Tag Archives: Gavin Newsom

San Francisco Chronicle: Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids

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Any attorney who files or argues in favor of this appeal should be disbarred!

Any justice who votes in favor of this appeal should impeached and removed!

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to allow officers to arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look, what language they’re speaking and what kind of work they’re doing, factors that federal judges have found to be baseless and discriminatory.

Last month’s ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Frimpong, upheld by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, “threatens to upend immigration officials’ ability to enforce the immigration laws in the Central District of California,” D. John Sauer, the Justice Department’s solicitor general, said Thursday in a filing with the Supreme Court. “This Court should end this attempted judicial usurpation of immigration-enforcement functions” and suspend the injunction while the case is argued in the lower courts, Sauer wrote.

The Central District, which includes Los Angeles County and six other counties, has nearly 20 million residents, more than any other federal court district in the nation. It became the focus of legal disputes over immigration enforcement after President Donald Trump took control of the California National Guard in June and sent thousands of its troops to the streets in Los Angeles to defend immigration agents against protesters of workplace raids.

A 9th Circuit panel upheld Trump’s commandeering of the National Guard, rejecting a lawsuit by Gov. Gavin Newsom. But Frimpong, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ruled July 11 that immigration officers were overstepping legal boundaries in making the arrests, and issued a temporary restraining order against their practices.

In a ruling Aug. 1 upholding the judge’s decision, another 9th Circuit panel said federal officers had been seizing people from the streets and workplaces based on four factors: their apparent race or ethnicity, the language they spoke or accent in their voice, their presence in a location such as a car wash or an agricultural site, and the type of work they were doing.

That would justify the arrest of anyone “who appears Hispanic, speaks Spanish or English with an accent, wears work clothes, and stands near a carwash, in front of a Home Depot, or at a bus stop,” the panel’s three judges said. They agreed with Frimpong that officers could not rely on any or all of those factors as the basis for an arrest.

But the Trump administration’s lawyers said those factors were valid reasons for immigration arrests in the Central District.

In April, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Thurston issued a similar order against the Border Patrol, prohibiting immigration arrests in the Eastern District of California unless officers have a reasonable suspicion that a person is breaking the law. The district is based in Sacramento and extends from Fresno to the Oregon border.

“You can’t just walk up to people with brown skin and say, ‘Give me your papers,’” Thurston, a Biden appointee, said at a court hearing, CalMatters reported. The Trump administration has appealed her injunction to the 9th Circuit.

The administration’s compliance with the Central District court order was questioned by immigrant advocates on Wednesday after a raid on a Home Depot store near MacArthur Park in Los Angeles, in which officers said 16 Latin American workers were detained. An American Civil Liberties Union attorney, Mohammad Tajsar, said the government “seems unwilling to fulfill the aims of its racist mass deportation agenda without breaking the law.”

There is ample evidence that many businesses in the district “unlawfully employ illegal aliens and are known to hire them on a day-to-day basis; that certain types of jobs — like day labor, landscaping, and construction — are most attractive to illegal aliens because they often do not require paperwork; that the vast majority of illegal aliens in the District come from Mexico or Central America; and that many only speak Spanish,” Sauer told the Supreme Court.

“No one thinks that speaking Spanish or working in construction always creates reasonable suspicion” that someone is an illegal immigrant, the Justice Department attorney said. “But in many situations, such factors — alone or in combination — can heighten the likelihood that someone is unlawfully present in the United States.”

The Supreme Court told lawyers for the immigrants to file a response by Tuesday. 

The case is Noem v. Perdomo, No. 25A169.

Trump asks SCOTUS to allow profiling in California ICE raids
The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let officers arrest suspected undocumented immigrants in Southern California because of how they look.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/scotus-immigration-california-20809308.php

Tampa Free Press: California vs. Washington Lawsuit On Federal Power And Protests Heads To Bench Trial

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Governor Newsom’s Lawsuit Against President Trump Over National Guard Deployment Heads to Bench Trial

A constitutional battle is set to begin Monday, as a bench trial opens in a federal court case pitting California Governor Gavin Newsom against President Donald Trump. At issue is a question about the balance of power between the states and the federal government: When can a president deploy military forces to a state without the governor’s consent?

The lawsuit stems from a contentious summer in which President Trump ordered the deployment of federalized National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests sparked by Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. The demonstrations, which the President characterized as a “breakdown of order,” were deemed by Governor Newsom to be under the control of state forces.

The trial, presided over by Judge Charles R. Breyer, will examine the legality of President Trump’s actions. The administration justified the deployment under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which allows the President to federalize the National Guard in cases of “rebellion” or “invasion.” However, California’s lawsuit argues that no such conditions existed and that the President’s actions constituted an illegal overreach of authority.

This is the first time since the Civil Rights Movement that a president has deployed federal troops without a governor’s request, a point that is central to California’s legal challenge. The state’s case, which previously saw Judge Breyer order the return of the troops to state control, hinges on the argument that President Trump violated both federal code and the Tenth Amendment, which reserves powers not delegated to the federal government to the states.

The outcome of this trial is expected to have far-reaching implications, setting a precedent for the extent of presidential authority to intervene in state-level unrest. As the nation watches, the court will weigh the Insurrection Act, which the Trump administration cites as justification, against the Posse Comitatus Act and the principle of state sovereignty.

California Vs. Washington Lawsuit On Federal Power And Protests Heads To Bench Trial
A constitutional battle is set to begin Monday, as a bench trial opens in a federal court case pitting California Governor Gavin Newsom against President

https://www.tampafp.com/california-vs-washington-lawsuit-on-federal-power-and-protests-heads-to-bench-trial

Daily Express: Trump breaks with centuries-old U.S. tradition in bid to maintain ‘superiority’

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The move follows other efforts by Trump to turn government institutions into vehicles to further his personal agenda

Four-star general candidates will meet with President Donald Trump before their confirmation is finalized, according to the White House. The new procedure comes as a break from past practice, one that critics say appears as a possible attempt to treat military leaders as political appointees based on their loyalty to the president.

“President Trump wants to ensure our military is the greatest and most lethal fighting force in history, which is why he meets with four-star-general nominees directly to ensure they are war fighters first – not bureaucrats,” White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to several outlets.

Kelly said the intent of the meetings is for Trump to ensure the military retains its superiority and that its leaders are focused not on politics, but on fighting wars. The New York Times, which was the first to report on the procedure, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth first initiated it.

The recent move to personally oversee the political involvement of militarly leaders is not the first time the president has leveraged the armed forces in furtherance of partisan goals, according to The Associated Press. In June, during the height of the largely peaceful protests in Los Angeles against ICE raids, Trump mobilized the National Guard and the Marines.

He sent hundreds of troops into the streets of the California city against the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who has vocally opposed Trump on several occasions. Trump contended Newsom had “totally lost control of the situation.” Newsom said the president was “behaving like a tyrant.”

It was the first time the Guard has been used without a governor’s consent since then-President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama in 1965 to ensure compliance with civil rights laws.

Trump followed up with a campaign-style rally at Fort Bragg in North Carolina, where uniformed soldiers cheered as he criticized former President Joe Biden, Newsom and other Democrats, raising concerns that Trump was using the military as a political prop.

Sen. Tom Cotton, an Army veteran and Republican member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, called the meetings “very welcome reform.”

“I’ve long advocated for presidents to meet with 4-star nominees. President Trump’s most important responsibility is commander-in-chief,” Cotton wrote in a post on X.

“The military-service chiefs and combatant commanders are hugely consequential jobs” and “I commend President Trump and Secretary Hegseth for treating these jobs with the seriousness they deserve.”

On July 14, Trump hosted a military parade in Washington, D.C., to celebrate both the Army’s 250th anniversary and his own 79th birthday. The parade featured troops marching in formation, military vehicles and product advertisements. It came as one of the most visible ways Trump has tried to turn government institutions into vehicles to implement his personal agenda, according to The Associated Press.

“As many lengths as Army leaders have gone through to depoliticize the parade, it’s very difficult for casual observers of the news to see this as anything other than a political use of the military,” said Carrie Ann Lee, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund who also taught at the U.S. Army War College.

Trump has wanted a military parade since his first term, but senior commanders balked, worrying it would be more like a spectacle one would see in authoritarian countries such as North Korea or Russia than something befitting the United States. After returning to the White House, Trump fired the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, replaced him with his own pick and dismissed several other top military leaders.

“We don’t want military forces who work as an armed wing of a political party,” Lee said.

King Donald is turning flag-rank appointments into political appointees. This is an extremely bad idea.

https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/178958/trump-breaks-centuries-old-us-tradition

Newsweek: Trump admin warns DACA recipients to self-deport

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The Trump administration advised Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients to self-deport and warned that they are “not automatically protected from deportation.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, told Newsweek the warning is “not new or news.”

“Illegal aliens who claim to be recipients of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals [DACA] are not automatically protected from deportations,” she said. “DACA does not confer any form of legal status in this country. Any illegal alien who is a DACA recipient may be subject to arrest and deportation for a number of reasons, including if they’ve committed a crime.”

Diana Crofts-Pelayo, a spokesperson for California Governor Gavin Newsom, whose state contains the highest number of DACA recipients, told Newsweek the move “highlights the Trump administration’s hypocrisy” and shows that “they do not want to detain and deport the worst of the worst.”

“Their chaos campaign is all about detaining and deporting as many people as possible without a regard to people’s legal rights, including intercepting Americans, Dreamers, kids, people with legal protections and those following immigration rules and even U.S.-born citizens into their indiscriminate dragnet.,” she said. “It’s dangerous precedent when deportations matter more than basic rights or a functional U.S. immigration system.”

Why It Matters

President Donald Trump pledged to undertake the largest mass deportation effort in U.S. history on the campaign trail and quickly moved to increase immigration enforcement upon his return to the White House. However, he has offered mixed signals on DACA.

Although Trump sought to end DACA during his first term, he told NBC News’ Meet the Press last December that he wanted to find a way to allow DACA recipients to stay in the United States.

Former President Barack Obama introduced the DACA program in 2012. It offered protections and work authorization for undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as children. But its legal status has remained in limbo for years, and the latest comments from the administration reflect the challenges faced by DACA recipients, commonly referred to as “Dreamers.”

What To Know

McLaughlin first warned that DACA recipients should self-deport in a statement provided to NPR earlier this week.

She told Newsweek on Thursday that undocumented migrants can “take control of their departure with the CBP Home App.”

“The United States is offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now,” she said. “We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right legal way to live American dream.”

The administration has not outright ended DACA, but the statement reflects a shift in policy toward these migrants from President Joe Biden‘s administration, which was more supportive of protections for Dreamers.

Reports have emerged of DACA recipients being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.

Erick Hernandez Rodriguez, 34, is among the DACA recipients facing deportation. DHS said he was arrested for allegedly trying to illegally cross the southern border after allegedly self-deporting. His attorney, Valerie Sigamani, said he did not self-deport and made a wrong turn while completing a ride-share trip in San Ysidro, just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

He has been in the U.S. for 20 years. His wife, Nancy Rivera, is a U.S. citizen, and the couple has a daughter together and is expecting a son. He had begun the process for permanent legal resident status.

DACA recipients are required to receive advance parole before leaving the U.S. to avoid loss of protection and deportation risk. There are more than 500,000 DACA recipients living in the U.S., according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

What People Are Saying

President Donald Trump told Meet the Press in December: “The Democrats have made it very, very difficult to do anything. Republicans are very open to the dreamers. The dreamers, we’re talking many years ago, they were brought into this country. Many years ago. Some of them are no longer young people. And in many cases, they’ve become successful. They have great jobs. In some cases, they have small businesses. Some cases they might have large businesses. And we’re going to have to do something with them.”

Anabel Mendoza, communications director for United We Dream, told NPR: “We’ve known that DACA remains a program that has been temporary. We’ve sounded the alarms over that. What we are seeing now is that DACA is being chipped away at.”

What Happens Next

DACA’s future remains in limbo, with legal challenges ongoing in federal courts and the administration continuing to enforce strict immigration statutes.

https://www.newsweek.com/trump-admin-daca-recipients-self-deport-2106991

Independent: ‘Taco Thursday’: Social media users taunt Trump after he extends Mexico trade deadline

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The president once again backed down from increasing import taxes on Mexican goods

Donald Trump’s pausing of higher import taxes on a wide range of Mexican products a day before they were set to start saw the president mocked on social media with the now-familiar “TACO” taunt.

The nickname TACO, short for “Trump Always Chickens Out,” stems from the president’s habit of making tariff threats, resulting in a drop in the markets, only for him to change course and see the markets rebound.

Trump announced the move in a Truth Social post following a phone call with Mexican President Gloria Sheinbaum on Thursday.

He said the conversation had been “very successful in that, more and more, we are getting to know and understand each other” and suggested that the American trade relationship with Mexico is different from other countries because of the complexity of the border situation.

“We have agreed to extend, for a 90 Day period, the exact same Deal as we had for the last short period of time, namely, that Mexico will continue to pay a 25% Fentanyl Tariff, 25% Tariff on Cars, and 50% Tariff on Steel, Aluminum, and Copper,” he added.

The reaction from some of Trump’s most fervent critics was swift, predictable, and Mexican food-themed, invoking the TACO nickname investors have bestowed on the president for his economic flip-flopping.

California Governor Gavin Newsom’s press team was quick to pounce after Trump’s announcement hit Truth Social, writing that it was “TACO Thursday.”

Another critic, writer Paul Rudnick, posted a dual screen grab noting headlines stating that Trump had said he wouldn’t extend his tariff deadlines just a day before he announced yet another extension.

And a Democratic congressman, Rep. Chuy Garcia of Texas, twisted the knife a bit further, pointing out on X that consumers — not the Mexican government — pay the tariffs at issue.

Another X user, added:” SHE OWNS tRUMP …TACO THURSDAY.”

Never forget that at the end of the day it’s the consumer — you and I — who pay the tariffs, and that means INFLATION.

‘Taco Thursday’: Critics taunt Trump after he extends Mexico trade deadline
The president once again backed down from increasing import taxes on Mexican goods

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-mexico-trade-deadline-taco-thursday-b2800002.html

Alternet: Trump official brutally mocked after saying he was ‘not going to tolerate’ sick Americans

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Dr. Mehmet Oz, President Donald Trump’s Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, declared that the administration will no longer “tolerate” what he called a culture that makes it “easy to be sick in America.” Framing childhood illness as a failure of parenting and physical activity rather than medical need, Oz linked obesity to national security and warned that industries would be forced to cooperate—or face government retaliation.

Oz—often called a conspiracy theorist who has been widely criticized for promoting “quack” products—appeared to endorse an authoritarian vision of public health, suggesting that under Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Americans would no longer be allowed to remain “sick” without consequences, and threatened industry with demands to either cooperate or face retribution.

He also railed against what he called the “over-medicalization” of American society—particularly among children—but failed to distinguish between conditions driven by behavior and those rooted in biology or beyond individual control.

“You’re diagnosing problems that probably should be dealt with with the parents,” he told Fox News Business, referring to children’s health, “or by going out and playing, or just dealing with issues and teaching kids how to mental resilience [sic].”

He warned of risk factors that “cause an obesity epidemic that now prevents three quarters of young men from entering the military,” a questionable claim, and said that this “crisis” is “rolling up towards the older ages.”

“There’s a reason we’re twice as obese as [our] European counterpart countries, we’re ten times more obese than Japan: we’ve made it easy to be sick in America. And this president and this Secretary of Health, Bobby Kennedy, they’re not going to tolerate it anymore,” Oz declared.

Warning that he and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, “are the tip of the spear,” he threatened “to make sure that we get industry to work with us, or we’ll be coming after them.”

Dr. Oz has a history of linking healthcare policy to politics.

In 2022, during his failed senatorial campaign, Oz said he wanted abortion to be between a woman, her doctors, and local political leaders.

More recently, Oz has said Americans must “earn the right” to be on Medicaid, and said current Medicaid users should “prove you matter.”

Critics, meanwhile, blasted Oz’s latest remarks.

California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom responded, telling Oz, “You just stripped 17 million people of their healthcare.”

Dr. Rachel Bedard, an internist, geriatrician, and palliative care physician, wrote: “Stop being sick, Americans. They aren’t gonna tolerate it anymore.”

Anthony M. Hopper, who teaches healthcare administration, noted, “You know … We would be a lot healthier (in the future) if we spent more money on medical research.”

Retired professor MA Rasmussen wrote: “So you guys are OK with the gutting of the EPA, an agency created to protect us from polluted air & water & the Labor Department which enforces worker safety rules? I guess so. You’re all into blaming the individual rather than corporations or agribusiness or bad public policy.”

Watch the video … at this link.

Trump official brutally mocked after saying he was ‘not going to tolerate’ sick Americans

https://www.alternet.org/trump-official-sick-americans

Daily Beast: JD Vance’s Idyllic Vacation in Foreign A-List Hotspot to Be Hijacked by Protests

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The Stop Trump Coalition said the vice president will “find the resistance waiting” on his English summer break, an ocean and almost 4,000 miles from DC.

Anti-Trump protesters have warned that they will derail JD Vance’s planned English countryside escape.

The vice president, his wife Usha, and their three children are expected to explore London in mid-August, rent a cottage in the Cotswolds, and then travel to Scotland, according to The Telegraph.

The Cotswolds is a stunning area full of rolling hills and quaint villages in southwest England, which is frequented by the wealthy elite, including Hugh Grant, David Beckham, and King Charles. But a serene stay is set to be hijacked by “a coalition of pro-Palestinian demonstrators, climate protesters and trade unions,” the British publication reported.

Ellen DeGeneres, who decided to move to the U.K. with wife Portia de Rossi after Trump’s re-election, is also a recent American expat living in the area. DeGeneres said over the weekend that she had found an oasis of calm. “We got here the day before the election and woke up to lots of texts from our friends with crying emojis, and I was like, ‘He got in,’” DeGeneres told the BBC. “And we’re like, ‘We’re staying here.’”

The Stop Trump Coalition has pledged to ensure that Vance’s merriment falls as flat as it did when he visited Disneyland with his brood earlier this month. Demonstrators gathered outside the hotel he was believed to be staying at to protest the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration raids in California.

The group, which helped mobilize mass protests against Donald Trump’s first state visit to the U.K. in 2019, warned that even in the heart of the English countryside, the vice president “will find the resistance waiting.”

A spokesman told The Telegraph that the group also plans to Trump’s visit to Scotland later this week, when the president will open a new golf course named after his Scottish mother, and a second full state visit planned for September.

“We are meeting Trump with protests in Aberdeen and Edinburgh this month, and then in London and Windsor in September,” they said.

“J.D. Vance is every bit as unwelcome in the U.K. as Donald Trump. We remember how Vance cut short his ski trip in Vermont because he was so enraged by the sight of a few protesters.

“We are sure that, even in the Cotswolds, he will find the resistance waiting.”

In March, protesters in Vermont forced Vance and his family to flee a ski resort after demonstrations sprang up against the administration’s Ukraine stance.

He was told to “go ski in Russia,” and branded a “national disgrace.”

The Vances were also met with resistance at Disneyland earlier this month. Over 100 protesters turned up the day before he arrived to speak out against the Trump administration’s mass deportations in a demonstration outside the Grand Californian Hotel, where the Vances were booked.

A smaller crowd of protesters showed up the day he arrived, with the park reportedly shutting down certain rides for the Vances to enjoy privately, causing delays for other park guests.

Even California Gov. Gavin Newsom blasted Vance in an X post, writing, “Hope you enjoy your family time, @JDVance. The families you’re tearing apart certainly won’t.”

The Stop Trump Coalition, meanwhile, has also said it will protest against the president’s visit. He will jet into Scotland, where he has business interests, meeting Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Aberdeen, on the country’s northeast coast.

The group previously said it will hang anti-Trump banners and flags along roadsides and position a huge message on a beach to be visible from the sky.

The folks in Greenland wouldn’t stoop low enough to have lunch with J.D. Dunce. Hopefully the folks in the U.K. will show equally high standards!

JD Vance’s Idyllic Vacation in Foreign A-List Hotspot to Be Hijacked by Protests
The Stop Trump Coalition said the vice president will “find the resistance waiting” on his English summer break, an ocean and almost 4,000 miles from DC.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/vances-vacation-plans-immediately-hit-with-protest-threats

Columbus Ledger Enquirer: ICE Crackdown Draws Outrage from Local Leaders

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Federal immigration enforcement efforts in Los Angeles have escalated sharply, leading to 2,792 arrests, including nearly 1,200 individuals detained by Customs and Border Protection (CBP). The surge in enforcement has drawn strong criticism from local officials and community leaders, who argue that the actions are sowing fear in vulnerable communities. Democratic leaders have called for greater transparency and accountability, warning that the crackdown could erode trust in public institutions.

A Home Depot spokesperson stated, “We aren’t notified that ICE activities are going to happen, and in many cases, we don’t know that arrests have taken place until after they’re over. We’re required to follow all federal and local rules and regulations in every market where we operate.”

A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson stated, “CBP arrested 14 illegal aliens during an operation near Figueroa Street, and 11 illegal aliens in North Hollywood, CA, and 12 illegals on Sunset Boulevard. Criminal histories of those detained include drug trafficking, firearm offenses, theft, forgery, DUIs, and battery.”

And as usual DHS is probably lying and most of those 37 people that they arrested probably have NO CRIMINAL RECORDS.

City Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez condemned federal immigration raids, saying they clash with city values. Reports showed children at summer camps were forced indoors during raids at places like MacArthur Park.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom called the actions “disgraceful.” Local officials argued that the federal crackdown does little to address crime and only fractures families.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has affirmed President Donald Trump’s authority to control the California National Guard, permitting its deployment in Los Angeles.

Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez said, “I’m completely outraged by what’s going on.” Soto-Martinez added, “These are day laborers. These are people that are coming here every single day to try to find work. These are street vendors. These are folks that feed our community.”

ICE Crackdown Draws Outrage from Local Leaders

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ice-crackdown-draws-outrage-from-local-leaders/ss-AA1IV5ky

Raleigh News and Observer: Eighteen States Join Lawsuit Against ICE Operations

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Los Angeles has filed a class-action lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing ICE of using unlawful tactics including racial profiling and excessive force. The lawsuit highlights how the deployment of armed agents, particularly at MacArthur Park, has created a climate of fear and intimidation within the community. City officials argued the actions violate residents’ rights and have demanded accountability for the enforcement practices.

Mayor Karen Bass said, “I got alerted that there was an ICE operation, military intervention — who knows — at MacArthur Park.

City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto expressed concern that armed agents and military vehicles are frightening residents.

Legal reps allege ICE and CBP have conducted unconstitutional stops and detentions based on race and ethnicity.

Soto said, “The federal government has concentrated thousands of armed immigration agents, many of whom lack visible identification, and military troops in our communities, conducting unconstitutional raids, roundups and anonymous detentions, sowing fear and chaos among our residents.”

California Attorney General Rob Bonta, joined by 17 other states, filed an amicus brief supporting the lawsuit and urging an end to the enforcement actions.

Eighteen States Join Lawsuit Against ICE Operations

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/eighteen-states-join-lawsuit-against-ice-operations/ss-AA1IUCx1

Associated Press: Army veteran and US citizen arrested in California immigration raid warns it could happen to anyone

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George Retes, 25, … said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and — despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen — broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out…. Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch…. He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody. On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges. “They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around,” Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being “locked up for three days with no reason and no charges.”

A U.S. Army veteran who was arrested during an immigration raid at a Southern California marijuana farm last week said Wednesday he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle and pinned down by federal agents who arrested him.

George Retes, 25, who works as a security guard at Glass House Farms in Camarillo, said he was arriving at work on July 10 when several federal agents surrounded his car and — despite him identifying himself as a U.S. citizen — broke his window, peppered sprayed him and dragged him out.

“It took two officers to nail my back and then one on my neck to arrest me even though my hands were already behind my back,” Retes said.

The Ventura City native was detained during chaotic raids at two Southern California farms where federal authorities arrested more than 360 people, one of the largest operations since President Donald Trump took office in January. Protesters faced off against federal agents in military-style gear, and one farmworker died after falling from a greenhouse roof.

The raids came more than a month into an extended immigration crackdown by the Trump administration across Southern California that was originally centered in Los Angeles, where local officials say the federal actions are spreading fear in immigrant communities.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom spoke on the raids at a news conference Wednesday, calling Trump a “chaos agent” who has incited violence and spread fear in communities.

“You got someone who dropped 30 feet because they were scared to death and lost their life,” he said, referring to the farmworker who died in the raids. “People are quite literally disappearing with no due process, no rights.”

Retes was taken to the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, where he said he was put in a special cell on suicide watch and checked on each day after he became emotionally distraught over his ordeal and missing his 3-year-old daughter’s birthday party Saturday.

He said federal agents never told him why he was arrested or allowed him to contact a lawyer or his family during his three-day detention. Authorities never let him shower or change clothes despite being covered in tear gas and pepper spray, Retes said, adding that his hands burned throughout the first night he spent in custody.

On Sunday, an officer had him sign a paper and walked him out of the detention center. He said he was told he faced no charges.

“They gave me nothing I could wrap my head around,” Retes said, explaining that he was met with silence on his way out when he asked about being “locked up for three days with no reason and no charges.”

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, confirmed Retes’ arrest but didn’t say on what charges.

“George Retes was arrested and has been released,” she said. “He has not been charged. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is reviewing his case, along with dozens of others, for potential federal charges related to the execution of the federal search warrant in Camarillo.”

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to halt indiscriminate immigration stops and arrests without warrants in seven California counties, including Los Angeles. Immigrant advocates accused federal agents of detaining people because they looked Latino. The Justice Department appealed on Monday and asked for the order to be stayed.

The Pentagon also said Tuesday it was ending the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in Los Angeles. That’s roughly half the number the administration sent to the city following protests over the immigration actions. Some of those troops have been accompanying federal agents during their immigration enforcement operations.

Retes said he joined the Army at 18 and served four years, including deploying to Iraq in 2019.

“I joined the service to help better myself,” he said. “I did it because I love this (expletive) country. We are one nation and no matter what, we should be together. All this separation and stuff between everyone is just the way it shouldn’t be.”

Retes said he plans to sue for wrongful detention.

“The way they’re going about this entire deportation process is completely wrong, chasing people who are just working, especially trying to feed everyone here in the U.S.,” he said. “No one deserves to be treated the way they treat people.”

Retes was detained along with California State University Channel Islands professor Jonathan Caravello, also a U.S. citizen, who was arrested for throwing a tear gas canister at law enforcement, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli posted on X.

The California Faculty Association said Caravello was taken away by agents who did not identify themselves nor inform him of why he was being taken into custody. Like Retes, the association said the professor was then held without being allowed to contact his family or an attorney.

Caravello was attempting to dislodge a tear gas canister that was stuck underneath someone’s wheelchair, witnesses told KABC-TV, the ABC affiliate in Los Angeles.

A federal judge on Monday ordered Caravello to be released on $15,000 bond. He’s scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 1.

“I want everyone to know what happened. This doesn’t just affect one person,” Retes said. “It doesn’t matter if your skin is brown. It doesn’t matter if you’re white. It doesn’t matter if you’re a veteran or you serve this country. They don’t care. They’re just there to fill a quota.”

Army veteran and US citizen arrested in California immigration raid warns it could happen to anyone
A U.S. Army veteran arrested during an immigration raid at a California marijuana farm says he was sprayed with tear gas and pepper spray before being dragged from his vehicle on his way to work.

https://apnews.com/article/us-army-veteran-immigration-raid-53cb22251a01599a0c4d1a8d5650d050