Tag Archives: Los Angeles

Straight Arrow News: National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California

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More than 300 National Guard troops initially tasked with aiding law enforcement in the Los Angeles protests and subsequent unrest assisted federal agents during the week of June 15 in a large-scale raid targeting three suspected illegal marijuana farms in Thermal, a desert community in Riverside County, California. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) led the operation, which spanned approximately 787 acres in the Coachella Valley.

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However, California officials argue that extending the Guard’s role to operations far from Los Angeles exceeds Trump’s authority. In a federal court filing cited by The Los Angeles Times, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office stated that the marijuana farm raids were not related to protecting federal property or personnel in Los Angeles, and questioned whether the president’s order remains legally valid, given the changed circumstances.

The dispute centers on whether Trump’s extended use of the National Guard violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which restricts the use of military forces for domestic law enforcement without congressional approval. Bonta’s office asked the court to review whether federalized troops can operate in areas where no violence or protests are occurring. Defense Department documents indicate that the deployment could last 60 days or longer, at the discretion of the secretary of defense.

National Guard, DEA raid illegal marijuana farms in Southern California
A federal raid in Thermal sparked a legal fight over Trump’s use of National Guard troops for immigration enforcement far from Los Angeles.

https://san.com/cc/national-guard-dea-raid-illegal-marijuana-farms-in-southern-california

LA Times: Judge in Newsom vs. Trump could soon order L.A. troop deployment records handed over

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The Trump administration could soon be forced to turn over a cache of documents, photos, internal reports and other evidence detailing the activities of the military in Southern California, a federal judge wrote Tuesday, signaling a possible procedural victory to the state in its fight to rein in thousands of troops under the president’s command.

If he approves “expedited, limited discovery,” Senior U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer in San Francisco would likely also authorize California lawyers to depose key administration officials and might review questions about how long California National Guard troops remain under federal control.

Judge in Newsom vs. Trump could soon order L.A. troop deployment records handed over
A federal judge weighed ‘expedited, limited discovery’ in California’s challenge to Trump’s authority over troops deployed to L.A. County, potentially allowing depositions and signaling he might review questions about how long California National Guard troops remain under federal control.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/newsom-trump-judge-troop-records

NJ.com: Joe Rogan: Trump’s ‘ICE raids are f—king nuts’

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Podcaster Joe Rogan criticized President Donald Trump’s mass deportation policies in a recent podcast episode as immigration raids continue to sweep the country.

Immigration raids took place across Los Angeles earlier this month, resulting in mass demonstrations across the city. In a podcast episode that aired last week, Rogan said that those raids were “f–king nuts” and questioned whether Trump would have won the election if he said this is how the administration would carry out deportations.

“Bro, these ICE raids are f–king nuts, man,” Rogan told guests Luis J. Gomez and Big Jay Oakerson.

Rogan endorsed Trump in the 2024 election, but has been critical of some of his policies since beginning his second term. He has also pushed back on Trump’s immigration policies, saying previously that deporting migrants to El Salvador was “horrific.”

“The Trump administration, if they’re running and they said, ‘We’re going to go to Home Depot and we’re going to arrest all the people at Home Depot. We’re going to go to construction sites, and we’re going to just like, tackle people at construction sites’… I don’t think anybody would’ve signed up for that,” Rogan said.

“They said we’re going to get rid of the criminals and the gang members first, right? And now we’re seeing, like, Home Depot’s get raided. Like, that’s crazy,” he added.

Joe Rogan: Trump’s ‘ICE raids are f—king nuts’
Joe Rogan is speaking out against Trump again.

https://www.nj.com/politics/2025/06/joe-rogan-trumps-ice-raids-are-fking-nuts.html

MSNBC: Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse

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As the Trump administration’s mass deportation efforts continue, multiple lawmakers and immigrant rights groups are alleging that conditions at various Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facilities are “inhumane” and “unsanitary.”

Rep. Judy Chu, D-Calif., sounded the alarm last week in a video, stating she was deeply disturbed by what she saw during her visit to the Adelanto ICE facility, where many people swept up in recent immigration raids around Los Angeles have been brought.

Chu said the detainees she spoke with at the facility were “not the criminals that [President Donald] Trump says that he’s trying to get out of this country,” noting that some of those detained simply had expired documents.

“They are undergoing conditions that are inhumane, in my opinion. They were not able to change their underwear for 10 days,” Chu said in the video, adding: “They did not get a PIN number for the telephone. As a result, they cannot be in contact with any legal representative nor with their family members. This is not right.”

Conditions at some ICE facilities are already horrendous — and they may soon get worse
Democratic Rep. Judy Chu said detainees at a California facility “were not able to change their underwear for 10 days.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/conditions-at-some-ice-facilities-are-already-horrendous-and-they-may-soon-get-worse/ar-AA1HjnIs

Daily Mail: Tourist who claimed he was banned entry to US because of a JD Vance meme on his phone was actually denied for a different reason, Homeland reveal

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A Norwegian tourist who claimed he was denied entry to the United States after immigration officers found a meme of JD Vance on his phone was actually turned away for a different reason, U.S. officials have revealed.

Mads Mikkelsen, 21, was sent away after arriving at New Jersey‘s Newark Airport on June 11 for a holiday. 

He told Norwegian outlet Nordlys that he had been pulled aside by border control and put in a cell.

‘They asked questions about drug trafficking, terrorist plots and right-wing extremism totally without reason,’ he alleged in an interview with the outlet.

Mr Mikkelsen claimed that the officers then threatened him with a $5,000 fine or five years in prison if he refused to give the password to his mobile phone.

The guards were said to have found a meme on the device’s camera roll showing an edit of US vice president JD Vance with a bald, egg-shaped head. Mikkelsen said after discovering the image the authorities sent him home to Norway the same day.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection, operating under the Department of Homeland Security, has since clarified that ‘Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons’.

Bullshit! Just another lie from Homeland Security!

Tourist ‘denied entry to US over meme’ was banned for different reason
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection has since clarified that ‘Mads Mikkelsen was not denied entry for any memes or political reasons’.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14842359/Norwegian-tourist-21-barred-entering-US-ICE-guards-meme.html

LA Times: ‘Who are these people?’ Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.

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Increasingly aggressive immigration raids carried out by masked federal agents, sometimes using unmarked vehicles, are creating problems for local law enforcement agencies.

Police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place but often have to deal with the aftermath, including protests and questions from residents about what exactly happened. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immigrant communities trust the police.

In Bell, chaos erupted when masked men arrived at a car wash and began detaining its workers, sparking a confrontation with residents and immigration rights advocates before they were forced to hastily drive over curbs and street islands to escape.

In Pasadena last week, a man stepped out of his unmarked vehicle at an intersection, unholstered his pistol and aimed it at a group of pedestrians before returning to his car, turning on its red and blue emergency lights and speeding off. Video of the incident went viral.

That incident left the police chief of Pasadena resigned to figure out whether it was a crime or part of a federal raid.

“There’s no way for us to verify,” Police Chief Gene Harris said.

‘Who are these people?’ Masked immigration agents challenge local police, sow fear in L.A.
Local police have little or no insight into where the federal enforcement actions are taking place. In some cases, local cops have been mistaken for federal agents, eroding years of work to have immigrant communities trust the police.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-24/masked-immigration-agents-local-law-enforcement-tension

Miami Herald: Trump Orders Increased ICE Deportations Nationwide

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President Donald Trump has directed Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to intensify deportations in Democrat-run cities. He called it the “largest Mass Deportation Program in History.” ICE, however, is reportedly falling short of the 3,000 daily arrest target set by the White House.

Nationwide “No Kings” protests have erupted against Trump’s immigration policies. In Los Angeles, federal raids sparked demonstrations and National Guard deployment.

Trump said, “ICE Officers are herewith ordered, by notice of this TRUTH, to do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Trump added, “We must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”

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Trump’s immigration crackdown has hit industries like agriculture and hospitality, which depend on immigrant labor. Acknowledging workforce losses, Trump has directed ICE to pause operations in these sectors.


Trump Orders Increased ICE Deportations Nationwide

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-orders-increased-ice-deportations-nationwide/ss-AA1HdAmY

USA Today: Trump is on a collision course with millions of Americans. He’s not backing down.

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The White House is doubling down on President Donald Trump’s signature campaign promise and escalating efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, targeting Democrat-run cities and heightening tensions with powerful liberal governors from California to New York.

The pressure-cooker campaign comes after the massive “No Kings” protests on June 14 that drew millions of Americans out to the streets to oppose Trump’s administration, which has made immigration enforcement a top priority. The protests included about 5 million people nationally, according to organizers, and many attendees specifically cited concerns about immigration enforcement.

A week before, fierce protests in Los Angeles sparked by aggressive detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led to clashes, tear gassing, scattered looting and multiple vehicles being set on fire. The vast majority of attendees were peaceful, however.

To quell the protests and protect ICE agents in California, Trump called up thousands of National Guard troops over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom − referred to by Trump as “Newscum” − and has told federal agents they have his unconditional support to continue aggressive enforcement.

Trump has also invoked military powers usually reserved for wartime, declaring that Biden-era immigration policies facilitated an invasion. And the president is pushing to dramatically expand detention centers and deportation flights while finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

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While border crossings have dropped dramatically, videos of masked federal agents chasing people across fields or grabbing them off city streets have horrified many Americans, and liberal leaders across the country say construction sites, farms and some entire neighborhoods are falling silent as undocumented workers stay home to avoid detention.

Some critics accused Trump of causing chaos with ICE raids, then using the community response to justify even harsher measures.

On June 19, federal immigration agents were briefly blocked at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles by protesters trying to stop detentions.

Trump remains undeterred and is pushing Congress to pass a funding measure that would allow him to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 more customs officers, and 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents.

Trump is on a collision course with millions of Americans. He’s not backing down.
Immigrant-rights advocates have reported harsher enforcement in rural farming communities and big cities alike.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/06/21/trump-immigration-enforcement-no-kings/84245929007

USA Today: LA isn’t burning. ICE has terrorized many into an ominous silence. | Opinion

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The threat of ICE raids on commencement ceremonies was credible enough that our Los Angeles school district devised plans to protect students from being kidnapped as they received their diplomas.

Apparently, according to Attorney General Pam Bondi and President Donald Trump, “California is burning.” Here in Los Angeles, however, we know too well the smell of a serious conflagration ‒ and also the stench of political gas when politicians try to justify corrupt assertions of authoritarian power.

We are protesting now not because we are lawless, but because what is happening is a racially selective application of immigration laws that should have been reformed years ago. We are protesting because we still believe in decency, human dignity and respect for hard work and family.

Some protesting among us have succumbed to anger, while others have opportunistically caused mayhem the way some revelers do when the Lakers or the Dodgers win a championship.

Meanwhile the president and his ministers of cruelty, hysteria and lies are opportunistically causing far more mayhem, disrupting businesses and communities and devastating families and insulting our brave troops by gratuitously deploying them to our streets, pitting them against American civilians, trying to use the selfless members of our military as an authoritarian flex.

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LA isn’t burning. ICE has terrorized many into an ominous silence. | Opinion
California is not burning. We are protesting the racially selective application of immigration laws and unjust ICE raids.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2025/06/23/ice-raids-california-los-angeles-immigration/84174179007

LA Times: Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens

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Brian Gavidia had stepped out from working on a car at a tow yard in a Los Angeles suburb Thursday when armed, masked men — wearing vests with “Border Patrol” on them — pushed him up against a metal gate and demanded to know where he was born.

“I’m American, bro!” 29-year-old Gavidia pleaded, in video taken by a friend.

“What hospital were you born?” the agent barked.

“I don’t know, dawg!” he said. “East L.A., bro! I can show you: I have my f—ing Real ID.”

His friend, whom Gavidia did not name, narrated the video: “These guys, literally based off of skin color! My homie was born here!” The friend said Gavidia was being questioned “just because of the way he looks.”

In a statement Saturday, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said U.S. citizens were arrested “because they ASSAULTED U.S. Border Patrol Agents.” (McLaughlin’s statement emphasized the word “assaulted” in all-capital and boldfaced letters.)

When told by a reporter that Gavidia had not been arrested, McLaughlin clarified that Gavidia had been questioned by Border Patrol agents but there “is no arrest record.” She said a friend of Gavidia’s was arrested for assault of an officer.

As immigration operations have unfolded across Southern California in the last week, lawyers and advocates say people are being targeted because of their skin color. The encounter with Gavidia and others they are tracking have raised legal questions about enforcement efforts that have swept up hundreds of immigrants and shot fear into the deeply intertwined communities they call home.

Agents picking up street vendors without warrants. American citizens being grilled. Home Depot lots swept. Car washes raided. The wide-scale arrests and detainments — often in the region’s largely Latino neighborhoods — contain hallmarks of racial profiling and other due process violations.

Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts ‘roving patrols,’ detains U.S. citizens
Border Patrol agents on ‘roving patrol’ arrest U.S. citizen on assault charges. Fear of widespread racial profiling gains momentum as Home Depots and car washes raided.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-15/latinos-targeted-in-raids-u-s-citizens-detained-indiscriminate-sweeps-home-depot-lots-targeted