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Boston Globe
2 days ago
- Business
- Boston Globe
ICE is arresting migrants in worksite raids. Employers are largely escaping charges.
Charging company owners for employing undocumented workers has historically been rare because the government needs to demonstrate that the employer knew of the worker's illegal status. That is a high burden of proof, and investigations can take months. Neither Democratic nor Republican administrations have made worksite raids as much of a priority in the past. The Biden administration halted large-scale immigration arrests at worksites and focused enforcement on employers. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The raids immigration officers are conducting have largely targeted small businesses such as car washes. Some are carried out in a span of minutes. Two business owners said officers did not show a warrant, even when asked for one, raising questions about whether immigration agents are violating constitutional rights in their effort to drive up migrant arrests. Advertisement 'The difference about these raids of the last six weeks is that this is not principally an action against employers,' said Muzaffar Chishti, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. 'This is principally an action in pursuit of mass deportations. When they could not produce the number of arrests that they had been hoping for, they suddenly said, 'Let's raid employers.' It was not, 'Let's penalize employers.'' Advertisement Though the recent raids in Los Angeles outside Home Depots and at a garment factory drew much attention, immigration authorities have conducted enforcement operations in states throughout the country. They arrested 33 workers at construction sites near Ocala, Florida, and 11 at Outlook Dairy Farms near Lovington, New Mexico. The first raid ICE publicized took place at Complete Autowash in Philadelphia eight days after President Donald Trump took office. Small businesses with limited resources are easier targets than deep-pocketed corporations, immigration experts say. That's because they're less willing to challenge government actions or stir up a public commotion. Though immigration officers need a judicial warrant to enter private areas within a business, they can go into any areas considered publicly accessible, such as the space where customers eat at a restaurant. Nonetheless, two business owners whose companies were raided said armed DHS agents had entered areas restricted from the public. In February, ICE agents arrived at an auto repair shop outside Philadelphia. They entered a private back office and arrested the entire staff of three workers, said the owner, who spoke on the condition that he and his business not be named because he fears retaliation from the government. One of the workers was deported to Guatemala and another remains in detention, he said. 'It's already hard enough to run a small business,' said the shop owner, an immigrant from Mexico. 'We've barely been open in recent months. This hurt a lot.' Advertisement The owner has faced no charges, fines or further contact from ICE since the raid, he said. But the local Latino community avoids his shop now, and he and his wife have lost sleep worrying whether the business can survive. He also worries that his rights were violated because of ICE's refusal to show a warrant. DHS did not respond to questions about how many workplace raids have led to charges against employers. In April, ICE announced it had arrested more than 1,000 workers who were in the country illegally during Trump's first 100 days and proposed more than $1 million in fines 'against businesses that exploit and hire illegal workers.' A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement that 'under President Trump and Attorney General Bondi's leadership, the Department of Justice will enforce federal immigration laws and hold bad actors accountable when they employ illegal aliens in violation of federal law.' 'An American business' On June 22, Customs and Border Protection agents in masks, sunglasses, and bulletproof vests pulled up in unmarked cars at Bubble Bath Hand Car Wash in Torrance, California, chasing workers into a car wash tunnel marked with 'employees & clients only' signs. Video shot by a bystander shows agents pushing one worker's head into a gate. DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said he was trying to escape and was not injured. The car wash owner, Emmanuel Karim Nicola-Cruz, said his requests to see a warrant were repeatedly denied. Security video of the incident obtained by The Post shows an agent pushing him into the tunnel. 'They weren't answering any of my questions,' Nicola-Cruz said. 'I feel like my rights were 100 percent violated. I feel absolutely, absolutely betrayed. We have American flags all over the property. We're an American business.' Advertisement Seventy miles to the north, in Ventura County, Maureen McGuire, chief executive of the local Farm Bureau, said ICE agents swept through more than a dozen farms and packing houses last month. They arrested multiple workers but left after farmers requested to see proof of judicial warrants, she said. Those incidents and others have left some small-business owners convinced the worksite operations are aimed at increasing the administration's goal of arresting 3,000 migrants a day - rather than targeting public safety threats or investigating owners engaged in a criminal enterprise. In several raids, armed officers have been recorded moving in quickly, surrounding workers and questioning them about their immigration status. In other cases, they demand to see an ID. While workers do not have to comply unless agents present a warrant, many do, said Jennifer Martinez, a labor and employment attorney at the Hanson Bridgett law firm in California. 'People cooperate because they are scared,' she said. 'They worry things could get violent.' Several other tactics have alarmed immigrant and labor rights groups. ICE agents have been serving notices in person that officials are auditing whether a company's employees have permission to work in the United States. Although serving these notices does not give ICE the authority to search and enter private areas of a worksite, agents have intercepted workers attempting to flee after their arrival. The Trump administration has also asked courts for special warrants that allow immigration officers to enter and search businesses without identifying who they are looking for. These warrants, known as Blackie's warrants, allow immigration officials to seek out undocumented workers without having their names, a typical requirement for judge-issued search warrants. Advertisement Speaking about warrants more broadly, McLaughlin said it was 'not a new practice for ICE' to ask for one without naming specific workers. Blackie's warrants in particular have rarely been used under recent administrations, and some judges have found they fail to meet the requirements of the Fourth Amendment protecting individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. 'ICE is trying to make an end run around the legal requirements that bind law enforcement, in line with the broader trend of abusing executive powers,' said Jessie Hahn, a senior attorney at the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy nonprofit. Car washes and taco trucks On June 10, ICE conducted a worksite raid of Glenn Valley Foods, a meat production plant in Omaha, as part of an investigation into identity theft, according to a news release. The raid resulted in the arrest of more than 70 people working illegally. Chad Hartmann, president of Glenn Valley Foods, said in an interview that he was taken by surprise, especially because he said the business had an I-9 inspection this year and participated in E-Verify, an online service designed to help employers confirm work eligibility. Hartmann described hearing a 'loud knock' and said he was handed a federal search warrant as ICE agents entered. 'When they opened the door, you saw armed officials in bulletproof vests … everybody, they've got masks on,' he said. 'It was just shocking.' Hartmann said DHS later informed him that Glenn Valley Foods would not face charges or fines because it had followed the law. He noted that Rep. Don Bacon (R-Nebraska) described Glenn Valley Foods as a 'victim' but added that 'there's no winner in this.' Advertisement 'There's also the victim of the person that got their identity stolen and arguably there's a victim in the family members that are left to figure out how to make ends meet when the family member who is the breadwinner is not able to support them,' Hartmann said. 'There's tragedy all around.' ICE announced in March that John Washburn, general manager of San Diego Powder & Protective Coatings in El Cajon, was charged with 'conspiracy to harbor aliens' after employing undocumented workers. The Justice Department said this month that Washburn pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 'one year probation and 50 hours of community service.' The current Trump administration appears on track to exceed the number of worksite arrests made in the initial two years of his first term. The National Immigration Law Center estimated in a 2019 report that more than 1,800 workers had been arrested in worksite raids since 2017. Immigration advocates also note that Trump commuted the 27-year prison sentence of Sholom Rubashkin, the former chief executive of an Iowa meatpacking plant that was raided under President George W. Bush. (Rubashkin's immigration charges were dismissed, but he'd been convicted of financial fraud.) The administration has claimed it is going after the 'worst of the worst' and prioritizing the arrest and deportation of people who are a threat to public safety. But former ICE officials said raiding car washes and taco trucks is not an effective strategy for reaching that goal. 'This is the exact opposite,' said John Sandweg, acting ICE director under President Barack Obama. Under the second Trump administration's approach to worksite raids, 'you are much more likely to find non-criminals because professional criminals don't work at car washes, typically.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'We need to find these people': L.A. immigration raids a sign of what's to come, officials say
When Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to unleash the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history, he said his second administration would start by going after people with criminal records. But now, disappointed with the pace of arrests, the Trump administration is casting a wider net by targeting anyone deportable. Raids in California have taken place at courthouses, during scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities, at clothing factories, Home Depots, car washes, farms and outside churches. But officials say the state is hardly being singled out. Raids are coming for other sanctuary jurisdictions too, said Tom Homan, President Trump's chief advisor on border policy. "This operation is not going to end," he told The Times. Read more: All of L.A. is not a 'war zone.' We separate facts from spin and disinformation amid immigration raids Across the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is stepping up new strategies and tearing down precedent to meet the White House's demands. Homan acknowledged the pace of deportations had not met expectations and that while the administration still prioritizes removing those who threaten public safety and national security, anyone in the country illegally is fair game. "I'm not happy with the numbers," he said. "We need to find these people." Arrests are being made in places previously considered off limits, and the administration earlier this year rescinded a policy that prohibited enforcement actions in hospitals, schools or houses of worship. Agents who typically focus on drug and human trafficking are seeing their duties shifted to immigration enforcement. The government is also now appealing to the public to help find and deport people in the country without authorization. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, released a poster on social media this week that depicts Uncle Sam urging people to call a hotline to 'report all foreign invaders.' And in Los Angeles, the National Guard and U.S. Marines were mobilized without the consent of state and local leaders — a tactic that Trump administration officials said could be repeated elsewhere. Trump claimed the deployments have been effective — "Los Angeles would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years,' Trump said Thursday — but local leaders have said the protests against ICE raids had not gotten out of control and that Trump's actions only inflamed tensions. As protests reached their seventh day in Los Angeles, isolated incidents of violence lessened, though some tensions remained. Even so, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote Wednesday on X that 'America voted for mass deportations. Violent insurrectionists, and the politicians who enable them, are trying to overthrow the results of the election.' California Democrats say the enforcement actions are about retribution against the state for its policies that protect immigrant residents, as well as an attempt to distract the public from congressional Republicans' attempts to pass the president's tax-and-spending bill, which would add more than $150 billion for immigration and border enforcement. They say the president is testing the bounds of his authority and wants protests to spiral so that he can crack down further by invoking the Insurrection Act to establish martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act would allow military troops to arrest civilians. Further unrest, Trump critics say, would be welcomed by the president. 'This is about if it bleeds, it leads,' said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles). 'So he has created and manufactured violence so that he can have a show on the television. But other people — older people, folks who are disabled, young people — are going to be bleeding when Medicaid gets cut, when people are evicted from their homes.' While public attention has focused on the arrests of employees, the administration says it's also looking at employers who hire workers in the country illegally. "It's not just about arresting illegal aliens, it's about holding employers responsible too — but there's a burden of proof," Homan said. "If we can prove it, then we'll take action." Read more: Death threats, vandalism, investigations: L.A. immigrant rights groups in the fight of their lives One former Homeland Security official in the Biden administration said immigration laws could be enforced without escalating public tension. 'Why aren't they doing I-9 audits instead of just going after people?' said the former official, Deborah Fleischaker, of forms used to verify an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. 'There are ways to do this in ways that are less disruptive and calmer. They are choosing the more aggressive way.' In many ways, the current immigration crackdown reflects exactly what Trump said during the presidential campaign, when he declared that millions of people would be deported. The new expansive approach appears to be a response to a late May meeting, first reported by the Washington Examiner, in which Miller lambasted dozens of senior ICE officials, asking them: 'Why aren't you at Home Depot? Why aren't you at 7-Eleven?' 'Well, now they're all of a sudden at Home Depots,' Fleischaker said. Homan said the agency has recently arrested around 2,000 people a day, up from a daily average of 657 arrests reported by the agency during Trump's first 100 days back in office. The increase is reflected in rising detention numbers, which have topped 50,000 for the first time since Trump's first presidency, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan data research organization. Asked about complaints of overcrowding and substandard conditions in detention facilities, Homan acknowledged some facilities are overcrowded during intake. Some of the immigrants detained in California since Friday have been transferred to other states, he said. 'California has been pretty stringent and they want to shut down immigration detention,' he said. 'It doesn't mean we're releasing these people. The less detention space we have in California, the more action they take in not helping us with detention beds, then we'll just simply move them out of state.' The work of immigration agents — sometimes hours of surveillance for a single target — can be slow. Jason Houser, who was ICE's chief of staff under the Biden administration, said law enforcement agents, when given quotas, will always find the easiest way to fulfill them. Miller, he said, knows ICE 'doesn't have enough resources or staff to get them to a million removals" by the end of the year. Houser said that's where the military troops come in. Homeland Security officials said military personnel already have the authority to temporarily detain anyone who attacks an immigration agent until law enforcement can arrest them. Houser predicted that soldiers could soon begin handling arrests. Critics of the administration's tactics, including former Homeland Security officials, said the White House's strategy boils down to frightening immigrants into leaving on their own. It costs a few hundred dollars a day to detain an immigrant; deportation can cost thousands, and some countries are reticent to accept the return of their citizens. 'They arrest one, they scare 10,' said one former senior ICE official. 'That's a win.' Read more: Tensions over L.A. immigration sweeps boil over as Padilla is tackled, ICE arrests pick up The former official, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, said that's an about-face from the Biden administration, during which agents answered to lawyers and precedent. 'Everything was vetted and vetted … to the detriment in some ways of the agency,' the former official said. 'But to see them just doing whatever they want when they want, it's a little stunning and it's like, look at all the things we could've done if we had that attitude. But they seem to have so little regard for consequences, lawsuits, media, public opinion — they have no constraints.' Homan said protests in Los Angeles have made enforcement actions more dangerous but have not prevented agents from making as many arrests as planned. 'If the protesters think they're going to stop us from doing our job, it's not true,' he said. 'We're going to probably increase operations in sanctuary cities, because we have to.' Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter. Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond, in your inbox twice per week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Los Angeles Times
12-06-2025
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
‘We need to find these people': L.A. immigration raids a sign of what's to come, officials say
WASHINGTON — When Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail to unleash the largest deportation campaign in U.S history, he said his second administration would start by going after people with criminal records. But now, disappointed with the pace of arrests, the Trump administration is following through on his campaign promise: targeting anyone deportable. Raids in California have taken place at courthouses, during scheduled check-ins with immigration authorities, at clothing factories, Home Depots, car washes, farms and outside churches. But officials say the state is hardly being singled out. Raids are coming for other sanctuary jurisdictions, too, said Tom Homan, President Trump's chief advisor on border policy. 'This operation is not going to end,' he told The Times. Across the country, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is stepping up new strategies and tearing down precedent to meet the White House's demands. Homan acknowledged the pace of deportations had not met expectations and that while the administration still prioritizes removing those who threaten public safety and national security, anyone in the country illegally is fair game. 'I'm not happy with the numbers,' he said. 'We need to find these people.' Arrests are being made in places previously considered off limits, and the administration earlier this year rescinded a policy that prohibited enforcement actions in hospitals, schools or houses of worship. Agents who typically focus on drug and human trafficking are seeing their duties shifted to immigration enforcement. The government is also now appealing to the public to help find and deport people in the country without authorization. The Department of Homeland Security, ICE's parent agency, released a poster on social media this week that depicts Uncle Sam urging people to call a hotline to 'report all foreign invaders.' And in Los Angeles, the National Guard and U.S. Marines were mobilized without the consent of state and local leaders — a tactic that Trump administration officials said could be repeated elsewhere. Trump claimed the deployments have been effective — 'Los Angeles would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years,' Trump said Thursday — but local leaders have said the protests against ICE raids had not gotten out of control and that Trump's actions only inflamed tensions. As protests reached their seventh day in Los Angeles, incidents of violence lessened, though some tensions remained. Even so, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller wrote Wednesday on X that 'America voted for mass deportations. Violent insurrectionists, and the politicians who enable them, are trying to overthrow the results of the election.' California Democrats say the enforcement actions are about retribution against the state for its policies that protect immigrant residents, as well as an attempt to distract the public from congressional Republicans' attempts to pass the president's tax-and-spending bill, which would add more than $150 billion for immigration and border enforcement. They say the president is testing the bounds of his authority and wants protests to spiral so that he can crack down further by invoking the Insurrection Act to establish martial law. Invoking the Insurrection Act would allow military troops to arrest civilians. Further unrest, Trump critics say, would be welcomed by the president. 'This is about if it bleeds, it leads,' said Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Los Angeles). 'So he has created and manufactured violence so that he can have a show on the television. But other people — older people, folks who are disabled, young people — are going to be bleeding when Medicaid gets cut, when people are evicted from their homes.' While public attention has focused on the arrests of employees, the administration says it's also looking at employers who hire workers in the country illegally. 'It's not just about arresting illegal aliens, it's about holding employers responsible too — but there's a burden of proof,' Homan said. 'If we can prove it, then we'll take action.' One former Homeland Security official in the Biden administration said immigration laws could be enforced without escalating public tension. 'Why aren't they doing I-9 audits instead of just going after people?' said the former official, Deborah Fleischaker, of forms used to verify an employee's identity and eligibility to work in the U.S. 'There are ways to do this in ways that are less disruptive and calmer. They are choosing the more aggressive way.' In many ways, the current immigration crackdown reflects exactly what Trump said during the presidential campaign, when he declared that millions of people would be deported. The new expansive approach appears to be a response to a late May meeting, first reported by the Washington Examiner, in which Miller lambasted dozens of senior ICE officials, asking them 'Why aren't you at Home Depot? Why aren't you at 7-Eleven?' 'Well, now they're all of a sudden at Home Depots,' Fleischaker said. Homan said the agency has recently arrested around 2,000 people a day, up from a daily average of 657 arrests reported by the agency during Trump's first 100 days back in office. The increase is reflected in rising detention numbers, which have topped 50,000 for the first time since trump's first presidency, according to TRAC, a nonpartisan data research organization. Asked about complaints of overcrowding and substandard conditions in detention facilities, Homan acknowledged some facilities are overcrowded during intake. Some of the immigrants detained in California since Friday have been transferred to other states, he said. 'California has been pretty stringent and they want to shut down immigration detention,' he said. 'It doesn't mean we're releasing these people. The less detention space we have in California, the more action they take in not helping us with detention beds, then we'll just simply move them out of state.' The work of immigration agents — sometimes hours of surveillance for a single target — can be slow. Jason Houser, who was ICE's chief of staff under the Biden administration, said law enforcement agents, when given quotas, will always find the easiest way to fulfill them. Miller, he said, knows ICE 'doesn't have enough resources or staff to get them to a million removals' by the end of the year. Houser said that's where the military troops come in. Homeland Security officials said military personnel already have the authority to temporarily detain anyone who attacks an immigration agent until law enforcement can arrest them. Houser predicted that soldiers could soon begin handling arrests. Critics of the administration's tactics, including former Homeland Security officials, said the White House's strategy boils down to frightening immigrants into leaving on their own. It costs a few hundred dollars a day to detain an immigrant; deportation can cost thousands, and some countries are reticent to accept the return of their citizens. 'They arrest one, they scare 10,' said one former senior ICE official. 'That's a win.' The former official, who asked not to be named in order to speak freely, said that's an about-face from the Biden administration, during which agents answered to lawyers and precedent. 'Everything was vetted and vetted … to the detriment in some ways of the agency,' the former official said. 'But to see them just doing whatever they want when they want, it's a little stunning and it's like, look at all the things we could've done if we had that attitude. But they seem to have so little regard for consequences, lawsuits, media, public opinion — they have no constraints.' Homan said protests in Los Angeles have made enforcement actions more dangerous but have not prevented agents from making as many arrests as planned. 'If the protesters think they're going to stop us from doing our job, it's not true,' he said. 'We're going to probably increase operations in sanctuary cities, because we have to.'
Time of India
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Los Angeles protests: Over 20 arrested, tensions persist amid Trump immigration raids and military deployment
More than 20 people were detained on the first night of a curfew imposed in downtown Los Angeles, as police deployed crowd-control projectiles to disperse protesters rallying against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, authorities said on Wednesday. While officials reported fewer clashes compared to earlier demonstrations, the presence of heavily armed troops and ongoing immigration raids kept tensions high across the city. The curfew, covering a one-square-mile area at the heart of downtown, was enacted following five consecutive days of protests that have now spread to cities like Chicago, Austin, Dallas, and New York. 'If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue,' said Mayor Karen Bass. Federal immigration enforcement actions triggered the unrest, with Los Angeles authorities and residents accusing the administration of creating panic by raiding workplaces and separating families. 'When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart… you're trying to cause fear and panic,' Bass added. Some 2,000 National Guard troops were already deployed, half guarding federal buildings and ICE agents. An additional 700 Marines are expected to join once trained, while another 2,000 troops are scheduled for deployment by Thursday. Army Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said this operation, overseen by Task Force 51, aims to secure sensitive infrastructure. California Governor Gavin Newsom criticised Trump's move as a 'military dragnet' and sought an emergency court order to stop the Guard from assisting immigration enforcement. Trump, however, defended the deployment, posting that the city 'would be burning to the ground' without military intervention. Across the country, parallel protests erupted. In New York, police detained 86 people during overnight protests in Manhattan. In Chicago, a 66-year-old woman was injured after being struck by a car during demonstrations. In Texas, where protests have also flared, the state's National Guard has been placed on standby. Federal authorities also announced charges against two individuals accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at police in LA, warning that more prosecutions may follow. 'If you took part in these riots and were looking to cause trouble, we will come looking for you,' U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. Meanwhile, Trump escalated rhetoric, calling protesters 'animals' and 'a foreign enemy,' to which Newsom responded by accusing the president of launching an 'assault on democracy.' The ongoing raids and arrests have heightened public anxiety, with reports of ICE agents operating at libraries, car washes, and schools, prompting some LA graduations to increase security or go virtual. Since the protests began, police have detained over 200 people, many for failing to disperse. Seven officers have been injured, and charges ranging from vandalism to assault have been filed. Despite the unrest, protesters continue to rally outside City Hall and federal buildings demanding an end to the raids and mass detentions. Police detained more than 20 people, mostly on curfew violations, on the first night of restrictions in downtown Los Angeles and used crowd-control projectiles to break up hundreds of protesters demonstrating against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown, officials said Wednesday. But there were fewer clashes between police and demonstrators than on previous nights, and by daybreak, the downtown streets were bustling with residents walking dogs and commuters clutching coffee cups. Officials said the curfew was necessary to stop vandalism and theft by agitators after five days of protests, which have mostly been concentrated downtown. Demonstrations have also spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas and Austin in Texas, and Chicago and New York, where thousands rallied and more arrests were made. LA's nightly curfew, which the mayor said would remain in effect as long as necessary, covers a 1-square-mile (2.5-square-kilometer) section that includes an area where protests have occurred since Friday in the sprawling city of 4 million. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 500 square miles (1,295 square kilometers). "If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue," Mayor Karen Bass said. The tensions in LA and elsewhere emerged as immigration authorities seek to dramatically increase the number of daily arrests across the country. Bass said the raids spread fear across the city at the behest of the White House. "We started off by hearing the administration wanted to go after violent felons, gang members, drug dealers," she told a news conference. "But when you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you're not trying to keep anyone safe. You're trying to cause fear and panic." Referring to the protests, she added: "If you drive a few blocks outside of downtown, you don't know that anything is happening in the city at all." Some 2,000 National Guard soldiers are in the city, and about half of them have been protecting federal buildings and agents, said Army Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, head of Task Force 51, which is overseeing the deployment of National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles. About 700 Marines will soon join the Guard troops, but they are still undergoing training and will not be mobilized Wednesday, Sherman said. Another 2,000 Guard troops should be on the streets by Thursday, he said. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused Trump of drawing a "military dragnet" across the nation's second-largest city with his escalating use of the National Guard, which Trump activated, along with the Marines, over the objections of city and state leaders. Newsom asked a court to put an emergency stop to the military helping federal immigration agents. The assistance includes some guardsmen now standing protectively around agents as they carry out arrests. A judge set a hearing for Thursday, giving the administration several days to continue its activities. The change moves the military closer to engaging in law enforcement actions such as deportations, as Trump has promised as part of his immigration crackdown. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests would be made by law enforcement. The president posted on the Truth Social platform that the city "would be burning to the ground" if he had not sent in the military. Meanwhile in New York City, police said they took 86 people into custody during protests in lower Manhattan that lasted into Wednesday morning. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful. A 66-year-old woman in Chicago was injured when she was struck by a car during downtown protests Tuesday evening, police said. Video showed a car speeding down a street where people were protesting. In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott's office said Texas National Guard troops were "on standby" in areas where demonstrations are planned. Guard members were sent to San Antonio, but Police Chief William McManus said he had not been told how many troops were deployed or their role ahead of planned protests Wednesday night and Saturday. Authorities announce arrests in protests Two people accused of throwing Molotov cocktails at police during the LA protests over the weekend face charges that could bring up to 10 years in prison, the Justice Department announced Wednesday. No one was injured by the devices. One of the suspects is a U.S. citizen, and the other overstayed a tourist visa and was in the U.S. illegally, authorities said. "We are looking at hundreds of people," U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said. "If you took part in these riots and were looking to cause trouble, we will come looking for you." Trump, Newsom locked in a war of words Trump has called the protesters "animals" and "a foreign enemy" and described Los Angeles in dire terms that the governor says is nowhere close to the truth. Newsom called Trump's actions the start of an "assault" on democracy. "California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next," he said. The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades. Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention center where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids. Despite the protests, immigration enforcement activity has continued throughout the county, with city leaders and community groups reporting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement present at libraries, car washes and Home Depots. School graduations in Los Angeles have increased security over fears of ICE action, and some have offered parents the option to watch on Zoom. Los Angeles police detained 200 people related to the protests throughout the day on Tuesday, including 67 who were occupying a freeway, according to the city's chief. The majority of arrests since the protests began have been for failing to disperse, while a few others were for assault with a deadly weapon, looting and vandalism. At least seven police officers have been injured.
Miami Herald
11-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
Gavin Newsom should get out of Trump's way in LA
'Donald Trump has manufactured a crisis and is inflaming conditions.' So says California Gov. Gavin Newsom after an X poster sent him video of his constituents setting police cars on fire and throwing rocks. What Donald Trump is doing is enforcing the law. By sending Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents into Los Angeles to arrest undocumented immigrants and then sending in the National Guard to restore order after riots erupted, Trump is doing nothing more than his job, something the Biden administration and Newsom himself largely abdicated. Joe Biden's border policies – somewhere between an open invitation and abject surrender before a late-term reversal – allowed waves of unwelcome migrants to enter the United States, millions of them, making it necessary for a tough surge of enforcement around the country to restore some respect for our borders. Gavin Newsom's sanctuary state policies made sure that plenty of that enforcement would need to take place in California. If Newsom didn't want to see flash bang grenades deployed in Los Angeles restaurant kitchens and heavily armed federal agents in donut shops and Home Depots, maybe he shouldn't have spent billions of taxpayer dollars making California a more welcoming home for people who broke the law. The biggest move he made was to spend the state into a deficit offering Medical (California's version of Medicaid) to those without legal status. It is a decision he has tried to partially reverse as the budget impact became clear. More appalling was a law passed by California's Democrat-dominated legislature to make undocumented immigrants eligible for six-figure housing down payment assistance or making poor citizens complete with the undocumented for scarce work-study opportunities at state universities and community colleges. You know, the places of education where citizens of El Salvador and Mexico already got cheaper tuition than those interloper immigrants from Missouri or Idaho. Newsom says 'Commandeering a state's National Guard without consulting the Governor of that state is illegal and immoral.' That's not exactly right. It wasn't 'illegal and immoral' for Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson to use commandeered National Guard units to enforce civil rights laws in 1965. And it isn't now for the threat to American sovereignty caused by Biden's feckless border policy and the violent reaction to efforts to rectify it, dangers just as grave as Alabama civil rights scofflaws were a half century ago. In both cases, protests threatened to derail the enforcement of federal law. And while Newsom says the National Guard is an unneeded provocation, the LA police chief has had second thoughts. 'Looking at the violence today, I think we've got to make a reassessment,' Jim McDonnell, told The New York Times. He's right. The Guard hasn't engaged with protestors yet, but they are an important backstop to the police who face not only local riots but the threat that others with broader anti-American agendas will come to take advantage of the chaos caused by the original timorous response from California law enforcement. It is unclear what message rioters were sending by setting multiple Waymo taxis on fire in downtown LA, but it is surely clear that unmanned transportation isn't exactly a symbol of Trump administration overreach. Maybe the violent protestors have more in mind than a confrontation over immigration enforcement. That was certainly the case in the violent riots over the murder of George Floyd that killed nine and cost billions. I have my problems with the Trump approach to immigration. Afghan patriots who served our military in trying to tame that terrorist-infested land deserve our thanks, not the boot. The U.S. has a long history of welcoming those who flee communism. Why that doesn't apply to Venezuelans, I don't know. Kicking out either group seems kinda dumb. And the policy of refusing to allow China to send full-fair paying students to our schools to subsidize American students' education doesn't make much fiscal sense to me. But if America is to return to its roots as a land built on exploiting the hard work, innovations and and entrepreneurialism of wave after wave of migrants, we have to have a reckoning over the lawlessness of the Biden years. It might get ugly in some cases, but in trying his best to kick out undocumented immigrants, Trump is only doing what we elected him for. Gavin Newsom should get out of the way.
