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ABC News
3 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Why riots erupted in Los Angeles after ICE raids, and what happened next
Los Angeles is experiencing its second day of significant riots, with the National Guard being called in on Saturday night, local time. Here's a quick guide to what is going on: Everything began on Friday when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers executed search warrants at multiple locations, including outside a clothing warehouse in the city's fashion district. A judge had found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, according to representatives for Homeland Security Investigations and the US Attorney's Office. A tense scene unfolded outside as a crowd tried to block agents from driving away. Advocates for immigrants' rights said there were also migration detentions outside Home Depot stores and a doughnut shop. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said the ICE operations in Los Angeles resulted in the arrest of 118 immigrants, including five people linked to criminal organisations and people with prior criminal histories. The president of Service Employees International Union California, David Huerta, was arrested and charged with impeding a federal agent while protesting, the US Attorney's office said. The chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Centre said the organisation was aware of one man who was already deported back to Mexico. Dozens of protesters gathered on Friday evening outside a federal detention centre in Los Angeles where lawyers said those arrested had been taken, chanting "set them free, let them stay!" Other protesters held signs that said, "ICE out of LA!" while others led chants and shouted from megaphones. Some scrawled graffiti on the building's facade. Officers holding protective shields stood shoulder to shoulder to block an entrance. Some tossed tear gas canisters to disperse the crowd. Officers wearing helmets and holding batons forced the protesters away from the building by forming a line and walking slowly down the street. Protests continued on Saturday. Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street. Some jeered at officers while recording the events on smartphones. "ICE out of Paramount. We see you for what you are," a woman said through a megaphone. One handheld sign read, "No Human Being is Illegal." Smoke rose from burning shrubbery and rubbish in the street, and demonstrators kicked at a Border Patrol vehicle. A boulevard was closed to traffic as Border Patrol agents circulated through a community where more than 80 per cent of residents identify themselves as Latino. The California Highway Patrol said Governor Gavin Newsom had directed the agency to deploy additional officers to "maintain public safety" on state highways and roads and the agency will work to "keep the peace." Acting director of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement department, more commonly known as the border czar, Tom Homan told Fox News on Saturday night the National Guard would be deployed in Los Angeles. US President Donald Trump said he would send 2,000 California National Guard troops to the protests. The National Guard is a state-based military force that is part of the military reserves. Typically, they are deployed on state-based missions during natural disasters. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the decision "purposefully inflammatory." Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social: "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can't do their jobs, which everyone knows they can't, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!" Either the state governor or the president or the secretary of Defense can deploy the National Guard. Mr Newson has the primary authority to deploy the guard on a state level, under state active duty or Title 32 status, where the state would bear the cost. An example of this was during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. The guard would typically be deployed by the president or defence secretary for national emergencies, homeland defence, or federal missions under Title 10, where they take on the cost. However, they can also control the guard under the 1807 Insurrection Act when a state is unable to manage civil unrest, which former president George HW Bush did during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Yes. Mr Trump and his administration have promised mass deportations across the country. The White House set a goal for ICE to arrest at least 3,000 immigrants a day. Mr Trump is also trying to remove birthright citizenship, which allows most residents born in the US the right to citizenship, including the children of undocumented immigrants. On top of that, Mr Trump is working to suspend habeas corpus, the constitutional right for people to legally challenge their detention by the government. One man has already been wrongly sent to detention in El Salvador, while an Australian woman was denied entry into the US despite having a valid tourist visa. ABC/Wires
Axios
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Trump plan cuts legal help for thousands of migrant kids
Tens of thousands of unaccompanied children who are in the U.S. illegally stand to lose legal help for their immigration hearings — and face being deported — because of a little-known Trump budget cut. Why it matters: The $367 million cut takes aim at the legal defense fund designed to help children and teens who've fled violence, lost their parents, or are victims of trafficking. Without lawyers it's extremely difficult for such youths — about 26,000 of them now get this legal aid — to show in court why they should be allowed to stay in the U.S. Those who can't prove their need for asylum are likely to be deported. Zoom in: The funding cut has alarmed children's advocates, who are accusing the Trump administration of trying to boost its deportation numbers by denying due process to asylum-seeking kids. "If you're trying to make a show of a mass deportation, what easier way to hit your numbers ... than to push through a bunch of kids who cannot meaningfully defend themselves?" said Jill Martin Diaz, executive director of the Vermont Asylum Assistance Project, which provides lawyers and legal support to immigrants. "What we're seeing is a full-scale assault on the due process rights of unaccompanied children," said Mickey Donovan, director of legal services at a group called Immigrant Defenders. Unaccompanied minors in asylum cases often have escaped violence such as forced labor, sexual assault or death threats, Donovan told Axios. The youths usually arrive in the U.S. from Mexico or Central America, but in recent years have been from other parts of the world as well. State of play: The Department of Health and Human Services, which is responsible for unaccompanied migrant children, cut the funding on March 21. The "savings" were touted on DOGE's online tracker. A coalition of legal groups has gone to court to fight the loss of the funds, which were to run through September 2026. A San Francisco judge issued a temporary restraining order against the cut on April 2. The next court hearing in the case is on Tuesday. At issue is whether ending the funding — set by Congress — would violate the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA) of 2008. It requires legal representation for unaccompanied migrant children. What they're saying: "It had a good intent," border czar Tom Homan, said of the law during an interview with Axios. He wants to see it applied more narrowly to legal services for children. "Change the TVPRA, saying if you're not a victim of trafficking, no matter what country you're from, you can be removed," Homan said. An HHS spokesperson said in a statement that the agency is still complying with the law and wouldn't comment on the ongoing lawsuit. Between the lines: The legal fund helps children such as a 7-year-old boy who crossed the border recently with a smuggler who tried to make it seem like they were family. Jacob Wedemeyer of Estrella del Paso, a Catholic legal services group, worked on the boy's case. He said Border Patrol agents separated the smuggler and the boy because they doubted their story. They discovered that the boy's mother had arranged to get monthly payments from the smuggler if he were able to enter the U.S. "It's hypocritical of the administration to, on the one hand, say it wants to protect children, and then on the other hand, cut all legal representation for the children," Wedemeyer said. The day the funding was cut last month, a Sudanese teenager was scheduled to move from HHS foster care to a sponsor's care in Vermont. There he was to receive legal support from Martin Diaz's organization as a condition of his release while he awaits his asylum hearing. The teen is afraid of reuniting with his parents in Sudan because of alleged abuse, and says he's been attacked in Sudan for being a religious and ethnic minority, Martin Diaz said. Proving this in court — with documentation and a psychological evaluation — will take hundreds of hours of legal work. But Martin Diaz's group had to scale back its legal commitment when the government funding was cut.
