an anti-ICE protest. The Los Angeles Sheriff's Department says Luz Aguilar was arrested around 7 p.m. on June 9 for suspicion of assaulting a police officer with a deadly weapon after they allegedly charged at police on a motorcycle. Their twin sister, Antonia Aguilar, was also arrested, and they were being held in lieu of the $50,000 bail. Aguilar had been the deputy of community growth and economic innovation for was asked about the aide's arrest on Wednesday when McDonnell and Bass held a press conference announcing the implementation of a 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew in the heaviest hit area of DTLA. The curfew came days after McDonnell said at a press conference on Sunday that the attacks he has witnessed against officers were "disgusting." "The people who are out there doing the have a hoodie on, they have a a face mask are people who do this all the time," McDonnell said of the most violent protestors. "Many come in from other places just to hurt people and cause havoc." McDonnell has been clear about not blurring lines between federal immigration actions, which the LAPD does not participate in, and working with law enforcment partners to quell violence. The number of arrests the LAPD said were made Thursday - with 33 arrests for failing to disperse and another 13 for curfew violations - had significantly dropped from the night before when there were more than 200 arrests in DTLA, including three for gun possession. This story was originally reported by L.A. Mag on Jun 14, 2025, where it first appeared.
Boston Globe
14-03-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Healey further lowers emergency shelter limits, bars anyone with serious crimes from entering the system
Massachusetts has seen a sharp uptick in families entering the emergency shelter system in recent years, due in part to a surge in migrants coming into the state and an ongoing housing crisis exacerbating the need for temporary shelter. Annual costs for the system have recently exceeded $1 billion a year. The Legislature approved giving an additional $425 million to the emergency assistance program last month after the state That legislative package, which Healey signed at the end of February, included new limits on families designed to bring down costs. It shortened the time that families can stay in the system from nine months to six months and plans to lower the systemwide cap even further to 4,000 families for a year beginning Dec. 31. Advertisement Under the new rules, all adults seeking to enter the emergency shelter system are also required to undergo CORI checks, which previously were not a condition for the family shelter system. New regulations stipulate that individuals will not be eligible for the emergency shelter program if they either do not consent to such a background check, or if they've been convicted of serious crimes, including murder, arson, kidnapping, rape, and felonies against children. Those changes follow rising concerns about the Advertisement Ed Davis, a former Boston Police commissioner who was hired by the Healey administration to review security protocols for the emergency assistance program, Healey's office said the administration is on track to reduce families in the system and close hotels being used for shelter by the end of the year, with the state's caseload 'currently at its lowest point since August 2023.' But the governor has insisted that the federal government also needs to work in tandem with states to meaningfully tackle the issue. 'Massachusetts is managing this federal problem,' Healey said Friday, 'but Congress needs to act on meaningful immigration reform instead of making Massachusetts taxpayers foot the bill for their failures.' Globe staff Matt Stout and Samantha Gross contributed to this report. Anjali Huynh can be reached at
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Gov. Healey signs $425M bill to fund Mass. emergency shelter system, prompting MassGOP response
Gov. Maura Healey signed a $425 million bill Friday to fund the emergency shelter system through June and make temporary and permanent reforms to address the cost and security of the system. The House and Senate took the last votes needed on the mid-year spending bill Wednesday with all Republicans in both chambers and a handful of Democrats (Reps. Colleen Garry of Dracut and David Robertson of Tewksbury, and Sens. John Velis of Westfield and Mark Montigny of New Bedford) opposed. The new law is designed to recapitalize the system, which ran out of funds about a month ago, and to shrink its high costs and the number of families served by it. It features a shorter shelter stay limit, pared-down eligibility criteria, a cap on families the state will serve in 2026, stricter security measures, and more. Healey's office also released a 53-page assessment she had former Boston Police Department head Ed Davis undertake of the Emergency Assistance program's security and security-related protocols. The administration said Davis and his firm The Edward Davis Company will now be retained 'to assist with the implementation of the report's recommendations, many of which are already underway.' 'We all know that urgent action is needed to lower the cost of the system and make sure it is a viable, safe and temporary option for Massachusetts families who have fallen on hard times,' Healey said. 'We're grateful for the hard work of the Legislature for passing this important bill and to Ed Davis and his team for their review of the security of our system – and we're ready to get to work on implementation.' Healey's office said one of Davis' 'key recommendations' is to limit the state's policy of presumptive eligibility, a mandate added to the EA system line item in 2005 requiring the state to place families based on self-attestations of eligibility. The supplemental budget Healey signed Friday addresses that by allowing the state to verify eligibility for EA benefits during the application process. The Massachusetts Republican Party blasted the law soon after Healey signed it, saying its 'reckless spending—pushed through under the guise of reform—does nothing to stem the flow of migrants into the state, nor does it improve the dangerous and unsustainable conditions in overcrowded shelters where crime has run rampant.' 'This is yet another example of Democrats prioritizing politics over public safety and fiscal responsibility,' MassGOP Chair Amy Carnevale said. 'They claim this supplemental budget includes reforms, but in reality, these so-called changes are purely for show. They fail to address the root cause of this crisis and leave Massachusetts taxpayers on the hook for billions.' The announcement of Healey's signing included new information on the status of the EA system that has been a major humanitarian and financial challenge for Massachusetts for the last two-plus years. Almost 700 families exited the shelter system to stable housing in January, which the administration said was the highest number in more than a decade. The EA system currently serves about 5,800 families, a 22% decrease from the peak levels of 2023 and 2024. The number of hotel shelters, which the administration pledged to eliminate by the end of 2025, has been reduced by half in recent months. Following an influx that led Healey to declare a state of emergency in August 2023, migrant families now account for less than a quarter of the EA system's applicants. The Healey administration said that 'more than 75 percent of families now seeking shelter are long-time Massachusetts families.' The administration added that all 'adult EA residents have now been CORI checked or will be terminated from the program if they do not consent.' Download the FREE Boston 25 News app for breaking news alerts. Follow Boston 25 News on Facebook and Twitter. | Watch Boston 25 News NOW
