Federal immigration officers have upped the ante on enforcement actions in the Los Angeles region this week, sparking an outcry from critics who declare that the Trump administration is making a mockery of a temporary federal court order. This order established safeguards against racial profiling in enforcement techniques based on appearance, language, and the places of contact. An enforcement protest on Friday night escalated to a level where the Los Angeles police felt compelled to intervene.
The situation began on Wednesday with a covert operation at a Home Depot, where agents concealed themselves within a rented Penske truck to approach individuals suspected of being illegal immigrants. Reports indicate that this was followed by a series of immigration enforcement stops, including two outside a Los Angeles metro area business on the same day.
The federal temporary restraining order governing immigration stops in California was affirmed last Friday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. This led to an appeal by the Trump administration to the U.S. Supreme Court. The government’s stance is that the ruling “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California by hanging the prospect of contempt over every investigative stop.”
According to Mark Rosenbaum with Public Counsel, an organization involved in a legal challenge to the arrest of five people detained during recent immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles, stated that the government’s appeal was “unprecedented.” He said, “The brief is asking the Supreme Court to bless open season on anybody in Los Angeles who happens to be Latino.”
The rising number of immigration enforcement actions around Los Angeles is alleged to be the cause of a protest that began on Friday night and continued into Saturday morning at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. The city police reported that the crowd became overly agitated, leading to the declaration of the protest as an “Unlawful Assembly” and the call for additional officers to disperse the crowd.
This development follows earlier reports that protests against immigration enforcement in the Los Angeles metro area in June led to full-scale rioting that resulted in nearly $20 million in damages.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in the Central District of California issued a statement this week indicating that the enforcement of immigration laws will not be halted. He said, “For those who thought immigration enforcement had stopped in Southern California, think again. The enforcement of federal law is not negotiable, and there are no sanctuaries from the reach of the federal government.”
Federal immigration enforcement and public protest seemed to have once again collided in the city of Los Angeles. As we continue to monitor this situation, let us remember the importance of accuracy, truth, and democratic processes.