Protests erupted across the country in solidarity with demonstrations in Los Angeles calling for an immediate halt to federal immigration raids and more have been planned. Families, activists and political leaders demand the release of men, women and children arrested at work sites, store parking lots and, reportedly, even an elementary school.
Demonstrations have been held in Chicago, Denver, Santa Ana, Austin, Dallas, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.
A week of back and forth between federal, state and local officials resulted in a ruling on June 12 when the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order staying the decision of the Northern District of California Judge.
A hearing is scheduled June 17 on the ruling. President Donald Trump maintains control over the National Guard in California instead of Gov. Gavin Newsom until then.
Judge Breyer did not rule on the status of the 700 Marines reportedly dispatched to L.A. because he was awaiting evidence that they actually were, according to Gov. Newsom. “There’s been a lot of rhetoric that they’ve been deployed, but it does not appear they have been,” he said.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “was created in 2003 through a merger of the investigative and interior enforcement elements of the former U.S. Customs Service and the Immigration and Naturalization Service,” according to the federal agency’s website.
The Trump administration has said the operations “are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has said online, “ICE will continue to enforce the law.”
“Shame! Shame! Shame!” throngs of protesters yelled at lines of National Guard members, Department of Homeland Security and Los Angeles Police officers in a stand-off at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building on June 8. Protests have centered primarily there and at the nearby Metropolitan Detention Center.
Chaos kicked off when ICE officers conducted raids at multiple locations on June 6. Social and news media captured images of ICE agents chasing people through a Home Depot parking lot near downtown L.A.
They also showed the arrest of some men employed by Ambience Apparel and David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). SEIU members across the country, political leaders, activists and protesters demanded his release, saying he was injured and wrongfully detained.
Mr. Huerta appeared in federal court on June 9. He was released on $50,000 bail and his arraignment was set for July 7. He has been charged with conspiracy to impede an officer after showing up to a workplace where federal agents were executing a warrant, and faces a maximum of six years in prison, according to LAist, a multi-platform public forum and a non-profit newsroom.
The labor leader stressed the importance of peaceful protests for immigrants’ rights, saying violence on the streets forces lockdowns and delayed court hearings. “We will have our time for justice, but we must do it in a way that we demonstrate the power of working people across this country and stand united,”
Said Mr. Huerta upon release. It was not his intention to get arrested, but he hopes he has not put them in harm’s way, he told members of his union.
By June 8, approximately 6,000 people from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds descended on downtown Los Angeles to demonstrate. Some shut down both lanes of the 101 Hollywood Freeway. Self-driving cars were graffitied and set on fire in what law enforcement ultimately deemed an unlawful assembly.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that no matter where people were born, they have a First Amendment right to protest peacefully, but not “to be violent, to create chaos or to vandalize property.”
“But what we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration. When you raid Home Depot and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear and you cause panic,”
She said during a news conference on June 8. Mayor Bass declared a local emergency and issued an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew for downtown L.A. on June 10. Limited exceptions applied to residents, people traveling to and from work and credentialed media representatives.
It was expected to last for several days in a one-square-mile area of downtown, spanning the Chinatown, Skid Row, and Fashion District neighborhoods, but was lifted the next day.
So far, 23 businesses have reportedly been looted and vandalized as of June 10 and graffiti is prevalent downtown, causing significant damage to businesses and properties, Mayor Bass said.
Matyos Kidane is an organizer with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition. “As much talk as there is about sanctuary cities and sanctuary protections, Los Angeles is, in effect, not a sanctuary. I think we’re seeing that play out in real time,” Mr. Kidane told The Final Call.
Meanwhile, the Clean Car Wash Worker Center alleged in an online post that, since June 6, “several car washes have been the targets of violent ICE kidnappings” throughout L.A. and Orange counties. At least 20 car washers have been taken, the center stated in a June 9 update.
On June 10, ICE agents raided farm workers at produce farms at about 6 a.m. in Oxnard in Ventura County, approximately 61 miles northwest of Los Angeles, according to ABC 7.
Many questioned if ICE agents are actually conducting the raids, since they are reportedly wearing masks.
According to Reuters, images of federal immigration agents wearing masks and balaclavas (close-fitted garments covering their whole heads and neck) as they conduct raids in L.A. and other U.S. cities have ignited a politically charged debate over whether they are protecting their identities or engaging in intimidation tactics.
“I think this is just another way that these officers, whether they’re DHS or whatever agency, want to operate with impunity. And that’s a pattern we’ve seen play out here locally, where LAPD in Los Angeles has refused to share information about their officers during the 2020 George Floyd and Brianna Taylor uprisings.
We routinely saw officers put tape over their names while they were brutalizing protesters. And so, it’s just to make sure that they get away with the violence that they want to dole out. It’s just another kind of extension of that,” Mr. Kidane said.
Nation of Islam Western Regional Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad reflected on the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan’s divine guidance and warning for decades.
“Minister Farrakhan has been teaching us that this would happen. Soon you will see the tanks. Soon, you will see the National Guard and the military rolling through the streets of America. And we’re beginning to see it now,” Student Minister Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad said.
The chaos and the civil wars that America has caused in other countries appear to be on the horizon in this country, fulfilling the biblical scripture of Obadiah 1:15, which states, “For the day of the Lord is near against all the nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”
Student Min. Abdul Malik Sayyid Muhammad said that as long as these cities are erupting, the current administration could declare martial law. To go and grab any “Mexican-looking” person and arrest them without due process of law is in total violation of the Constitution, he said.
He also shared that what is happening is helping the process of the resurrection of the dead, “Because many are going to start hearing the voice of Minister Farrakhan now and in an atmosphere like this, Islam comes when everything else fails,” he added.