Federal immigration agents have intensified enforcement actions in the Los Angeles area this week. Critics are upset and say the Trump administration is flaunting a temporary federal court order that set up racial profiling protections against enforcement methods based on appearance, language, and locations of contact. L.A. police had to shut down an enforcement protest Friday night that got out of control.
What began on Wednesday with a "Trojan horse" sweep at a Home Depot where agents hid inside a rented Penske truck to move up close to potential illegal aliens, has been followed, according to the Los Angeles Times, with a series of immigration enforcement stops, including two in the same day outside an L.A. metro area business.
The federal temporary restraining order covering immigration stops in California was upheld last Friday by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which led to an appeal by the Trump administration to the U.S. Supreme Court. The government said 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."
Mark Rosenbaum with Public Counsel, an organization involved with a legal challenge to the arrest of five people detained during recent immigration enforcement actions in L.A., told the Times the government appeal was "unprecedented." He said, "The brief is asking the Supreme Court to bless open season on anybody on Los Angeles who happens to be Latino."
The increasing number of immigration enforcement actions around L.A. is blamed for a protest Friday night that ran into Saturday morning at the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles. City police posted that the crowd became too agitated, and officers declared the protest to be an "Unlawful Assembly" and called in additional officers to help disperse the crowd.
Protests against immigration enforcement in the L.A. metro area in June led to full-scale rioting that left nearly $20 million in damages.
Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli in the Central District of California posted this week that no one should think the government won't work to enforce immigration laws. "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."
Jim Mishler ✉
Jim Mishler, a seasoned reporter, anchor and news director, has decades of experience covering crime, politics and environmental issues.
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