Tag Archives: Los Angeles

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

LA Times: Immigrant father of three Marines is violently detained, injured by federal agents, son says

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Video of a landscaper being taken down, pinned and repeatedly punched by masked federal agents in Orange County has gone viral online, and Alejandro Barranco finds it painful to watch.

The Marine veteran says his father, Narciso Barranco, was working outside of a Santa Ana IHOP on Saturday when several masked men approached him. Frightened, he began to run away, his son said. Moments later, he was on the ground, held down by the men, who struck him.

The younger Barranco told The Times on Sunday that his father was pepper sprayed and beaten, and that his shoulder was dislocated. After speaking with him Sunday at about 6 p.m., Barranco said his father had not received medical treatment, food or water after more than 24 hours in a detention facility in Los Angeles.

“I don’t think it was just, I don’t think it was fair,” Barranco said of the use of force against his father. “I don’t think they need four 200 [pounds]-plus guys to hold down a 5-6 or 5-7, 150-pound guy.”

Immigrant father of three Marines is violently detained, injured by federal agents, son says
Narciso Barranco, a landscaper in Orange County, was detained by immigration officials in a violent altercation Saturday. Barranco is the father of three Marines.

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-06-22/father-of-3-marines-violently-detained-federal-agents

Sun Herald: Trump’s ‘Trash Heap’ Remark Sparks Backlash

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President Donald Trump ordered U.S. Marines and National Guard troops to Los Angeles during immigration protests, labeling the city a “trash heap.” He claimed the military is needed to prevent violence. Critics have voiced concern over projected deployment costs of approximately $134 million.

Critics, like Tad Weber of The Fresno Bee, criticized Trump’s characterization of the city. Reflecting on a visit, Weber writes, “Far from a ‘trash heap,’ Los Angeles was as vibrant and busy as ever.” Weber added, “By characterizing Los Angeles as a “trash heap,” Trump violated Rule No. 1 for the president: Be America’s cheerleader. The president should extol, not denigrate, our nation’s cities.”

Trump’s ‘Trash Heap’ Remark Sparks Backlash

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-trash-heap-remark-sparks-backlash/ss-AA1HcXve

LA Times: Letters to the Editor: It’s nice that Dodger Stadium denied federal agents, but it’s not enough

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To the editor: While it’s nice that the Dodger Stadium grounds denied entry to federal agents, it is but a gesture (“Federal agents denied entry to Dodger Stadium parking lot: Here is what really happened,” June 19). The ownership, management and players of the Dodgers owe the people of Los Angeles and this nation a public letter of apology for having attended the White House and bowed to the authority of President Trump, despite his daily inhumane and antidemocratic words and actions. Not a single one of them had the courage to speak up on that day.

To the editor: I haven’t been to a Dodgers game since Sandy Koufax, but as an ex-Angeleno, I just might have to buy season tickets next year for the brave stand the Dodgers took on June 19 against federal immigration agents.

It wasn’t performative, it was restorative. And it is inspiring to watch a large, powerful organization stand up to power and injustice and to agents wearing masks.

To the editor: I applaud the Dodgers for denying federal agents entry into the stadium grounds. There was no reason for their presence there.

We must, however, remember that in the late 1950s, Walter O’Malley and the Dodgers evicted many innocent Mexican Americans so they could build their stadium. We must remember our history to preserve our future.

That last one really hit the nail on the head!

Letters to the Editor: It’s nice that Dodger Stadium denied federal agents, but it’s not enough
‘Unless fans cling to willful ignorance, these guys aren’t heroes,’ writes an L.A. Times reader. ‘They are just egocentric show-offs.’

https://www.latimes.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor/story/2025-06-22/its-nice-that-dodger-stadium-denied-federal-agents-but-its-not-enough

SF Gate: Portrait of a California family torn apart by ICE

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‘They always get picked up on their way to work’

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested a longtime Oxnard worker, Albino Mandujano Eutimio, in May, the sudden action changed the lives of his family, who continue to reel and adjust in his absence today.

“He called me from the detention center and asked if I could take my brothers, Nico and Lalo, to handle his jobs while he’s detained,” his daughter, Adriana Mandujano, told SFGATE. Leaving no time to grieve, she had rides to arrange, bills to pay, and urgent plans to make to support her father, now held at the Desert View Annex in Adelanto.

Her father was detained in the morning, on his way to retrieve a machine he had left at a job site the day before. It was a strategy that ICE has used before. 

“They always get picked up on their way to work,” said Elizabeth Ramirez Barragan, the immigration attorney representing the Oxnard worker and a California immigration legal fellow with the Mixteco Indígena Community Organizing Project, or MICOP. The morning Mandujano Eutimio was arrested, she said, was no accident, adding that “ICE usually conducts raids as early as 5 a.m. because they know that’s when people are heading out to work.”

Mandujano Eutimio, who is undocumented but has been in the country for over 25 years, has built his livelihood by servicing restaurants, shopping plazas, commercial buildings and apartments across Camarillo and Los Angeles, removing graffiti, pressure washing, cleaning windows, deep cleaning, doing carpentry and whatever else clients needed.

California family torn apart by ICE after father taken on way to work
“They know that’s when people are heading out to work.”

https://www.sfgate.com/centralcoast/article/california-family-separated-by-ice-20386381.php

Associated Press: Vance blames California Dems for violent immigration protests and calls Sen. Alex Padilla ‘Jose’

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Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers.

Sending in masked thugs to rough people up and kidnap Hispanics off the streets and sidewalks is exactly what the problem is. If JD Dunce is too much of an idiot to understand that, c’est la vie. We can’t fix stupid! And the demonstrations will continue until ICE either cleans up their act or is put back in their kennels.

Vance also referred to U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, the state’s first Latino senator, as “Jose Padilla,” a week after the Democrat was forcibly taken to the ground by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration raids.

JD Dunce is a pathetic racist pig. He served in the Senate with Sen. Padilla and knows full well what his actual name is.

Vance blames California Dems for violent immigration protests and calls Sen. Alex Padilla ‘Jose’
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers. Vance also r…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/vance-blames-california-dems-for-violent-immigration-protests-and-calls-sen-alex-padilla-jose/ar-AA1H7TGD

Straight Arrow News: Lime starts geofencing restriction at Seattle court after anti-ICE blockade

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A scooter and e-bike rental company has reprogrammed its vehicles so they can’t be parked outside Seattle’s immigration court, where protesters used them to impede Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers, Straight Arrow News has learned. Lime changed GPS settings on its scooters and bikes to create a no-parking zone outside the Henry M. Jackson Federal Building in downtown Seattle.

Lime says it acted to ensure its riders’ safety, not to assist ICE or other law enforcement agencies.

The change follows a June 10 protest against immigration raids carried out to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. 

Protesters used “dozens of e-bikes and scooters” to create a barricade at the federal building, KIRO-TV of Seattle reported. One such barricade, as seen in footage posted to social media, was used “to slow down an ICE bus from leaving,” KIRO said.

Lime starts geofencing restriction at Seattle court after anti-ICE blockade
A scooter and e-bike rental company has reprogrammed its vehicles so they can’t be parked outside Seattle’s immigration court.

https://san.com/cc/lime-starts-geofencing-restriction-at-seattle-court-after-anti-ice-blockade

Associated Press: Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting

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Adam Greenfield was home nursing a cold when his girlfriend raced in to tell him Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles were pulling up in their trendy San Diego neighborhood.

The author and podcast producer grabbed his iPhone and bolted out the door barefoot, joining a handful of neighbors recording masked agents raiding a popular Italian restaurant nearby, as they yelled at the officers to leave. An hour later, the crowd had grown to nearly 75 people, with many in front of the agents’ vehicles.

“I couldn’t stay silent,” Greenfield said. “It was literally outside of my front door.”

More Americans are witnessing people being hauled off as they shop, exercise at the gym, dine out and otherwise go about their daily lives as President Donald Trump’s administration aggressively works to increase immigration arrests. As the raids touch the lives of people who aren’t immigrants themselves, many Americans who rarely, if ever, participated in civil disobedience are rushing out to record the actions on their phones and launch impromptu protests.

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Many Americans are witnessing immigration arrests for the first time and reacting
With the Trump administration aggressively trying to increase the number of immigration arrests, raids are now being conducted at all hours and more Americans are witnessing people being hauled off.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-raids-arrests-ice-los-angeles-0de11b5bc6ef962b79e084fb9e648a87

Daily Mail: Nursing student detained by ICE after cop noticed she had ‘a bit of an accent’ during routine traffic stop

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A college student was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers after a cop noticed she had ‘a bit of an accent’ during a routine traffic stop.

Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, was pulled over on the Colorado Interstate 70 on June 5, accused of driving too close to a semi-truck.

The University of Utah nursing student complied with the officer, identified as Investigator Alexander Zwinck, by handing over all of her documentation and paperwork.

In bodyworn camera footage seen by DailyMail.com, Zwinck told Goncalves he would let her off with just a warning, asking: ‘Where are you from? You have a bit of an accent.’

Goncalves answered: ‘I’m from Utah.’ 

Zwinck asked how long she’d been living in Utah and whether she was ‘born and raised there’, to which she cautiously answered: ‘No. I was born in, um, gosh I always forget the town.. down in Brazil.’

‘My parents moved here,’ she added.

Zwinck appeared unfazed by her answer, moving on to ask her questions about her boyfriend, her weekend plans and her dreams of becoming a nurse.

Mistake #1: Personal questions are none of the pig’s business. Respectfully decline to answer any such questions.

After explaining to her once again that he was giving her a warning which would not require any following up, he sent her on her way, wishing her safe travels and urging her to give semi trucks on the road a little more space.

But minutes after the friendly interaction, Goncalves was pulled over again by ICE agents as she exited the freeway, and taken into custody.

The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office has since revealed that Zwinck was part of a group chat with local, state, and federal law enforcement partners which was used to improve multi-agency cooperation to stem the drug trafficking trade.

‘We were unaware that the communication group was used for anything other than drug interdiction efforts, including immigration,’ the statement read.

‘We have since removed all Mesa County Sheriff’s Office members from the communication group.’

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Goncalves is now being held in Denver Detention Facility.

She is one of 2.5 million Dreamers in the United States, referring to undocumented migrants who were brought to the US as young children.

It is understood her family arrived in the US on a tourist visa, which they overstayed. Her father then applied for asylum, and that case is pending.

Goncalves earned a coveted TheDream.US national scholarship, which allows undocumented youth to help finance college.

While her asylum claim was pending, she had been granted temporary rights to work.

A GoFundMe set up by a friend to help Goncalves’ family cover legal costs associated with her detention has already raised $25,000.

‘Caroline has always followed the law, passionately pursued her education, and dreamed of a future full of opportunity,’ the fundraising page reads.

‘Yet she now finds herself unlawfully detained, frightened, and far from the safety and support she deserves.’

Nursing student detained by ICE after cop’s shocking observation
Caroline Dias Goncalves, 19, was pulled over on the Colorado Interstate 70 on June 5, accused of driving too close to a semi-truck.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14822749/college-student-caroline-dias-goncalves-detained-ice-traffic-stop.html