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Dozens of protesters gathered at the AC Hotel in Pasadena earlier this month to confront federal agents who arrived in town amid demonstrations against the Trump administration’s deportation efforts.
Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo recorded the entire record on June 7th, with demonstrators holding the “Ice from Pasadena” signs, with other messages ousting federal vehicles from the luxury hotel parking garage and cheering on their mobile phones.
The mayor said the protests forced the agents to leave the location they used for local accommodation during Operation L.A., which involves the protection of federal buildings in downtown.
“The word came up with a homeland safety car parked in the hotel,” Gordo told The Times. “People wanted to express their First Amendment rights, so they did so in a legal, non-violent, respectful way.”
According to Gorde, after hours of noisy rally, hotel staff asked the federal government to get things done. By the time the sun set, an agent in uniform from the Federal Protection Services, part of the Department of Homeland Security, was walking out of the hotel with her bags stacked on video of the incident that went viral online. Their vehicles were escorted from the garage by local police as protesters stepped back.
The hotel has emerged as a hot spot for conflict between community members and immigration agents. Federal agencies, including U.S. immigration and customs enforcement, may rent blocks of rooms where agents are dispatched for major businesses.
The hotel has emerged as a hot spot for conflict between community members and immigration agents.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
The Pasadena showdown was one of several recent cases of protesters gathering at hotels in the Los Angeles area, putting pressure on owners to not provide a quarter to federal officials during the Trump administration’s crackdown. Companies relying on migrant workers have fallen into a troublesome position for cleaning and maintenance. This requires a balance between politics and employee protection.
From Whittier to Hawaiian Gardens to Blair, interested citizens have repeatedly taken them to social media, whispering networks and sharing where they find themselves found agents of the federal government. And people follow up with such information by staging protests outside of hotels in communities such as Long Beach, Downey and Glendale.
An employee at AC Hotel Pasadena immediately referred the inquiry to a spokeswoman who did not immediately provide comment. It returned to business as usual at Marriott Properties on Tuesday afternoon and opened earlier this year. A man on a gorgeous sofa was working on a laptop. A woman drank beer at the bar and crushed the staff.
Gordo said he has confirmed that there are no longer homeland security agents staying on the property.
The Homeland Security Press Office did not immediately provide comment, and agencies under the division, including ice and US customs and border security, did not respond to inquiries.
Protesters were arrested this month for obstructing federal officials, and federal agencies have expressed concern about the impact of agents “doxxing” their locations and other personal information online.
“People take photos of their names, faces and post online after death threats to their families and themselves,” Reuters reported last week that acting Ice Chief Chief Todd Lions said.
Pasadena police blocked the entrance to Hotel Dena in Pasadena last week.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
Crowdsourcing efforts to spread information about where federal agents have made holes are mostly unfolded online.
In some cases, untested reports come from people working in hotels. Hotel guests and local residents also see suspicious agents outside the lobby and outside, or walk through the parking lot in search of federal vehicles.
For the first few days after LA’s enforcement efforts began, it was pretty easy to find out where agents were staying by looking for vehicles with the agency’s logo. However, it appears they have been caught up in surveillance tactics of those who want to see them go home.
On Monday, Times Reporter visited 13 hotels from Westchester to Garden Grove and three Southland counties in Ontario. There, federal immigration agents were rumored to be staying recently, according to social media posts and alerts on websites dedicated to tracking ice activities. There were no clear visual indications in the hotel’s parking lot that it was a car, van or truck of a federal agent.
At five hotels, employees approached by the Times declined to comment. At 3am, the employee agreed to speak but refused to name it by citing the company policy. Two of them said in a brief interview that they were not sure if the agent was still on the premises. The third person working at a chain hotel in Anaheim said last week he saw someone who believed he was an ice agent for real estate, but hasn’t stayed there anymore.
Workers at Hilton Pasadena show support from community members taking part in the June 12 protest.
(Jason Armand/Los Angeles Times)
“They didn’t care,” he said he refused to provide his name due to fear of retaliation from his employer or immigration authorities. “Maybe there were things like those, and that was a bit of a concern.”
Workers like him have been exposed to political whiplash lately. Last week, President Trump wrote about the true society, “Our great farmers and people in hotel and leisure business have stated that very positive policies on immigration are very good, keeping long-time workers away from them.” That same day, high-ranking ice officials sent guidance to local ice officials, instructing them not to raid farms, hotels and restaurants, and instead highlighting other targets.
With this development, hotel employees wanted them to come out of the crosshairs. But the Trump administration quickly reversed the course, saying that this week there’s no reprieve for hotel workers and others Trump praised a few days ago.
Andrew Mark, pastor of Pasadena Covenant Church, also spoke to the crowd at a June 7th meeting outside the AC Hotel. He said in an interview that he was impressed by the community coming together and forced them to change, but not surprised.
“There’s a deep sense of pride in Pasadena, so for agents to stay in a hotel here, you… I think this is the feeling that you don’t want to be a place where they can stage and go out and target people,” he said. “The fact that they were based in hotels in our community was unsettling.”
On Tuesday, Manuel Vicente was sitting behind a makeshift desk in the soundproof room at the Pasadena Community Job Center. As Director of Radio Jornalera, he creates audio and video content to assist migrant workers, including content that informs them of their rights when meeting migrant workers.
Vicente said he considers the successful protest at AC Hotel Pasadena as an example of his love of quoting the words “Pueblo Salva el Pueblo” or “Only people save people.”
“Everyone was excited when they were kicked out of the hotel,” he said. “It was a small victory, but our efforts made a difference. We need to be together to protect our communities and protect our workers.”
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