L.A.-area mayors demand Trump administration stop stepped-up immigration raids

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LOS ANGELES — Dozens of mayors from across the Los Angeles region banded together Wednesday to demand that the Trump administration stop the stepped-up immigration raids that have spread fear across their cities and sparked protests across the U.S.

They also called on President Donald Trump to pull back from using troops alongside immigration agents during the raids.

“I’m asking you, please listen to me, stop terrorizing our residents,” said Mayor Jessica Ancona of El Monte, who said she was hit by rubber bullets during a raid in her city.

Meanwhile, the commander in charge of the troops said about 500 National Guard soldiers deployed to the Los Angeles protests have been trained to accompany agents on immigration operations. And while some troops have already gone on such missions, he said it’s too early to say if that will continue, even after the protests die down.

Speaking alongside the other mayors at a news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the raids spread fear at the behest of the White House.

“We started off by hearing the administration wanted to go after violent felons, gang members, drug dealers. But when you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armoured caravans through our streets, you’re not trying to keep anyone safe,” she said. “You’re trying to cause fear and panic.”

Those who have been caught up in the nationwide raids include asylum-seekers, people who overstayed their visas and migrants awaiting their day in immigration court.

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The administration has cited the protests in its decision to deploy the military. Referring to the demonstrations, which have been mostly concentrated in the L.A. business district, the Democratic mayor added: “If you drive a few blocks outside of downtown, you don’t know that anything is happening in the city at all.”

Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom has asked a federal court to put an emergency stop to the military helping immigration agents in the nation’s second-largest city. This week, guardsmen began standing protectively around agents as they carry out arrests. A judge set a hearing for Thursday.

The military is now closer to engaging in law enforcement actions such as deportations, as Trump has promised in his crackdown. The Guard has the authority to temporarily detain people who attack officers, but any arrests must be made by law enforcement.

The president posted on the Truth Social platform that the city “would be burning to the ground” if he had not sent in the military.

Some 2,000 National Guard soldiers are in Los Angeles, and are soon to be joined by 2,000 more along with about 700 Marines, said Army Maj.-Gen. Scott Sherman, head of Task Force 51, which is overseeing the deployment of National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles.

Speaking in an interview with The Associated Press and ABC, Sherman initially said that National Guard troops had already temporarily detained civilians in the Los Angeles protests over immigration raids. He later said he based his comments on photos and footage he had seen that turned out not to be a representation of Guard members in Los Angeles.

LA curfew will continue in downtown

Police detained more than 20 people, mostly on curfew violations, on the first night of restrictions in downtown Los Angeles and used crowd-control projectiles to break up hundreds of protesters.

But there were fewer clashes than on previous nights, and by daybreak, the downtown streets were bustling with residents walking dogs and commuters clutching coffee cups.

LA’s nightly curfew, which the mayor said would remain in effect as long as necessary, covers a 2.5-sq.-km section that includes an area where protests have occurred since Friday in the sprawling city of 4 million. The city of Los Angeles encompasses roughly 1,295 sq. km.

“If there are raids that continue, if there are soldiers marching up and down our streets, I would imagine that the curfew will continue,” Bass said.

Los Angeles police have made nearly 400 arrests and detentions since Saturday, the vast majority of which were for failing to leave the area at the request of law enforcement, according to the police department.

There have been a handful of more serious charges, including for assault against police officers and for possession of a Molotov cocktail and a gun. Nine police officers have been hurt, mostly with minor injures. Some were transported to a hospital and released.

Protests have spread nationwide

Officials in L.A. said the curfew was necessary to stop vandalism and theft by agitators after five days of protests, which have mostly been concentrated downtown. Demonstrations have also spread to other cities nationwide, including Dallas, Austin, Texas, Chicago and New York, where thousands rallied and more arrests were made.

Meanwhile in New York City, police said they took 86 people into custody during protests in lower Manhattan that lasted into Wednesday morning. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the vast majority of demonstrators were peaceful.

A 66-year-old woman in Chicago was injured when she was struck by a car during downtown protests Tuesday evening, police said. Video showed a car speeding down a street where people were protesting.

In Texas, where police in Austin used chemical irritants to disperse several hundred demonstrators Monday, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott’s office said Texas National Guard troops were “on standby” in areas where demonstrations are planned.

Guard members were sent to San Antonio, but Police Chief William McManus said he had not been told how many troops were deployed or their role ahead of planned protests Wednesday night and Saturday.

The protests began Friday after federal immigration raids arrested dozens of workers in Los Angeles. Protesters blocked a major freeway and set cars on fire over the weekend, and police responded with tear gas, rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades.

Thousands of people have peacefully rallied outside City Hall and hundreds more protested outside a federal complex that includes a detention centre where some immigrants are being held following workplace raids.

— Taxin reported from Orange County, Calif. Seewer reported from Toledo, Ohio. Associated Press writers Julie Watson in San Diego, Jesse Bedayn in Denver and Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.