A series of surprising US immigration and customs enforcement sweeps in downtown Los Angeles on Friday prompted a fierce uprising from elected officials and protesters.
Confusion erupted in the heart of the fashion district after federal immigration authorities detained an employee among clothing wholesalers, using flash bang hand rena bullets and pepper spray on crowds protesting the attack around 1:30pm
Hundreds of people denounced the rally outside the Los Angeles Federal Building at 4pm, demanding the release of David Fuerta’s service employee who was injured and detained while recording the attack, according to a statement from the labor union.
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“Our community is under attack and terror,” Chaira, executive director of the Humanitarian Immigration Rights Coalition, told the crowd of protesters. “These are workers, these are fathers, mothers.”
44 people have been arrested administratively, and one has been arrested for obstruction during an immigration lawsuit on Friday.
said Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesman for the Ice branch of Homeland Security Research. Federal agents have executed four search warrants related to allegations of illegally holding people in countries in three locations in central Los Angeles, she said.
More than 300 immigration rights activists gathered to protest multiple immigrant sweeps across Los Angeles on Friday.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
According to SALAS, Chirla received more than 50 calls on the hotline.
Connie Chung Joe, the Asian American CEO who advances Southern California Judge, said he received reports of immigration enforcement attending schools in Koreatown.
Fuerta, 58, was treated at a hospital and was later transferred to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA, where she remained in custody until 5:30pm, according to a SEIU spokesperson.
“What happened to me isn’t about me. It’s about something much bigger,” he said in a statement from the hospital. “This is about how we stand together as a community and resist the injustice that is happening. Hardworking people and our families and members of our community are treated like criminals. We all have to oppose this insanity.
In X’s statement, our atty. Bill Essay alleged that Furuta intentionally interfered with federal agents’ access to workplaces where they had been running warrants by blocking the vehicle on Friday morning. Fuerta was arrested on suspicion of interfering with federal officials and will be arrested Monday, the essay said.
An elected official representing Los Angeles at city, county, state and federal levels has issued a surge in statements denounced Fuerta’s arrest, criticising the attack and denounced the escalation of the Trump administration’s deportation.
“Say California President David Fuerta was injured by a federal agent and was mistakenly taken into custody,” said Janice Hahn, LA County superintendent. “I’m asking for his immediate release. This is a democracy. People have the right to protest peacefully, observe law enforcement activities, and oppose fraud.”
She called the attack “cold” and instead of targeting criminals, she said she was wiping out members of the hardworking community they were trying to offer to their families.
For hours Friday, supporters gathered outside the atmosphere, shouting legal advice to those detained inside. They stood on a long bed truck parked in the middle of the street, clogging busy road traffic.
People gather in front of the atmosphere apparel after several employees were taken into custody by federal agents on Friday. At one point, federal agents had to push protesters out of the van road that had been forced into the building’s parking lot.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
“You’re not alone,” he said to the megaphone, which took over the sound of the crowd. “Don’t sign anything. Don’t tell me where you came from.”
18-year-old Katina Garcia pressed her face against the glass, searching for her undocumented father, who, like everyone else, had gone to work there that morning.
“We didn’t expect it to happen to us,” she said.
Hours later, a bunch of federal agents dressed in riot equipment descended on the atmosphere-filled apparel and confronted more than 100 people gathered outside.
They announced their arrival by ringing the truck sirens as a line for armored personnel.
“Pig,” one man cried out in a loud scene. “Fascist,” another said.
The agents inside the store left at least dozens of individuals and boarded the van. The crowd continued as riot equipment agents began to return to the tactical vehicle and truck lines.
“How do families sleep and tear them apart,” exclaimed one woman as a stoic agent. “What if they took your family?”
The immigrant-filled van first left, followed by a tactical line of vehicles and trucks. The crowd continued, filming with a cell phone over his head, and surrounded them for at least blocks. Agents then used at least 12 rounds of flash bang grapes and pepper spray before the protesters were dispersed.
A group of 11 LA City Council members have issued a joint statement pledging to fight to protect immigrants, covering “indiscriminatory targets for children and families.”
“We condemn this with uncertainty. Los Angeles is built by immigrants and thrives for immigrants,” the group said. “We will not adhere to fear tactics in order to support an extreme political agenda aimed at infusing fear into our cities and spreading discord.”
The Los Angeles Police Department and the LA County Sheriff’s Office issued a statement Friday that they were aware of the local immigration lawsuit. Neither agency said it would participate in enforcement of the Civil Immigration Act or attempt to determine the status of individual immigration.
“I want our residents to know that when they ask for help, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department will respond, investigate and protect everyone, regardless of the legal status of a person,” the department said in a statement.
The escalation of immigration actions in Los Angeles on Friday will see President Trump’s orders, where White House Deputy Chief of Staff Steven Miller, pushing ICE to launch at least 3,000 a day a day arrest and carrying out the biggest deportation effort in history.
This week, CBS reported that ICE recorded 2,000 arrests daily. This is a dramatic increase from the daily average of 660 arrests that Trump reported in the White House 100 days before its first 100 days.
The Los Angeles raid came shortly after several recent enforcement actions in Southland. This involved an attack on a Los Angeles underground nightclub where ICE agents deployed flash bang hand-rena bullets during operations at two San Diego restaurants and where Chinese and Taiwanese citizens were detained.
On Friday afternoon, U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, alongside California representatives Scott Peters and Juan Vargas, called for an investigation into the tactics used in the San Diego raid.
“This troubling incident is not an isolated case, but rather appears to be part of a broader pattern of escalated theatre immigration enforcement operations across the country,” the lawmaker said. “These events raise serious questions about the adequacy, proportionality and implementation of ice tactics.”
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