On Sunday, President Donald Trump ordered increased mass deportations in major Democratic-led cities such as Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago.
“ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”
On Sunday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told KNX News 97.1 FM that these raids are tearing families apart.
“You know, there are a number of missing fathers in L.A. today where children and family members don't know where the father is, who was taken from his workplace,” she said. “They don't know if he's still in the country, if he's still in the county, and so you can just imagine in a lot of homes there is sadness, grief, and fear as to what has happened to their relative.”
Bass added that the raids could hurt L.A.’s economy, which she said is “dependent on immigrant labor.”
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“The fashion industry, 4000 independently owned businesses is a ghost town,” she said. “The flower industry…I mean, you can go down the road and down down the list in terms of sectors of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor. Then there's the other side. The fact that, you know, what we are spending in terms of police protection and I will tell you that we wouldn't need to have that if the raids would stop.”
Since June 7, there have been a series of anti-ICE protests in downtown L.A. and across L.A. County. According to the Los Angeles Police Department, more than 560 people have been arrested since June 7, including 38 during the “No Kings” protests, and 12 officers have been injured.
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