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First Post
22 minutes ago
- Politics
- First Post
What triggered the Los Angeles immigration protests? A rumour
Los Angeles is in turmoil right now. People are on the streets, cars are on fire, and the National Guard has been deployed. Democratic representatives, including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, have taken US President Donald Trump to task over his actions to deploy the troops, claiming that he has violated state sovereignty. But how did the protests start? read more Protesters attempt to light a Molotov cocktail as a firework explodes during a protest in Compton, California on Saturday. AP Los Angeles is in turmoil right now. People are on the streets, cars are on fire and the National Guard has been deployed. Democratic representatives including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Las Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have taken US President Donald Trump to task over his actions to deploy the National Guard, claiming that he has violated state sovereignty. But what happened at the hardware store at the centre of the protests? Let's take a closer look STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD What happened? It all began around 9 am on Saturday in the working-class Latino suburb of Paramount. Border agents were reportedly seen across the street from the Home Depot store. This came a day after federal agents arrested immigrants in the parking lot of a hardware store in Los Angeles as well as several other locations. Soon, videos of agents purportedly near the store went viral. Firstpost has not independently verified the veracity of these videos. There were also reports of raids being conducted at the Home Depot – where illegal immigrants often congregate to find work – and of arrests being made. However, the border agents weren't actually at the store – instead, they had gathered inside a gated industrial office park. Soon, the site became a magnet for protesters. People driving by honked their horns In protest. The Home Depot quickly closed for the day. As per Los Angeles Times, José Luis Solache Jr of the California State Assembly was on his way to an event when he spotted border patrol vehicles. Los Angeles County Sheriffs stand during a protest in Compton, Calif., Saturday, June 7, 2025, after federal immigration authorities conducted operations. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope) Solache, whose parents immigrated to the US from Guanajuato, Mexico, followed the caravan to the Paramount Business Center – which is right across the street from the Home Depot. 'I saw a border agent get off the freeway here off of Alondra. I was like, No, it can't be happening,' Solache said on Instagram. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'This is horrible,' he added. 'I am literally shaking.' 'I don't know what they're doing inside. But, I mean, why were they in Paramount?' he asked. 'This is the situation,' Solache told his followers. 'The community is coming out strong to show that they are not welcome in our community. 'No en mi distrito. Not in my district. Vámonos pa' fuera (let's go, get out of here).' Meanwhile protesters and authorities faced off. Demonstrators began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, while the border agents employed flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets and pepper spray against the crowd. 'What the hell are you doing?! Nobody's hurting you, nobody's doing anything but making noise, are you intimidated by f— noise?!' one protestor was heard yelling at the agents, as per Los Angeles Times. The protest was declared an unlawful assembly around 4 pm – crowds were ordered to disperse in both English and Spanish. However, the clashes continued late into the night with multiple fires being set and at least one car being torched. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The protesters began dispersing only around midnight. Meanwhile US President Donald Trump called in the National Guard. Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is 'a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.' In doing so Trump usurped the authority of Newsom – who as California governor is technically in charge of the National Guard. Authorities claim to have made multiple arrests. 'Multiple arrests have already been made for obstructing our operations,' FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote on X. 'More are coming. We are pouring through the videos for more perpetrators. You bring chaos, and we'll bring handcuffs.' A car burns during a protest in Compton, California on Saturday. AP The rumours continue to do the rounds in Los Angeles. 'No-one really knows what happened. Everyone is afraid,' Juan, who was in the parking lot of the Home Depot, told the BBC. Los Angeles resident Dora Sanchez called the development a 'breaking point' for the entire community. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Maria Gutierrez, who was part of the protests, added, 'It was time to stand up. These are my people. This is LA. It touches us all. Everyone has family or knows someone who doesn't have papers.' Raid or no raid? Interestingly, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dismissed the reports of a raid on the Home Depot store on Saturday as misinformation. 'Despite false reports, there was no ICE 'raid' at a Home Depot in LA,' the DHS told the BBC. The DHS added that authorities were using the location 'as a staging area and rioters found it'. They claim to have arrested 118 illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles this week, including five suspected gang members. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin of Fox News cited federal sources as saying that, contrary to local claims, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not conducted raids on the Home Depot. 'Per federal sources, despite local claims, there was no ICE 'raid' at a Home Depot in LA today. DHS has a nearby office in Paramount that they are using as a staging area. Protesters found it and began gathering. ICE will conduct targeted enforcement around LA today, serving criminal judicial warrants and enforcing final orders of removal/deportation orders,' Melugin wrote on X. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Meanwhile, Newsom has urged Trump to remove the National Guard from Los Angeles. A person carries an injured protester to cover during a protest in Compton, California. AP Newsom in a letter to Trump called the development a 'serious breach of state sovereignty.' Newsom has has received support from Mayor Karen Bass. 'What we're seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,' she said in an afternoon press conference. 'This is about another agenda, this isn't about public safety,' Bass said. However, the White House seems to be undeterred. Trump on Sunday said he had deployed 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles. He said there were 'violent people' in Los Angeles 'and they're not gonna get away with it.' 'We're gonna have troops everywhere. We're not going to let this happen to our country. We're not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden,' Trump added. 'It's a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,' White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Ex-Vice-President Kamala Harris, a resident of Los Angeles, said the immigration arrests and Guard deployment were designed as part of a 'cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.' She said she supports those 'standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.' With inputs from agencies
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
What really happened outside the Paramount Home Depot? The reality on the ground vs. the rhetoric
It began as another Saturday morning at the Home Depot in Paramount, a working class, predominantly Latino suburb south of downtown Los Angeles. Typically, the store that is nestled along the Los Angeles River bed would be filled with weekend warriors tackling home improvements, workers collecting supplies and immigrants in search of work. But that morning, border patrol agents were spotted across the street from the Home Depot, gathering around 9 a.m. Word quickly spread on social media. Passersby honked their horns. Soon, protesters arrived. Home Depot eventually closed. The clashes between authorities and protesters lasted for hours in both Paramount and nearby Compton, though it was far from widespread. The chaos covered the area directly around the Alondra Boulevard store, but it was enough to provide for dramatic TV video. Read more: 2,000 National Guard troops will be sent to L.A. amid clashes over immigration raids And it was a major trigger for the Trump administration to sent 2,000 National Guard troops to L.A. to deal with disturbances and assist in immigration actions. So exactly what happened in Paramount? Two Times reporters spent much of the day and night there Saturday. Here is what they saw. Before the crowds arrived, Assemblymember José Luis Solache Jr., who represents the Paramount area that includes the Home Depot, was driving on the freeway on the way to a community event in neighboring Lakewood when he spotted a caravan of U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles exiting Alondra Boulevard. The street runs through the heart of the working class, largely immigrant Latino community of Paramount. He turned around, thinking they may be executing an immigration raid in his district and he tracked them down to an office park, the Paramount Business Center, across the street from Home Depot. Federal law enforcement has a facility in Paramount. Agents were still arriving there and the black gate they would later guard with volleys of tear gas and flash-bang grenades was open. Unclear why they were there, he decided to record a post for Instagram. 'I saw a border agent get off the freeway here off of Alondra. I was like, No, it can't be happening,' he said. Read more: ICE raids across L.A. spark backlash; Trump officials vow to continue operations It was around 9 a.m. 'This is horrible,' he said on one of the posts. 'I am literally shaking.' 'I don't know what they're doing inside. But, I mean, why were they in Paramount?,' he told his followers. Word quickly spread on social media. Passersby honked their horns. Soon, protesters arrived. 'This is the situation,' Solache, the Assemblymember, said, turning the camera to show dozens of uniformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside the black gates, as people held up cameras to the scene and mariachi music blared. 'The community is coming out strong to show that they are not welcome in our community,' said Solache, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Guanajuato, Mexico. 'No en mi distrito. Not in my district. Vámonos pa' fuera (let's go, get out of here).' Outrage had been growing in Los Angeles and its Latino immigrant community after a week of stepped up enforcement actions. The day before, federal officials raided a retail and distribution warehouse in the Fashion District downtown, a business district fueled by immigrants, and arrested a top union official. Leading up to the workplace raid, federal agents arrested immigrants as they came to scheduled check-ins or made courthouse appearances up and down the state, tearing apart families. One father was arrested in front of his 8-year old-son. Parent groups raised alarms after a Torrance elementary student and his father were set for deportation. For many, talk about deporting violent criminals didn't ring true. 'This whole rhetoric of coming after hardworking families is what we are all concerned about,' Solache said. 'When you come to do raids at businesses, that is where the anger comes from.' He said he and many others came out to observe and send a message that immigration enforcement wasn't welcome in their community. The scene began to turn darker as agents formed a line and brought out rifles that shot out tear gas and pushed the crowds back. The protests arrived as word spread on social media of a raid at Home Depot or at a meatpacking place. There was never a raid at Home Depot but dozens of Border Patrol agents and other federal agencies were inside a gated industrial office park, where an initial crowd had gathered. Most protesters were filming. There were social workers, neighbors and advocates. Read more: The legal issues raised by Trump sending the National Guard to L.A. But near the gates, any time federal agents saw that protesters threw anything toward them or neared the police line, they shot out tear gas or flash-bang rounds. There were about 100 people there. As the crowd grew, sheriff's deputies were deployed to block off a perimeter on the east and west, near the 710 Freeway. Protesters shouted at deputies, asking why they were helping. The crowds began to form, as hundreds of rounds were shot in the late morning near the office park. Around noon, tensions grew as the agents attempted to clear the way for border patrol and other unmarked vehicles to leave the business park. They fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at demonstrators standing on Alondra Boulevard. When a caravan of federal vehicles departed from the gates, protesters followed them, throwing rocks and other objects. Shortly after they left, one protester brought out a trash bag and set it ablaze. A couple of others pushed a cart with concrete blocks from Home Depot and they lined the road to block vehicles. One man smashed the block and spread the broken pieces on the road. Farther west along Alondra Boulevard, a crowd was gathering behind a perimeter set up by the sheriff's deputies near the 710 Freeway. Then a U.S. Marshall bus pulled up to Alondra from the freeway. The crowd surrounded the bus trying to push it back, kicking at it until tear gas was shot. The standoff continued into the afternoon with protesters recording a line of sheriff's deputies equipped with shields and weapons at the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and Hunsaker Avenue, on the east perimeter and next to Manuel Dominguez High School. The crowd chanted, 'ICE go home' and 'no justice, no peace.' Some people yelled at the deputies, questioning why they were out in force. At some point, deputies began shooting flash-bang grenades at the crowd, forcing them to retreat. People became angered, cursing at deputies. At least one man was seen yelling at the deputies while recording them: 'What the hell are you doing?! Nobody's hurting you, nobody's doing anything but making noise, are you intimidated by f— noise?!' One woman among the protest group appeared to be bleeding, and another man was treated for injuries. At least one person walked around with his shirt off, his back bruised from foam projectiles that had struck him. In the distance, near the business park, demonstrators were setting off fireworks and a billow of black smoke could be seen. Despite the use of tear gas and so-called less-lethal projectiles, people returned to the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and Hunsaker Avenue, screaming at deputies, mocking them at times. Around 4 p.m., the confrontation near a Home Depot was declared an unlawful assembly, and officials warned protesters in Spanish and English to leave the area. By 7 p.m., about 100 protesters had gathered on the other side of the 710 Freeway near Atlantic Avenue and Alondra Boulevard, where some were lobbing rocks and bottles at L.A. County sheriff's deputies. They set at least three fires in the area including a car that burned in the middle of the intersection. At some point, the deputies retreated back to the bottom of a bridge that runs over the 710 Freeway and the Los Angeles River. Throughout the night deputies and demonstrators exchanged jabs, with demonstrators launching fireworks that exploded near the line of deputies and police vehicles. They used cars to drive toward the deputies in an attempt to scare them, prompting the deputies to fire rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang grenades at the vehicles. A sheriff's helicopter circled above throughout the evening, warning people they would be found and arrested and to leave the area after an unlawful assembly was declared, but the demonstrators continued, chanting and waving flags while some in the crowd continued to throw things at the deputies. It was nearing 9:30 p.m. when the line of deputies and vehicles began moving toward the crowd, forcing them to flee back to Atlantic Avenue and Alondra Boulevard. There deputies continued to fire tear gas and flash-bang grenades, sometimes at the direction of a gas station where protesters were standing. By midnight, demonstrators began to leave, ending a night of conflict between local and federal law enforcement officials and residents of Paramount. Federal authorities said some arrests had been made by agents. At least one video showed a woman being tackled to the ground earlier and being carried away. Other videos show two other people also being carried away by federal agents. 'Multiple arrests have already been made for obstructing our operations,' FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on X. 'More are coming. We are pouring through the videos for more perpetrators. You bring chaos, and we'll bring handcuffs.' Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
15 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
What really happened outside the Paramount Home Depot? The reality on the ground vs. the rhetoric
It began as another Saturday morning at the Home Depot in Paramount, a working class, predominantly Latino suburb south of downtown Los Angeles. Typically, the store that is nestled along the Los Angeles River bed would be filled with weekend warriors tackling home improvements, workers collecting supplies and immigrants in search of work. But that morning, border patrol agents were spotted across the street from the Home Depot, gathering around 9 a.m. Word quickly spread on social media. Passersby honked their horns. Soon, protesters arrived. Home Depot eventually closed. The clashes between authorities and protesters lasted for hours in both Paramount and nearby Compton, though it was far from widespread. The chaos covered the area directly around the Alondra Boulevard store, but it was enough to provide for dramatic TV video. And it was a major trigger for the Trump administration to sent 2,000 National Guard troops to L.A. to deal with disturbances and assist in immigration actions. So exactly what happened in Paramount? Two Times reporters spent much of the day and night there Saturday. Here is what they saw. Before the crowds arrived, Assemblymember José Luis Solache Jr., who represents the Paramount area that includes the Home Depot, was driving on the freeway on the way to a community event in neighboring Lakewood when he spotted a caravan of U.S. Customs and Border Protection vehicles exiting Alondra Boulevard. The street runs through the heart of the working class, largely immigrant Latino community of Paramount. He turned around, thinking they may be executing an immigration raid in his district and he tracked them down to an office park, the Paramount Business Center, across the street from Home Depot. Federal law enforcement has a facility in Paramount. Agents were still arriving there and the black gate they would later guard with volleys of tear gas and flash-bang grenades was open. Unclear why they were there, he decided to record a post for Instagram. 'I saw a border agent get off the freeway here off of Alondra. I was like, No, it can't be happening,' he said. It was around 9 a.m. 'This is horrible,' he said on one of the posts. 'I am literally shaking.' 'I don't know what they're doing inside. But, I mean, why were they in Paramount?,' he told his followers. Word quickly spread on social media. Passersby honked their horns. Soon, protesters arrived. 'This is the situation,' Solache, the Assemblymember, said, turning the camera to show dozens of uniformed Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents outside the black gates, as people held up cameras to the scene and mariachi music blared. 'The community is coming out strong to show that they are not welcome in our community,' said Solache, whose parents immigrated to the U.S. from Guanajuato, Mexico. 'No en mi distrito. Not in my district. Vámonos pa' fuera (let's go, get out of here).' Outrage had been growing in Los Angeles and its Latino immigrant community after a week of stepped up enforcement actions. The day before, federal officials raided a retail and distribution warehouse in the Fashion District downtown, a business district fueled by immigrants, and arrested a top union official. Leading up to the workplace raid, federal agents arrested immigrants as they came to scheduled check-ins or made courthouse appearances up and down the state, tearing apart families. One father was arrested in front of his 8-year old-son. Parent groups raised alarms after a Torrance elementary student and his father were set for deportation. For many, talk about deporting violent criminals didn't ring true. 'This whole rhetoric of coming after hardworking families is what we are all concerned about,' Solache said. 'When you come to do raids at businesses, that is where the anger comes from.' He said he and many others came out to observe and send a message that immigration enforcement wasn't welcome in their community. The scene began to turn darker as agents formed a line and brought out rifles that shot out tear gas and pushed the crowds back. The protests arrived as word spread on social media of a raid at Home Depot or at a meatpacking place. There was never a raid at Home Depot but dozens of Border Patrol agents and other federal agencies were inside a gated industrial office park, where an initial crowd had gathered. Most protesters were filming. There were social workers, neighbors and advocates. But near the gates, any time federal agents saw that protesters threw anything toward them or neared the police line, they shot out tear gas or flash-bang rounds. There were about 100 people there. As the crowd grew, sheriff's deputies were deployed to block off a perimeter on the east and west, near the 710 Freeway. Protesters shouted at deputies, asking why they were helping. The crowds began to form, as hundreds of rounds were shot in the late morning near the office park. Around noon, tensions grew as the agents attempted to clear the way for border patrol and other unmarked vehicles to leave the business park. They fired tear gas and flash-bang grenades at demonstrators standing on Alondra Boulevard. When a caravan of federal vehicles departed from the gates, protesters followed them, throwing rocks and other objects. Shortly after they left, one protester brought out a trash bag and set it ablaze. A couple of others pushed a cart with concrete blocks from Home Depot and they lined the road to block vehicles. One man smashed the block and spread the broken pieces on the road. Farther west along Alondra Boulevard, a crowd was gathering behind a perimeter set up by the sheriff's deputies near the 710 Freeway. Then a U.S. Marshall bus pulled up to Alondra from the freeway. The crowd surrounded the bus trying to push it back, kicking at it until tear gas was shot. The standoff continued into the afternoon with protesters recording a line of sheriff's deputies equipped with shields and so-called nonlethal weapons at the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and Hunsaker Avenue, on the east perimeter and next to Manuel Dominguez High School. The crowd chanted 'ICE go home' and 'no justice, no peace.' Some people yelled at the deputies, questioning why they were out in force. At some point, deputies began shooting flash-bang grenades at the crowd, forcing them to retreat. People became angered, cursing at deputies. At least one man was seen yelling at the deputies while recording them: 'What the hell are you doing?! Nobody's hurting you, nobody's doing anything but making noise, are you intimidated by f— noise?!' One woman among the protest group appeared to be bleeding, and another man was treated for injuries. At least one person walked around with his shirt off, his back bruised from foam projectiles that had struck him. In the distance, near the business park, demonstrators were setting off fireworks and a billow of black smoke could be seen. Despite the use of tear gas and so-called nonlethal projectiles, people returned to the intersection of Alondra Boulevard and Hunsaker Avenue, screaming at deputies, mocking them at times. Around 4 p.m., the confrontation near a Home Depot was declared an unlawful assembly, and officials warned protesters in Spanish and English to leave the area. By 7 p.m., about 100 protesters had gathered on the other side of the 710 Freeway near Atlantic Avenue and Alondra Boulevard, where some were lobbing rocks and bottles at L.A. County sheriff's deputies. They set at least three fires in the area including a car that burned in the middle of the intersection. At some point, the deputies retreated back to the bottom of a bridge that runs over the 710 Freeway and the Los Angeles River. Throughout the night deputies and demonstrators exchanged jabs, with demonstrators launching fireworks that exploded near the line of deputies and police vehicles. They used cars to drive toward the deputies in an attempt to scare them, prompting the deputies to fire rubber bullets, tear gas and flash-bang grenades at the vehicles. A sheriff's helicopter circled above throughout the evening, warning people they would be found and arrested and to leave the area after an unlawful assembly was declared, but the demonstrators continued, chanting and waving flags while some in the crowd continued to throw things at the deputies. It was nearing 9:30 p.m. when the line of deputies and vehicles began moving toward the crowd, forcing them to flee back to Atlantic Avenue and Alondra Boulevard. There deputies continued to fire tear gas and flash-bang grenades, sometimes at the direction of a gas station where protesters were standing. By midnight, demonstrators began to leave, ending a night of conflict between local and federal law enforcement officials and residents of Paramount. Federal authorities said some arrests had been made by agents. At least one video showed a woman being tackled to the ground earlier and being carried away. Other videos show two other people also being carried away by federal agents. 'Multiple arrests have already been made for obstructing our operations,' FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said on X. 'More are coming. We are pouring through the videos for more perpetrators. You bring chaos, and we'll bring handcuffs.'
