Tensions persist in big cities as immigration enforcement increases
No Kings Day: Los Angeles protests against the Trump administration’s detention and deportation of a large number of illegal immigrants, and the role of the military
As tensions persist following mass immigration raids in Los Angeles, people continue to rally in protest of the Trump administration’s detention and deportation of immigrants.
A small group of protesters gathered outside New York City’s Immigration court on Wednesday, which was quiet down in other parts of the country.
The protests have been limited to a small part of the city. Protesters vandalized buildings with graffiti and clashed with law enforcement.
Bass said that when Home Depots and other places are raided, parents and children are ripped apart, and armored caravans are used to drive through the streets, you are not trying to keep people safe. “You’re trying to cause fear and panic.”
At a press conference, Bass said he believes that anyone who is involved in violence, or other types of damage, is not supporting the cause of immigrants. “Otherwise they wouldn’t be doing that because they know that that can trigger an even greater reaction from the administration.”
“Peaceful protest is legal. Harming a person or property is illegal & will lead to arrest,” Abbott posted on X Tuesday. “@ TexasGuard will use all their skills to help law enforcement maintain order.”
Demonstrations are expected across the nation on Saturday as part of No Kings Day, a nationwide event organized by progressive groups to protest Trump’s second term actions. Trump will be celebrating his birthday on the same day as the military parade in Washington, D.C.
Downtown Los Angeles was quieter Wednesday morning as it emerged from its first overnight curfew since the start of protests against immigration enforcement raids. The curfew was imposed on Monday after several incidents of Loot and Vandalism. LA Police say 203 people were arrested for failing to disperse, another 17 for curfew violations, as well as a few other charges.
It’s not clear to city leaders what role the military will play. President Trump federalized 4,000 National Guard troops, and also sent in 700 Marines.
The military can’t act as police because they’re federalized, according to experts.
“For sure, they can’t arrest,” says William Banks, a Syracuse University professor who’s written extensively on the question. He says it is the Posse Comitatus law of 1878 that limits military use in the U.S.
The President can invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to help quell riots, like President George H.W. Bush did in 1992. But so far, President Trump has not taken that step.
“I know a Marine is coming”: A Los Alamos-Lasinio Mayor’s Comment on “The 700 Marines are not yet in LA”
In the meantime, the 700 Marines are reportedly not yet in LA. In a video posted by ABC News, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, who is overseeing the operation, said they’re at Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach in Orange County, where they’re getting civil disturbance training.
The riots of 1992 were a result of the military’s help but this time officials didn’t request it. California has asked a federal court to block the government from using troops in LA outside of federal property. The LA Mayor said Tuesday night that she does not know what the Marines’ role will be.
“Who knows? Bass said that the bottom line is we’re not told. “Basically we have to operate on rumor. There is a rumor that 700 Marines are coming here. I have no idea what they’re going to do when they get here.”
Protests against two men for possessing molotov cocktails: The U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California says it is a sanctuary from federal immigration laws
ICE posted photos that appeared to show National Guard members protecting ICE agents in the field on Tuesday. Some National Guard members Wednesday have temporarily detained civilians in Los Angeles, according to The Associated Press, handing them over to law enforcement.
Some legal experts think this could be covered by the Guard’s role in protecting federal employees. But if they’re drawn into directly aiding immigration enforcement, they risk violating Posse Comitatus.
But not all federal-local relationships are under strain. On Wednesday morning, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, announced federal charges against two men for possessing molotov cocktails during protests in Paramount, Calif., and LA. He thanked the LA sheriff’s department for their help in the investigation and representatives from local law enforcement also thanked the feds at the press conference.
Essayli said their relationship with their law enforcement partners is good. At the same time, he stressed the fact that federal law enforcement would not be bound by state restrictions on immigration enforcement.
“Some people apparently have the notion that California really is a sanctuary from federal immigration laws,” Essayli said. “Federal laws are applicable here, they will be enforced, and nothing they have done to date has impacted our ability to carryout our immigration enforcement efforts.”
Sheriff McLaughlin: Trump Military Losses Immigration Protests Aren’t Really Forbidden by ICE, IRS, and FBI
McLaughlin: I think there are questions about who is financing the protests. There’s some activity on the ground that it seems that is highly coordinated, and that there might be a financial backer that could be even a foreign adversary, and we are having ICE, or, excuse me, the IRS and the FBI, look further into who might be backing these protests.
“There’s some activity on the ground that it seems that is highly coordinated and that there might be a financial backer that could be even a foreign adversary,” she said.
“No, I don’t say the governor and the mayor — I said, somebody’s paying them — I think. They’re just troublemakers if they’re not. What can I tell you. Trump told reporters who traveled with him to North Carolina that he believed someone was paying them.
In a conversation with NPR’s Steve Inskeep, McLaughlin also criticized California leaders for failing to restore order, spoke about deportation numbers and discussed Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, who the Trump administration brought back to the U.S. to face criminal charges in Tennessee.
We Need More Resources on the Ground, And We Need Marines in Los Angeles, Just Like We Did The First Day of March 11th, 2016
A lot of different things, Steve. Crowd control, also defense of these federal buildings. We’ve seen these federal buildings be defaced with threatening language. Kill the people of America. Death to the United States of America. So we just really need more resources on the ground. There was a large group of protesters around ice enforcement in a federal building. And then we saw that again on Sunday, about 6,000 protesters, again vastly outnumbering our ICE enforcement officers. It’s mostly a part for crowd control.
McLaughlin: I think at the end of the day, Steve, Americans want peace, and we want peace abroad, and we want peace on our own home soil. If Mayor Karen Bass does not call the rioters down, then we have to bring in the military to make sure we have the resources on the ground and that we can restore law and order.
Inskeep: Marines have been sent into Los Angeles. It’s very early, but what skills did the Marines have that apply in this particular urban situation that even the national guard does not have?
I have seen the video and photos of the cars. That’s certainly true, but I think about the role of the military and what Secretary Pete Hegseth wants the military to do. He’s emphasized a focus on the mission, which he defines as lethality and readiness, meaning readiness for combat. How does sending Marines to protect buildings and cars in Los Angeles match up with that mission, if at all?
The President’s memo said that the protests can be seen as a kind of rebellion. That’s what it is, that’s the word. I want to see how we can understand this as a rebellion. A rebellion is a group of people with a leader and an objective. Are you able to identify who’s in charge of this rebellion?
Source: DHS spokesperson defends Trump administration’s use of military in LA
How have we been facing a historic number of injunctions in the U.S.? What did we learn from Kilmar Abrego?
McLaughlin: Last month? I don’t own that number. I’d have to get back to you on that. I know that there have been over 150,000 deportations in the last 125 days.
McLaughlin: Roughly. I think we’ve been able to increase our efforts. I mean, we did inherit, you know, a very broken ICE, a very broken CBP, people who are not able to do their jobs for the last four years.
Inskeep: We’re ballparking on the numbers here, because we don’t know the exact number for this year, but it seems that the rate of deportations is higher than the average under President Biden, but still considerably lower than the average under President Trump or President Obama. Why do you think it has been difficult to get the numbers up?
McLaughlin: We have been facing a historic number of injunctions, Steve, as you know, at the hands of a lot of these judges. We were aware of that coming in. I believe it’s a matter of resources. We do need to pass this bill by Congress to make sure we give our ICE enforcement officers more resources, especially in the face of these kinds of protests. It has been four years since the last officers were allowed to do their jobs, so you’re about to go from zero to 100 very quickly because they are once again allowed to do their jobs.
McLaughlin: I would definitely counter that. This has been the most injunctions in the history of the US. Absolutely, Steve. Look at the numbers.
McLaughlin: No. I think. Take the case of Kilmar Abrego, I mean. The final deportation orders from South Sudan were given to eight convicts who were already in prison. The judge ordered the eight individuals to come back. This is unprecedented. Why on earth do we have district judges who so desperately want to bring child rapists and killers, who have been convicted and have final deportation orders, back to U.S. soil? It is pure activism, Steve, and it’s quite disturbing, really.
Inskeep: I guess we should note that the Supreme Court, unanimously, among other courts, have insisted that people may well be terrorists, but that their cases should be heard in court. And that does lead to one more question. You brought him back to the United States to face charges. He’ll get his day in court and he is facing an indictment. He couldn’t be brought back, according to the administration. Now that the United States has brought him back, would you agree that it was possible to do so?
McLaughlin: I would leave that to the Department of Justice, but I think that what really matters here, Steve, is the egg on the face of a lot of Democrats and the media who have been hell bent on saying that this is an innocent Maryland man. They’ve been saying that for a long time. He was a full time human trafficker. Allegedly. I disagree with you and I have to counter that. The environment that we’re in is far, far different than anything that’s been done under either President Obama or President Trump.
Inskeep: Just to clarify, you said you’d leave it to the Department of Justice. I’m aware of that. It is now clear that he was brought back, why did not the government bring him back before?
McLaughlin: I mean, there’s, of course, you’ve heard the facilitate versus effectuate argument multiple times. He is now – Kilmar Abrego Garcia before was not facing a grand jury in Tennessee and now he is. So the facts on the ground have changed.
Los Angeles Secretary Kristi Noem: The State of the State is Turning the FEMA against American Citizens, a lawsuit contends
In Los Angeles on Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem vowed that the Trump administration will not let up in its crackdown on immigrants without legal status or on demonstrators protesting on immigrants’ behalf.
Noem spoke at a West Los Angeles federal building far from the small downtown area where protests have been concentrated. The area returned to calm after two nights of a curfew but city leaders continued to dispute the Trump administration’s assertion that the city was under siege by violent mobs.
Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, have accused Trump of exploiting the protests for political gain and have called the deployment of military troops an unnecessary and provocative escalation. Secretary Noem said it will go on.
She said immigration agents were preparing to round up “literally tens of thousands of targets” in Los Angeles. Even veteran immigration officials have been surprised by the scale of operations.
“First time I’ve ever seen it in my almost 30-year career,” Gregory Bovino, the Customs and Border Protection official leading his agency’s operations in Los Angeles, said at Noem’s press conference. “It’s actually breathtaking.”
On Thursday, the press conference was interrupted when a senator entered the room to confront Noem. As he shouted a question, he was dragged from the room, pushed to the ground, handcuffed, and briefly detained.
“If this is how the Department of Homeland Security responds to a senator with a question, you can only imagine what they’re doing to farm workers, to cooks, to day laborers” throughout California and across the country, he said to reporters later.
The White House argued in court that the president had the power to use the military if he chose, after saying that there had been interference and fighting with immigration agents. The military was not conducting law enforcement duties but would be used to protect federal agents and their operations, according to Justice Department lawyers.
There has been no insurrection or rebellion in the past three days. Nor have these protests risen to the level of protests or riots that Los Angeles and other major cities have seen at points in the past,” the state wrote in its lawsuit against the administration.
“The federal government is now turning the military against American citizens,” Newsom said in a statement when his state sued to get control of the Guard back.. “Sending trained warfighters onto the streets is unprecedented and threatens the very core of our democracy.”
It was the first time in 60 years that a president had activated a National Guard over objections of a state’s governor. President Lyndon Johnson sent troops to Alabama in order to protect civil rights demonstrators.
There were attempts to impede immigration agents in Los Angeles that were a form of rebellion against the authority of the government, according to Trump.
The President’s decision about the National Guard and immigration policy: a dispute between the White House and the High–Jacobi courts
The administration’s lawyer argued that the courts do not have the authority to review a president’s decision regarding the National Guard.
“That’s the difference between a constitutional government and King George. It’s not that the leader can simply say something The judge said that it would become it.
The ruling could still be appealed. The White House’s power to crack down on illegal immigration was at the center of the dispute. It was not immediately clear if or when Guard units would be removed.
