“I just have to tell you that I have been appalled, appalled at the chaos that has ensued,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KNX News in the wake of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids going into this weekend.
Jonathan Serviss and the LA Local podcast provided a rundown of the raid chaos, speaking to Bass and Ron Gochez of the community group Union del Barrio. An update from LA City Council member Eunisses Hernandez was also included.
“In my district, they were at our day labor center at the Home Depot in Cypress Park and the day laborer center in Westlake at the home depot there,” she said. “LA is a sanctuary city, and we’ve made it clear that we will not cooperate and use our resources for ICE and federal immigration enforcement, but that doesn’t stop them from showing up. And now we’re seeing their tactics quickly escalate. They’re swooping in fast without warning and leaving just as quickly. They don’t hang around because they know we mobilize.”
ICE agents on the streets of LA appeared to be “dressed for warfare,” Serviss noted. However, they weren’t looking to bust drug operations, just factories, labor centers and Home Depot locations, mostly in Westlake and Downtown LA.
President Donald Trump vowed to crack down on illegal immigration during his campaign last year, and he appears to be following through on his word. In addition to the ICE raids, he recently brought back a travel ban initiative from his first term.
According to data cited by LAist and KCAL news, at least 44 people were arrested in the Friday raids.
“I was at the Home Depot and I was there after and people were just terrorized,” the mayor told KNX News’ Rob Archer. “And that’s the concern, because as I heard it and actually saw video footage, they were literally chasing people and capturing them.”
As she watched the footage, Bass said she worried about the high school graduation planned for Friday night near the Home Depot.
“Are the parents going to feel safe when these kind of things happen?” she asked, adding that it contributes to a “sense of terror” in the city.
Archer asked Bass how the raids are expected to impact the Los Angeles Police Department, which did not participate in them.
“I will tell you that we need to examine what happened at one of the locations… that it seems as though there was a very, very large LAPD presence,” she said. “And so, understanding why and where is something that we need to do. I was also just with Chief [Jim] McDonnell and he said that there was a call for help by one of the federal agencies. But anyway, we need to review all of this.”
Bass said that there is an emergency meeting planned for Monday to begin a review and plan for the future.
“I want to make sure that the immigrant community of Los Angeles, which is a huge percentage of our population, understands that what happened today... was just a tragedy. I’m outraged at it, and we need to make sure that this does not happen again.”
Serviss said that the scene outside a clothing manufacturing site in the Westlake area “got scary for a minute,” with crowds of people trying to block ICE agents. He added that “one can easily see these ICE actions turning very ugly very quickly in their future.”
“We’ve been getting phone calls and messages on social media all day, pictures, videos,” said Gochez of the Friday raids. So, there’s been at least a half dozen or more raids in the city of LA today where all of them, every single one of them has been at work sites. So, the lie that Trump is going after criminals is painfully clear. They’re not going after criminals. They’re going for people who are working at Home Depot. They’re after going after people who are at construction sites or working at factories, making clothing.”
He said that is why “you’re seeing the people of Los Angeles today rising up and resisting against these ICE agents who are terrorizing our community.”
In a Saturday statement, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons offered the agency’s perspective.
“What took place in Los Angeles yesterday was appalling,” he said. “As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement.”
He said that more than 1,000 rioters overpowered the ICE agents and attacked a federal building.
“It took over two hours for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond, despite being called multiple times,” Lyons said. “The brave men and women of ICE were in Los Angeles arresting criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug traffickers and those with a history of assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and smuggling.”
According to Lyons, “these violent rioters will be held accountable if they harm federal officers, and make no mistake, ICE will continue to enforce our nation’s immigration laws and arrest criminal illegal aliens.”