Clashes between Immigration and Customs Enforcement and protesters reignited in Los Angeles on Saturday as the federal agency carried out deportations in a number of areas across the city, including the city’s fashion district and a Home Depot in Westlake. Protesters continue to square off with authorities at an intersection in front of a Home Depot in Paramount, setting the road on fire that separates them from officers on the other side. Initial reporting from the area indicates that the agents, clad in riot gear and firing tear gas, are with US Border Patrol. LA Sheriff’s Department arrived on scene at approximately 2:45 p.m. local time, declaring the assembly unlawful and ordering the crowd to “leave the area now.” Protesters are also gathered on the other side of a nearby bridge on Alondra Blvd. The situation is ongoing as of this writing, with officers periodically firing tear gas at the dozens of people in front of them.
“ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles,” the spokesperson, Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, said. “Approximately 44 people were administratively arrested and one arrest for obstruction. The investigation remains ongoing, updates will follow as appropriate.”
This total adds to the hundreds of migrants, including children, who were arrested en masse the day before in the basement of the Edward Roybal Federal Building, where they had been directed after showing up for their check-in appointments with ICE officials. Some were made to wait there overnight, where they had no access to food, water, or anyone outside.
The ACLU, which first reported those arrests, issued a statement condemning the collaboration of local law enforcement with the raids. ACLU attorney Andres Kwon recalled the promise from city officials to resist Trump’s mass deportation program. “Today, city leaders broke their promise,” he said in a statement. “LAPD officers assisted federal agents in terrorizing L.A. neighborhoods—impeding people from going to work, making their immigration court appearances, or attending their children’s graduations.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned the raids and refuted Kwon’s claims about the LAPD’s involvement, telling local media that the police did not have advance knowledge of the raids and had not assisted in any way. “As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My Office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this,” she said in a statement.
There is no reporting to indicate that the police were involved with the raids as of this writing. The LAPD has engaged with protesters against ICE, with the agency issuing a statement on social media stating in a social media post that a protest occurring in front of a federal building on Friday was an “unlawful assembly” and that protesters must leave, claiming that some had turned violent and were “throwing large pieces of concrete.” The post added that “the use of less lethal munitions has been authorized.”
Protesters also gathered at the places where ICE was conducting raids, protesting their actions in real time. Video of Friday’s standoffs shows ICE agents squaring off with protesters, deploying tear gas and stun grenades. One protester was recorded on video throwing his body in front of an ICE vehicle to stop it.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller said in a social media post that Mayor Bass has “no say in this at all,” adding: “federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced.”
Seventeen protesters were also taken into custody and issued summonses in New York after protesting against ICE at Federal Plaza in lower Manhattan and blocking the path of a van that was attempting to leave the building.
