Latest news with #ICEraids
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Fear of immigration raids force the cancellation of several July festivities in Los Angeles
Several communities in Los Angeles County have called off or postponed their previously scheduled Independence Day and July events, citing resident safety amid ongoing immigration enforcement raids. The El Sereno Bicentennial Committee was one of the first organizations to announce the cancellation of its 66th Independence Day Parade in a June 20 statement on Facebook. "We stand with our community. The safety of our participants, spectators and volunteers is always at the forefront," according to the post. The celebration is typically composed of numerous local organizations, schools and entertainment groups along with more than 1,2000 people marching in the parade, according to the committee. However, many groups withdrew their entries from this year's parade, which ultimately led to the committee's decision, according to the post. Read more: L.A. street life 'paralyzed' as ICE raids keep shoppers away, close businesses Ongoing raids throughout Los Angeles in Home Depot parking lots, popular food vendor locations and car washes have stoked fear in residents. 'You can see the impact of these random raids everywhere in our city — families are scared to go eat at restaurants, kids are scared their parents aren't going to return from the store — the fear is there because they've seen videos of people being shoved into unmarked vans by masked men refusing to identify themselves," Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told The Times. Other previously scheduled events that have been postponed or canceled due to immigration enforcement activities include: Fourth of July festivities in Boyle Heights, El Sereno, Lincoln Heights and Northeast Los Angeles sponsored by Los Angeles City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado's office have been postponed, a decision made after the council member heard from neighborhood advocates and community leaders across her district. A new date for the event is not available at this time. The city of Cudahy has postponed its Independence Day Celebration that was set for Thursday, July 3. The city has yet to offer a new date for the event. The city of Bell Gardens announced on Instagram the cancellation of two movie events, scheduled for June 26 and July 10, that are part of the 2025 Summer Nights series and takes place in Bell Gardens Veterans Park. 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.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
California vice mayor calls for gangs to help protect communities from ICE raids
The vice mayor of a small city in California is under fire after a social media video emerged in which she appears to call on local street gangs to stand up to raids on undocumented migrants by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents. Defence In a clip posted to Instagram and then swiftly deleted by Cynthia Gonzalez, Vice Mayor of Cudahy – which lies just southeast of Los Angeles – the politician says: 'I want to know where all the cholos are at in Los Angeles – 18th Street, Florencia Where's the leadership at? 'Because you guys are all about territory and, 'This is 18th Street, this is Florencia.' You guys tag everything up, claiming hood and now that your hood's being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain't a peep out of you. 'It's everyone else who's not about the gang life that's out there protesting and speaking up. We're out there fighting our turf, protecting our turf, protecting our people, and, like, where you at? She continues: 'Dude they're running amok all up on your streets, on your streets and in your city and, peep, when the big gang guns come in nothing but, like, quiet and we're out here, the regular ones that have never been jumped in out here calling things out and trying to organize. People trying to do the thing. 'So don't be trying to claim no block, no nothing if you're not showing up right now trying to, like, help out and organize. I don't want to hear a peep out of you once they're gone, trying to claim that this is my block. This was not your block. You weren't even here helping out. So whoever is the leadership over there just f***ing get your members in order.' Gonzalez does not name ICE in the video. However, it comes after weeks of controversy caused by federal raids on migrants in downtown Los Angeles, which saw local people hit the streets to protest and President Donald Trump call in the National Guard and deploy active-duty Marines to support local law enforcement against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass. Two weeks ago, Gonzalez joined other L.A. County mayors at a press conference hosted by Bass at City Hall to address ICE's actions. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has reacted angrily to the video, reposting it on Tuesday evening with the statement: 'The comments made by the Vice Mayor of Cudahy, CA, Cynthia Gonzalez, are despicable. She calls for criminal gangs – including the vicious 18th Street gang – to commit violence against our brave ICE law enforcement. 'This kind of garbage has led to a more than 500 percent increase in assaults against our ICE law enforcement officers. Secretary [Kristi] Noem has been clear: If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.' The Independent has contacted Gonzalez for comment but she has so far refused all media requests pertaining to the video. The City of Cudahy has issued a brief statement of its own in which it says: 'The comments made by the Vice Mayor reflect her personal views and do not represent the views or official position of the City of Cudahy. The City will not be providing further comment.' The FBI has stated that it cannot currently confirm or deny whether an investigation into Gonzalez is underway. Still, spokesperson Laura Eimiller noted: 'Generally speaking, of course, the FBI condemns any calls for violence or targeting of law enforcement with violence.' ABC News legal analyst Josh Ritter said he believed Gonzalez's comments had crossed a line: 'When you're dealing with a political leader calling upon criminal street gangs to take action, that takes on a far more sinister meaning and, perhaps, criminal meaning behind it. 'It is one thing to say local people of the neighborhood stand up for yourselves. It's another thing to actually call out the names of different criminal street gangs and ask them to protect their neighborhood." The video was also condemned by local residents like Danielle Canales, who told ABC's local affiliate: 'Her talking about gang violence and bringing them to do, you know, stuff like that, I think it's horrible. We're already going through ICE deporting people and people, you know, are feeling insensitive about it. Saying that is just kind of sad.'
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
‘Clouded in mystery': how Ice became a rogue agency that does Trump's bidding
Across the US, group chats and community threads have started spiking with warnings. Not just the typical alerts about traffic or out of service subway stations, but where and when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) raid was last seen. What places to avoid. What the plainclothes agents might look like. 'Hey all,' a Brooklyn, New York, resident wrote in a closed chat with neighbors last week. 'A little birdie just told me ICE is out.' Another person quickly followed suit. 'The witness says they saw 3 people picked up by 2 agents with ICE on their vests,' they said, with details on where the location of the arrests occurred and what the undercover vehicles looked like. 'If anyone sees any ICE agents or activity you can drop a description at this link for local rapid-response folks.' These kinds of exchanges are commonplace now in in America. There have been Ice raids under previous administrations, but it's notable that an American law enforcement agency has struck such a successful campaign of measurable, national fear. Border crossings are at historic lows. Fans are avoiding an international soccer tournament featuring the world's biggest clubs and global superstars, in fear of Ice agents. Taco truck workers are being arrested. Some farms are so short on field hands that crops are rotting in the sun. Even a four-year-old child and lawful US citizen with cancer was deported to Honduras along with their family. In an appearance on CBS News, Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, showed indifference to the case. 'When you enter the country illegally and you know you're here illegally and you choose to have a US citizen child,' he said, justifying the deportation of a young cancer patient, 'that's on you, that's not on this administration.' In the public consciousness, Ice has become defined as Trump's personal rogue agency doing his bidding regardless of accepted norms and laws. They have become a kind of domestic enforcer for Maga's agenda, rounding up 'illegals' and deporting what they say are criminals to El Salvador, to face justice in a place without trials. When Trump promised 'retribution' in the lead-up to his second presidency, activists say these are now the soldiers carrying it out. Many people have wondered, is this DHS and Ice mandate even legal? Answers to that are varied, aspects of which are being argued over in courts, but in theory, the marriage of a national police force with local policing should have boundaries. 'So long as Ice, DHS and other federal agencies define their missions narrowly on immigration matters, local police can and should remain separate,' said the Columbia University law professor Jeffrey Fagan. 'But as we saw in [Los Angeles], these boundaries become blurry when civilians gather to protest and raise issues that spill over to the public safety mission of local police.' Protests over mass Ice roundups in LA, led to Trump sending 4,000 national guard troops (against the wishes of the state) and deploying 700 active-duty marines. California has taken the Trump administration to court over what it sees as the unlawful deployment of the national guard to counter protests even the Los Angeles police department characterized as mostly under control. 'The concerns that animated the protest of federal actions inevitably will spill over to local police when demonstrations take place,' said Fagan. 'Keeping them separate will become increasingly difficult as the federal immigration campaign grows wider and deeper.' If Ice isn't carrying out the arrests, their actions have undoubtedly spread chaos and unprecedented uses of state power. In late April, the FBI arrested a Wisconsin judge and alleged she obstructed immigration authorities arresting a man in her courthouse. Facing up against Ice has equally become a Democratic and leftwing rallying cry and all over the US, opposition to the raids have grown from the grassroots. Some polls show the deportations have become a toxic circus for Trump and the Republican party. Rival politicians have also seized the moment to showcase their resistance: the California senator Alex Padilla was arrested and cuffed while trying to question the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, at a news conference. In another dystopian scene at an immigration court, the New York City comptroller and mayoral candidate, Brad Lander, was brazenly arrested by masked agents who hauled him away. 'I don't know of any publicly available information on who exactly these masked men are,' said Heidi Beirich, co-founder of the Global Project Against Hate and Extremism, who teaches a course at the University of Southern California on policing. 'We know that agents from the IRS and other executive departments have been reassigned to this work, but it is all a bit mysterious.' Beirich continued: 'The fact that they won't identify themselves in many cases that have been reported on makes this all the more ominous. It's part of Trump's authoritarian playbook to have people arrested by agents who don't give their names or their agencies and just swoop people off the street into unmarked vehicles.' Dictatorships around the world and countries with major corruption problems often have masked police who protect their identities from the public purview. For example, in Vladimir Putin's Russia, a country and leader admired by Trump, masked police are a regular fixture. Now, Ice have adopted the tactic on the streets of the US. DHS propaganda has also become weaponized as a tool of the administration, breeding fear and promoting ratlines. In a reference to second world war posters asking citizens to keep watch for, what was at the time, a real threat of enemy spies in the country, DHS posted a similar image on X. 'Help your country locate and arrest illegal aliens,' the agency posted, with a caricature of Uncle Sam and a DHS number to call in sightings. Beirich says the blurred lines between what is either a federal law enforcement agency or Trump's own private armed force, is now tough to discern for some. 'Clearly, Ice and DHS have become much more ominous and clouded in mystery, and clearly weapons for the Trump regime to violate rights and literally disappear people,' she said.
The Guardian
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Pam Bondi denies knowing Ice agents wore masks during raids despite video evidence
The attorney general, Pam Bondi, professed ignorance of reports of immigration officials hiding their faces with masks during roundups of undocumented people, despite widespread video evidence and reports that they are instilling pervasive fear and panic. Challenged at a Wednesday Capitol Hill subcommittee hearing by Gary Peters, a Democratic senator for Michigan, Bondi, who as the country's top law officer has a prominent role in the Trump administration's hardline immigration policy, implied she was unaware of plain-clothed agents concealing their faces while carrying out arrests but suggested it was for self-protection. 'I do know they are being doxxed … they're being threatened,' she told Peters. 'Their families are being threatened.' Bondi's protestations appeared to strain credibility given the attention the masked raids carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice) agents have attracted on social media and elsewhere. Civil rights campaigners and democracy experts have criticised the raids as evocative of entrenched dictatorships and police states, and say it is a warning sign that the US is descending into authoritarianism. Peters said he understood officers' concerns at being doxxed but said the failure to wear identifying insignia endangered both themselves and detainees. 'The public risk being harmed by individuals pretending to be immigration enforcement, which has already happened,' he told Bondi. 'And these officers also risk being injured by individuals who think they're basically being kidnapped or attacked by some unknown assailant. 'People think: 'Here's a person coming up to me, not identified, covering themselves. They're kidnapping.' They'll probably fight back. That endangers the officer as well, and that's a serious situation. People need to know that they're dealing with a federal law enforcement official.' Bondi reiterated her proclamation of ignorance, saying: 'It sounds like you have a specific case and will be happy to talk to you about that at a later time, because I'm not aware of that happening.' She turned the tables later in the hearing after Bill Hagerty, a Republican from Tennessee, condemned Tim Walz, the Minnesota governor and the Democratic vice presidential candidate in last year's election, for comparing Ice agents with Nazi Gestapo officers. 'This is dangerous for our agents, it's wrong, and it cuts against and it undercuts the rule of law,' said Hagerty, who invited Bondi to explain how she intended to tackle 'leftwing radicals' who he said were attacking Ice agents. In response, the attorney general said that it was protesters who were concealing their identities when assailing officers. 'Those people are the ones who have really been wearing the mask and trying to cover their identities,' she said, citing the recent demonstrations in Los Angeles, against which Donald Trump deployed national guard units. 'We've been finding them. We have been charging them with assault on a federal officer.' Sign up to This Week in Trumpland A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration after newsletter promotion Lisa Murkowski, a Republican senator from Alaska who has some voiced criticism of the Trump administration, told Bondi that her constituents were worried that resources had been transferred to immigration crackdowns at the expense of tackling violent crime. 'We don't have much of an Ice presence in Alaska,' she said. 'All of a sudden, we're now on the map. We have those that are being detained in our local jail that were flown up to the state several weeks ago to be detained up there.' She also cited the case of a restaurant owner who had been detained by Ice agents after living in the Alaskan city of Soldotna for 20 years. 'His children are all integrated into the community,' Murkowski said. 'The specific ask is whether or not immigration enforcement is being prioritized over combatting violent crime. And senator, before you walked in, I think senators on both sides of the aisle shared that same concern.' Bondi replied: 'It is not and it will not. A lot of it does go hand in hand though, getting the illegal aliens who are violent criminals out of our country.'
The Independent
3 days ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Joe Rogan shares his views on controversial ICE raids
Podcaster Joe Rogan criticized the Trump administration's mass deportation policies, specifically calling Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids "f***ing nuts." Rogan questioned whether the public would have supported the administration's approach if they had known it would involve raiding places like Home Depot to detain individuals, many without criminal records. Despite endorsing Donald Trump for the 2024 election, Rogan has previously voiced criticism of other immigration policies, including the use of a megaprison for migrants. The Trump administration's immigration enforcement has led to an 800 percent increase in arrests of individuals without criminal records by ICE, resulting in over 50,000 people in detention centers. Rogan's comments sparked reactions on social media, with some agreeing with his stance and others noting that mass deportations were a stated policy of the administration.
