Mayor Karen Bass again Monday accused the federal government of stoking the unrest that rocked Los Angeles over the weekend, calling immigration enforcement operations that occurred Friday unnecessary and provocative acts.
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"Last Thursday, there was nothing happening in this town that called for the raids that took place Friday," Bass told reporters at a downtown news conference Monday evening. "Nothing was happening. Nothing warranted the raids."
She said the immigration raids being carried out should be curtailed.
"Stop the raids," she said. "This is creating fear and chaos in our city and it is unnecessary."
She suggested that the operations occurring in Los Angeles seemed almost to be an "experiment" by federal authorities to see if similar operations will succeed in other series.
"If you remember at the beginning of this administration, we were told that raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who had warrants," Bass said. "But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. At Home Depot, you have day laborer centers so that the people -- who are trying to seek work each and every day -- will have a place to be so that it doesn't interfere with the business.
"These are not the people that we were told were going to be detained, and it makes me feel like our city is actually a test case or a test case for what happens when the general government comes in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government.
"I don't think that our city should be used for an experiment to see what happens in the nation's second largest city."
Bass also repeated her opposition to the deployment of National Guard troops in the city, particularly following news that President Donald Trump was going to double the deployment by authorizing an additional 2,000 troops.
She noted that National Guard troops, under their federalization, are being used only to "guard two buildings" -- the federal building downtown and another in Westwood. The guard's mission was solely to protect federal assets in the area, and the troops have not been involved in any of the actual operations to quell violent protests. Given that limited mission, she said there was not logical reason for the government's decision Monday to send 700 U.S. Marines into the city to support the National Guard.
"I don't understand that," Bass said. "That's why I feel like we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of."
On Monday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass should be thanking him for the National Guard deployment, saying that without it, "Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated." He did not elaborate on the actions of Guard members, who were only deployed around federal buildings.
He added that Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom chose to "lie to the people of California and America by saying that we weren't needed, and that these are `peaceful protests.' Just one look at the pictures and videos of the violence and destruction tells you all you have to know."
Corrin Rankin, chair of the California Republican Party, said in a statement the unrest is Los Angeles was akin to "organized crime" and was the result of liberal policies espoused by politicians such as Bass.
"Hundreds were not arrested or charged while lives and property were threatened," Rankin said in a statement, referring to the weekend's violent protests. "This is the direct result of Democratic politicians who weaken our laws, undermine law enforcement and encourage lawlessness. The American people voted to remove criminal illegal immigrants from our country. The president must be allowed to enforce the law. It is tragic that Democrats gave illegal immigrants false home that they could stay regardless of their crimes."
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