Career criminal who hurled Molotov cocktail at LA hotel where 27 DHS agents were staying during anti-ICE riots arrested
A 'serial criminal' and 'coward' was arrested in Los Angeles Tuesday for allegedly tossing a Molotov cocktail at a hotel where more than two dozen Department of Homeland Security agents were staying as violent anti-ICE riots held the city hostage.
Eric Anthony Rodriguez, 39, who hails from California, allegedly hurled a Molotov cocktail at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport, where 15 agents from the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency and 12 Customs and Border Protection agents were staying, early Saturday, officials told The Post.
The Los Angeles Police Department received a call about an 'incendiary device investigation' early Saturday after witnesses said that a male suspect had lit and launched a Molotov cocktail toward the hotel.
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The device landed harmlessly in some bushes, and a hotel employee was able to put out the fire, according to Officer David Cuellar, an LAPD spokesman.
No one was injured in the attack.
'This coward threw a Molotov cocktail at a hotel in Los Angeles where 27 DHS law enforcement officers were staying,' Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a press release.
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A joint investigation between the LAPD's Major Crimes unit and the Los Angeles Fire Department's arson investigators zeroed in on Rodriguez, Cuellar said.
He was nabbed Tuesday morning without incident near the scene of the initial attack, Cuellar said.
4 Eric Anthony Rodriguez, 39, is accused of hurling a Molotov cocktail at an LA hotel where 27 DHS agents were staying on Saturday, officials said.
Department of Homeland Security
'Anyone who threatens the lives of federal officers will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law — and that is exactly what will happen to Rodriguez,' McLaughlin said.
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'If you threaten or attempt to harm a law enforcement officer, we will find you.'
4 Los Angeles was still reeling from violent anti-ICE protests when they arrested Eric Anthony Rodriguez, 39, for hurling a Molotov cocktail at a hotel where where 27 agents from the Department of Homeland security were staying.
Toby Canham for NY Post
The Los Angeles County District Attorney charged Rodriguez with one count of possession of a destructive device and one count of arson, Cuellar said.
'Anthony Rodriguez is a serial criminal who will face justice for threatening the lives of federal law enforcement,' McLaughlin said.
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4 Los Angeles was aflame earlier this month when a wave of anti-ICE riots ran rampant in the city.
Toby Canham for NY Post
'Dangerous rhetoric by sanctuary politicians has fanned the flames of violence against federal law enforcement — and it has led to a 500% increase in assaults against ICE,' she added.
Rodriguez has a criminal record going back more than two decades, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the case. He was convicted of a felony in 2004 for receiving stolen property.
In March 2024, he was convicted in Los Angeles County Superior Court of robbery in the second degree. He was convicted of five other felonies between 2004 and 2024, including an assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury.
Rodriguez had an outstanding felony warrant for violating parole when he was arrested, sources said.
He is just the latest to be collared over Molotov-cocktail related attacks on law enforcement during the protests.
On June 7, the height of the violent anti-ICE riots in the City of Angels, Emiliano Garduno-Galvez was arrested and charged with attempted murder for hurling a Molotov cocktail at LA County sheriff's deputies, police said.
4 Los Angeles was the epicent of anti-ICE riots this month.
Toby Canham for NY Post
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Garduno-Galvez, who had already been deported from the US once, had been arrested twice in 2024. He was out due to California's sanctuary laws, which meant ICE detention orders were ignored by local officers according to DHS.
'These are the types of criminal illegal aliens that rioters are fighting to protect,' said McLaughlin. 'The Los Angeles rioters will not stop us or slow us down.'
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Miami Herald
13 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
County leaders mostly silent after arrest of woman objecting to ICE deal in Miami-Dade
A day after a 36-year-old real estate agent was dragged out of the Miami-Dade County Commission chambers by plain-clothed officers during a public meeting, the elected officials who watched it happen are mostly keeping mum on what they saw. The Miami Herald requested statements from the county's 13 commissioners and Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who until January oversaw a county police force that's now under the control of an elected sheriff. No commissioner offices provided statements. Levine Cava did, but the message did not directly address the police response that landed Camila Ramos in jail overnight on felony charges after a brief and tense exchange with the sheriff's deputies that serve as plain-clothed sergeants-at-arms during commission meetings. VIDEO: Officers drag woman out of Miami-Dade meeting during ICE discussion Ramos had intended to speak on a modified agreement between the county's jails system and Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the allotted public comment portion of the meeting but was removed while attempting to ask a question about the rules after an officer had warned her not to speak. 'It was unfortunate that yesterday's meeting escalated the way it did when people were there simply to make their voices heard,' Levine Cava said. 'Public input is an essential part of an accessible, accountable local government and as elected officials we should encourage all residents to exercise their right to participate.' The Herald also requested a statement from Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz, the veteran county police administrator who in November won the county's first sheriff election since the 1950s under a change mandated by Florida's Constitution. The Sheriff's Office has not released a statement but did provide arrest reports alleging a deputy saw Ramos punch an officer while being dragged to the chamber doors. Ramos was heard denying to an officer that she had punched her — or that if she had, it was inadvertent. Video of the ejection showed officers with hands on both of Ramos' arms and, at one point, also on her hair and foot. Less than two minutes passed between when a sergeant-at-arms first took hold of Ramos' arm near the microphone that members of the public use to address commissioners to when she was dragged out of the chamber doors by officers, her hand briefly grasping the arm of her husband, who was there to speak as well. 'I'm trying to understand the process,' Ramos said as the two sergeants took hold of her arms and started pulling her toward the exits. 'You're ejecting me?' Video shows Ramos dragging her feet and then falling to the ground while the sergeants still held her arms. They then began dragging her while her body remained in contact with the floor. 'I deserve to know the process,' she said. 'Let me go of me.' While commissioners have kept quiet on the incident, some politicians are sharing their views. Ken Russell, a former Miami commissioner running for city mayor, said on social media: 'Being silent is a message in itself…ANY elected [official] can speak up to allow someone to be heard or to stop an ejection.' Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett sent an email Friday morning to town administrators urging them to make sure Surfside could avoid that kind of incident. 'This is really bad. I can't think of any good reason why a situation like this ought to evolve with a woman on the floor with two very strong police around her,' Burkett wrote. 'We must never allow something like this to happen under our watch.' Ramos was released from the Turner Guilford Knight jail on Friday after posting bond for two felony charges, including battery against an officer. The arrest report shows uniformed deputies who helped take her out of the chambers were wearing body cameras, but that footage hasn't yet been released. It could prove crucial in her criminal case because a uniformed deputy wrote in the report that he witnessed Ramos strike a sergeant-at-arms in the face. While Ramos hasn't spoken publicly, supporters on Friday held a press conference outside of County Hall to denounce what happened to her. 'Her flailing may have mistakenly grazed an officer,' Juan Cuba, director of Sheriff Accountability Action, an advocacy group. 'I don't see in any video evidence it was battery.' He urged the county's elected officials to denounce what happened in the chambers Thursday. Cuba, a longtime Miami activist, is married to one of Levine Cava's top aides, Deputy Chief of Staff Rachel Johnson. Video of the meeting showed the confrontation began during a confusing moment in the session. While commissioners were scheduled to vote on a modification of the county's existing ICE agreement, there was a last-minute move to delay that vote indefinitely. As Chair Anthony Rodriguez explained the plan to the audience, he also outlined speaking rules that seemed to contradict guidelines from the county's top lawyer. Rodriguez told the audience they had a right to speak on the ICE item. At that point, Ramos was standing in an area near the lecterns where members of the public typically wait their turn for their allotted time at the microphones. While the audience members could still speak on the item about to be deferred, Rodriguez said, doing so would mean the public wouldn't have the chance to address commissioners if the item ever came up for an actual vote at a future meeting. 'Even if just one person speaks,' he said, 'then public hearing has been had on this item. And if it resurfaces, there will be no opportunity to speak on this item again.' Those instructions appeared more restrictive than guidance provided by County Attorney Geri Bonzon-Keenan a couple of minutes earlier. Asked by Rodriguez how to handle the list of people signed up to speak about the ICE item at Thursday's meeting, the top lawyer outlined a procedure where people wanting to speak Thursday could line up for the microphones and those who chose to stay seated could address commissioners if the item came up at a future meeting. 'I would just start calling the names,' Bonzon-Keenan said. 'And those that wish to speak can stand up. And those that don't stand up, they can come back and speak at the appropriate time when the matter is under consideration.' Those conflicting rules were what faced Ramos as she waited for her allotted 60 seconds before commissioners, with a paper of prepared remarks in her hand. Video showed she was approached by sergeant-at-arms and a disagreement followed, with Ramos pointed toward the dais. Soon, two sergeants had her by the arms and pulled her away as the audience chanted 'Let her go!' and 'Let her speak!'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
What we know so far about how Trump's deportation effort is unfolding in the Bay Area
As of last month, Carolina's quest for asylum from violence in her Indigenous Guatemalan community seemed to be on track. The mother of two, who speaks only her native K'iche' language, had recently completed a check-in with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and was living with her family in Contra Costa County. Then she received a surprise message on her ICE smartphone app. 'This is your ICE officer,' the June 2 message said, according to Carolina's attorney. 'We want you to come in for an appointment.' Carolina did as she was told, arriving at 630 Sansome St. in San Francisco the next day. It wasn't until after she was arrested that her attorney — who shared her story with the Chronicle and asked that only her first name be used for her protection — would learn the reason for the appointment: Carolina's asylum case had been set aside without a reason given, and an old removal order reinstated. Leaving behind her husband and two young children, Carolina was flown to an ICE detention center in Arizona that same day. Carolina is among dozens of people that local advocates estimate have been arrested in the Bay Area this month in stepped-up operations by federal immigration authorities, as the Trump administration seeks to fulfill a campaign promise by boosting deportation numbers. The effort has been both expansive and disjointed, advocates say, going beyond promises to deport 'the worst of the worst ' while splitting families apart and leaving state officials scrambling for answers. While federal authorities have long had discretionary power to reject asylum applications and other temporary protections that allow people to remain in the U.S., previous administrations have typically used the tactic on a case-by-case basis, said Carolina's attorney, Hayden Rodarte, who focuses on asylum applications for the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. 'But this is the first time we're seeing it in this systematic way,' Rodarte said, noting that Carolina has no criminal history and is the main caregiver for her 10-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son. 'This is the new reality now.' ICE officials have declined to release information about key aspects of recent Bay Area immigration operations, including how many people have been arrested, who they are and why certain people have been targeted for removal. ICE has posted videos on social media of arrests throughout Los Angeles at workplaces and elsewhere, and photos of those detained with alleged criminal histories, but immigration attorneys said the arrests in the Bay Area target those who are trying to follow the process and show up to court. 'They should be showing up to their court hearing. It's the right thing to do but it's so scary,' said Roujin Mozaffarimehr, a managing partner at ImmiCore Law, a Silicon Valley firm. 'It's just really nerve-racking.' Inside the information vacuum, local networks of immigration advocates, attorneys and courtroom observers have worked to piece together everything they know about the cases, in hopes of better understanding how ICE operations are unfolding in the Bay Area. Catherine Seitz, the legal director at the Immigration Institute of the Bay Area, said people have been arrested when they show up for a meeting with ICE during their removal proceedings, an often lengthy legal process. Those meetings typically happen once a year; ICE checks that the cases are still pending and people typically return home, Seitz said. In addition, ICE is detaining people, including those seeking asylum, who arrive to immigration courts in San Francisco and Concord for scheduled hearings. In some cases, government attorneys are attempting to remove people who have been here for less than two years by requesting their cases to be dismissed. Immigration officials then detain people and pursue expedited removal proceedings, a measure that is typically used at airports or at the border, Seitz said. 'The confusing part is, under the last administration, (a dismissed case) was a good thing,' Seitz said, adding that people could then move forward with their asylum petitions. Seitz said that by using expedited removals, the government can typically move forward with deporting someone without going before a judge. This was the case for Carolina, who arrived in the U.S. along with one of her children in January 2024, joining her husband and older child. Carolina, who is from an Indigenous rural area of Guatemala, applied for asylum while citing the violence and persecution from the government there. 'What hurts us most is seeing the children suffer through this,' Carolina's sister said in a statement translated from K'iche' and provided by immigration attorneys. 'Our country has so much violence and we fled to this country with the hopes of finding joy here. But now we're seeing things worsen here with family separations.' There is no removal order for Carolina's husband and children, and the rest of the family's asylum cases remain pending before immigration court in Concord, Rodarte said. Because federal agencies have not released information on the arrests, advocates and attorneys have sought to use their networks to keep an unreliable count of the number of people detained. Last weekend, hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside of an ICE facility in San Francisco after immigrants said they had received orders to check in with the federal agency — spurring concerns from advocates that officials were planning to detain people with detention circumstances similar to Carolina's. Though a handful of immigrants showed up Saturday and Sunday, the office remained closed and ICE officials did not detain anyone, later saying that the closure was due to protests. ICE enforcement in the Bay Area has differed from Los Angeles, where the agency has targeted car washes and other workplaces, as well as gathering spots for day laborers such as Home Depot parking lots, to take people into custody — sparking conservative support along with widespread protests and accusations of racial profiling. Trump has waffled on the tactics, at times saying migrant workers are dangerous and take jobs that could go to Americans, and at other times saying they are ' almost impossible to replace.' But with the Department of Homeland Security this week reversing instructions for ICE to pause raids on farms, meat packing plants, restaurants and hotels, advocates for immigrants worry that the more aggressive actions ICE has taken in Los Angeles and parts of the Central Valley could happen in the Bay Area. Jason Houser, a former ICE chief of staff under President Joe Biden, said the Trump administration appears intent on reaching arrest quotas of 3,000 people per day. To achieve those goals, ICE has begun targeting immigrants who have been vetted and given a legal status to stay in the country, versus focusing on only those with criminal histories. There aren't enough people with criminal backgrounds to meet the quotas that the White House has set, Houser said. 'When you set quotas at the White House of arrests,' he said, 'ICE is going to take the easiest path to get their hands on people that they can bring into detention.' Since Trump's second term started, ICE said it has arrested over 236,000 people who were in the country illegally and deported more than 207,000, below the administration's goals but a significant increase from recent years. In his first term, Trump deported 1.5 million people, while Biden had deported 1.1 million people as of February 2024, according to Migration Policy Institute, a Washington, D.C., think tank. The detainment of more people poses other challenges for immigration courts. There are currently roughly 700 federal immigration judges — a decrease after Trump fired judges in California, Louisiana and other states — and a backlog of nearly 3 million pending cases due in part to a spike in people seeking asylum since 2022, according to government data. In many cases, it can take someone going through a removal proceeding nearly 10 years to get ahead of a judge, said Carl Shusterman, a Los Angeles immigration attorney. 'If he's just going to put another million people a year in immigration court,' Shusterman said, 'it'll take 15 to 20 years to get a hearing.'
San Francisco Chronicle
3 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Bay Area day laborers say they live in fear of ICE raids: ‘We just come here to find work'
On the edge of the parking lot of a Home Depot in Alameda County this past week, a woman sold a warm cup of atole, a traditional masa-based drink from Mexico, to a man and his son. She had just returned to her post after a week of hiding at home with her 12-year-old son after hearing rumors of an ICE raid nearby. 'I would rather lose a day of work than risk something happening to me,' said the woman, who declined to share her name due to fear of immigration authorities. However, she said she could not afford to stay home any longer. Across from her small stand were nearly a dozen men grappling with the same dilemma — day laborers who are hired for all manner of jobs by customers looking for skilled help at a low price, but who are now fearful that the public way they solicit work might make them targets of President Donald Trump's mass deportation effort. Around the Bay Area, some immigrant advocates have reported that fewer day laborers are gathering at their usual spots outside home improvement stores, moving-truck rental shops and gas stations. But on this day in Alameda County, the men rushed toward vehicles that pulled up. They needed the work. 'We are a little scared because we don't come (to the U.S.) to rob, we come here to work, to give our children a better life,' said a Guatemalan man who also asked not to be identified by name. This month, as part of a broader series of raids in Los Angeles, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arrested more than 40 laborers in operations outside a Home Depot and at the workplace of a clothing manufacturer. Immigrant advocates worry that similar raids could occur in the Bay Area, though no actions have yet been reported. 'We feel like it's going to happen,' said Luis Valentan, the west coast regional director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network. 'The administration is creating a really, really hostile environment and we don't see workers as we did before.' Trump administration officials have said undocumented workers take jobs that could go to Americans. But advocates say they mostly do jobs no one else wants — a sentiment echoed by Trump himself on social media. Moreover, some advocates say targeting day laborers would amount to racial profiling. Gabriela Galicia, executive director of Street Level Health Project, a nonprofit in Oakland that seeks to aid vulnerable immigrants including day laborers, said she and her staff have begun carrying around proof of citizenship because they fear being targeted by ICE for being Latino. 'People are scared,' Galicia said. 'They think that at any time they could be stopped.' Roberto Hernandez, the CEO of Cultura y Arte Nativa de las Americas, a nonprofit organization in San Francisco that promotes indigenous cultures and healing practices, said arresting day laborers is 'part of Trump's racist targeting of Latinos in this country' and goes against the president's rhetoric about focusing enforcement on criminals. 'A criminal is not going to be at Home Depot looking for work for the pay that a day laborer makes,' Hernandez said. In interviews, many immigrants who rely on day labor work — typically construction, painting, roofing and gardening — said they had no choice but to risk their safety to put food on the table. 'It's not fair,' said a Guatemalan man at the Alameda County Home Depot, who recounted arriving alone to the U.S. five years ago. ICE officials did not return a request for comment for this story. Home Depot said in a statement that the company is not informed of ICE enforcement. 'We aren't notified that ICE activities are going to happen, and in many cases, we don't know that arrests have taken place until after they're over,' the company said. ICE data shows that arrests in Northern California have increased roughly 70% this year, compared to the final six months of the Biden administration. While arrests of convicted criminals grew, arrests of people who were suspected only of immigration-related violations, or had pending charges, went up much faster. The Trump administration has said it intends to reach arrest quotas of 3,000 people per day. To achieve those goals, ICE has begun targeting immigrants who have been vetted and given a legal status to stay in the country, versus focusing on only those with criminal histories. It's not clear how many day laborers toil in California. A 2007 report by the California Economic Policy Center found there were at least 40,000, and that 80% were undocumented. Studies have shown that they are frequently exploited, with poor working conditions and stolen pay. These problems and others have prompted the creation of day labor centers run by nonprofit organizations in San Francisco, Oakland and elsewhere in the Bay Area, which work to protect day laborers, while helping them secure consistent jobs and wages. Though day laborers typically wait in parking lots until potential employers drive up offering work, San Francisco has a day labor center where people can make hires through a more formal process. Hernandez said he lives about a block away from an informal gathering spot for day laborers in the city's Mission District. In recent days, he said, he has rarely seen the usual throng of people waiting for work. Meanwhile, he's seen an uptick of people coming to the Mission Food Hub, a food bank. 'What I've consistently been hearing from a lot of them is that they don't want to be out on the street because of the fear of ICE, which then impacts your ability to pay your rent, put food on your table,' Hernandez said. 'That feeling scared, feeling depressed, feeling fearful — it's at an all-time high.' The mood in Oakland is similar, Galicia said her organization, which recently lost $400,000 in funding from the city due to budget woes, regularly checks on day laborers who gather at six locations. 'There is a lot of fear and panic even just seeing cars passing by that may look suspicious,' Galicia said. 'Whenever there are reports of ICE in the community, we see a decrease in the day laborer community.' On a recent day outside a Home Depot in Oakland's Fruitvale neighborhood, laborers said they hadn't seen any federal immigration officers. Some expressed concern that could change, but felt resigned. A day later, rumors circulated that federal agents had shown up at the store, but Galicia said that dispatchers from Alameda County's rapid response network, which responds to ICE operations, had not verified those sightings. And so the rhythm of the workers' lives continued. One man in Fruitvale, who also declined to share his name due to fear of being deported, said he used his earnings to support his wife and their two children, a 2-year-old and a 3-month-old. The couple, he said, left their home in Huehuetenango, Guatemala, five years ago seeking to escape poverty and crime. They crossed the border by foot, a journey of several days through the Sonoran desert. Now, he splits his time between different spots outside Home Depots — wherever he can land the best jobs. 'If they come, what can we do? There's nothing we can do,' he said. 'We just come here to find work.'
