By Jim Geraghty
Monday, June 09, 2025
In the minds of the progressive Democrats who run the
city and county of Los Angeles and the state of California, ICE efforts to
arrest and deport those who have entered the country illegally are unpopular
among their constituents and, therefore, must be illegitimate.
That is not how it works, of course.
I sometimes think that news organizations in Los Angeles
don’t want to give their audiences and readers a clear picture of what’s
actually happening in their city. Here’s the opening sentence of an article published online by
the Los Angeles NBC affiliate Friday afternoon: “A group of people were
seen outside of a business named Ambiance in the Fashion District of downtown
Los Angeles.”
Hey, remember those basics of journalism, the who, the
what, the when, the where, the why, and sometimes the how? Are we just not
doing any of that anymore?
The next sentence reads, “Essayli tells NBC4 that the FBI
was working along with other federal agencies to serve a search warrant, which
were [sic] signed by a judge, because they have probable cause to believe this
employer is using fictitious documents for some of its workers.”
There’s nothing indicating to readers that “Essayli” is
Bilal A. “Bill” Essayli, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, the
chief federal prosecutor for the region.
Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement Friday afternoon declaring, “We received reports
of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los
Angeles. As mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in
so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow
terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.
My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community
organizations. We will not stand for this.”
Throughout the day, Bass issued one
statement after another
that kept referring to “immigrants” — refusing to even acknowledge the
distinction between legal immigrants and illegal immigrants.
California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a statement Friday contending, “continued chaotic
federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as
reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing
families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s
economy.”
What makes these law enforcement actions “chaotic” and
“reckless”?
The following morning, ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons contended that an angry
crowd of Los Angeles residents had assaulted federal agents, and the Los
Angeles Police Department had an inexplicably delayed response:
As rioters attacked federal ICE and
law enforcement officers on the L.A. streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos
and lawlessness over law enforcement.
Our brave officers were vastly
outnumbered, as over 1,000 rioters surrounded and attacked a federal building.
It took over two hours for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond,
despite being called multiple times. The brave men and women of ICE were in Los
Angeles arresting criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug
traffickers and those with a history of assault, cruelty to children, domestic
violence, robbery, and smuggling.
The protest was outside the
Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. The headquarters of the Los Angeles Police Department is
three-tenths of a mile away, an eight-minute walk. DHS released photos of
graffiti saying “f*** ICE” and “kill ICE”
on the building and surrounding area.
Protests against the ICE actions continued from Friday
into Saturday.
From the Los Angeles County
Sheriff’s Department:
BLOn Saturday, June 7, 2025, at
approximately 10:15 a.m., personnel from the Sheriff’s Department responded to
the 6400 Block of Paramount Boulevard in Paramount, following reports of a
large crowd gathering in the area and obstructing traffic. Upon arrival,
deputies observed the presence of federal law enforcement officers and a
significant number of individuals gathering to protest.
As the situation escalated, the
crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and
exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs. In
response, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department requested additional resources
countywide, deploying additional deputies to maintain order.
The FBI is offering a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the
identification, arrest, and conviction of a suspect who at approximately 3:30 p.m.
Saturday, “threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in
Paramount, California, injuring a federal officer and damaging government
vehicles.”
On Saturday, protests had already
begun across L.A. when ICE conducted a raid in Paramount. Not long after, a
protest started in Compton where demonstrators set a car on fire, followed by
more destructive demonstrations heading into the night.
Sky5 was overhead when protestors
set off fireworks toward a skirmish line of federal officers who, in turn, used
pepper balls and rubber bullets to push back in downtown L.A. As this protest
developed, the L.A. Police Department’s Central Division declared an “Unlawful
Assembly” just after 9 p.m., ordering crowds to disperse and leave the area of
Alameda Street between Aliso and Temple.
At 7:26 p.m. local time Saturday, the Los Angeles Police
Department — which patrols the city, not the county — issued
a statement declaring “demonstrations across the city of Los Angeles
remained peaceful . . . today’s events concluded without incident.”
That blanket statement was odd because an hour earlier,
Mayor Bass had to acknowledge that certain forms of “protest,” like setting a car on fire in the middle of an intersection, or
blocking off streets, were not in fact “peaceful” and are not protected by the
First Amendment.
Reports of unrest outside the city,
including in Paramount, are deeply concerning. We’ve been in direct contact
with officials in Washington, D.C., and are working closely with law
enforcement to find the best path forward. Everyone has the right to peacefully
protest, but let me be clear: violence and destruction are unacceptable, and
those responsible will be held accountable.
And
at 7:22 p.m. local time, Newsom simultaneously insisted there was no
shortage of law enforcement in Los Angeles but urged those in the city not to
get violent: “They want a spectacle. Don’t give them one. Never use violence.
Speak out peacefully.”
I think my favorite local objection to the national
coverage comes from LAist:
While Fox News and other
conservative media used captions like “L.A. Riots” and the term “rioters” was
trending on X, closer to home authorities described isolated skirmishes and
urged calm. Some national outlets seems [sic] to think Paramount, where
there was some violence reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.
The outer edge of the city of Paramount is 4.4 miles from the Los Angeles city limits, within Los
Angeles County. It is right next to Compton, as in “Straight Outta Compton.” (I don’t recall anyone ever
telling Ice Cube or Dr. Dre that they’re not really from Los Angeles,
but I urge anyone who feels strongly to make the attempt and see how that
goes.)
Apparently, certain city authorities and some corners of
local media are going to insist that because the anti-ICE violence was in
Paramount and Compton, just across the line of the city limits, it doesn’t
count as violence in “Los Angeles.” This is like arguing that if an event
occurred in Bethesda, Maryland, or Arlington, Virginia, it didn’t really happen
in “Washington.” Technically true, but highly misleading.
By noon Sunday, the California National
Guard 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team had “deployed approximately 300
soldiers to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area.” Their
role is to protect federal property; the rest of the city wasn’t so lucky.
Pardon the long excerpt, but a lot happened late Sunday in L.A.:
CBS News Los Angeles reporters saw
a smaller crowd of people vandalizing as many as six Waymo driverless vehicles
in the area. They were seen spray painting the cars, throwing objects and
jumping on the windshields.
A short time later, all six of
those vehicles were set on fire as the large crowd looked on. Plumes of smoke
billowed over the downtown landscape.
The flames from the vehicles
continued to burn for some time and there were several small explosions seen in
footage filmed from CBS News Los Angeles’ helicopter.
Waymo driverless vehicles run on lithium-ion batteries. According to the company, a battery involved in a fire or
exposed to high heat levels will release toxic vapors, including sulfuric acid,
oxides of carbon, nickel, lithium, copper, and cobalt. Our brave new world of
driverless cars now provides malevolent actors with mobile toxic bombs on
demand.
While the demonstrations continued,
some people used chairs, garbage bins and street signs to block the road at
Temple and Main Street. A few blocks away a Metro bus was stopped by
demonstrators. Some were seen spray painting the sides with anti-ICE messages
from helicopter footage.
The crowd of demonstrators began to
move into the LA Live area, near Crypto.com Arena, at 9:30 p.m., LAPD officers
said. They were blocking traffic on Figueroa Street and 11th Street.
They moved through the city despite
the area-wide dispersal order, again lighting fireworks and throwing
projectiles at police vehicles driving by. Several fires were set in dumpsters
and trash bins and at least one store had windows shattered by alleged looters.
Dozens of buildings were tagged with graffiti, including the LAPD Headquarters,
the U.S. Courthouse and the old Los Angeles Times building.
Footage from the CBS News Los
Angeles helicopter showed that multiple windows of the police headquarters had
been shattered as well.
Just before 4 p.m., demonstrators
moved onto the 101 Freeway, blocking traffic on the busy thoroughfare. They
blocked the Aliso Street offramp and several lanes while hundreds of others
watched from the Main Street overpass.
In response, the California Highway
Patrol closed the entire stretch of freeway that runs through the downtown
area. Dozens of CHP officers were seen as they also entered the freeway,
stopping under the overpass in a line. They completely overtook southbound
lanes, moving protesters back, though the majority of the crowd remained on the
other side of the freeway.
Several people were seen being
taken into custody from the CBS helicopter’s aerial view. Officers deployed
multiple smoke-filled canisters at the feet of the crowd. Some people attempted
to kick the canisters back in the direction of law enforcement.
The crowd was completely moved from
the road by 5 p.m.
With multiple CHP patrol vehicles
still parked on the freeway, people began to throw objects over the side of the
overpass. They were seen throwing street signs, fireworks, e-scooters and
pieces of concrete with the CBS News Los Angeles helicopter overhead.
As some officers tried to get into
their vehicles, some of the people were seen throwing cement in their
direction.
Because of the debris and damaged
cars now in the road, the southbound 101 Freeway was expected to remain closed
until further notice, LAPD said. It’s unclear when the cleanup process would
begin.
The LAPD’s central division posted
on X at 10:23 p.m.
local time that businesses in the area of 6th Street and Broadway reported
being looted.
At 7:42 p.m. local time Sunday, Bass
posted on X, “As a result of immigration raids, parents are afraid to take
their kids to school, workers are unsure if they should go to work tomorrow,
and young people are worried about their future. That does not make L.A.
safer.”
A major highway’s shut down, streets are blocked,
businesses are being looted, cops are getting cement chunks thrown at them, the
air is filled with smoke from cars set on fire, and Bass has concluded that the
immigration raids are the reason the city is unsafe.
Shortly before midnight, Newsom
was still insisting that “local law enforcement didn’t need help.”
On Sunday night, LAPD Chief
Jim McDonnell held a news conference to update the status
of the city, and he was asked whether the city needed the National Guard
deployed.
“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, you know,
this thing has gotten out of control,” he conceded.
The ‘Answering the Question You Wish You Had Been
Asked’ Hall of Fame
Senator Amy Klobuchar, appearing on CBS News’ Face
the Nation Sunday morning:
MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator,
it seems that the president’s use of the National Guard, as he’s federalizing
them, is somewhat novel. It’s the first time since 1965 a president has
activated a state’s National Guard without a request from the governor,
according to the Brennan Center for Justice. What concerns do you have about
going in this direction? It’s about 60 days that have been authorized in the
proclamation he signed last night.
SENATOR AMY KLOBUCHAR: My
concern, of course, is that this inflames the situation and that he is hellbent
on inflaming the situations. Individual governors look at their states. They
make decisions. But in this case, the president, time and time again, has shown
this willingness to, one, violate the law, as we’ve seen across the country in
many different situations outside of the immigration context. And two, inflame
situations. So, what do I think he should be doing right now? Who do I think he
should be bringing in? I think he should be bringing in economists to talk to
him right now about what’s happening with the debt and with his big, beautiful
betrayal of the middle class, to be talking to him about what’s going on with
the tariffs and how they are hurting small businesses. I think he should be
bringing in the people that I talk to every day, regular people, farmers whose
markets are drying up, people who are worried about their moms or their
grandmas getting kicked out of their assisted living because of his Medicaid
cuts. When Josh Hawley calls this morally bereft, that it’s immoral to make
these Medicaid cuts, and when Elon Musk comes in and says that this is a
disgusting abomination, this bill, and when it is now triggering, get this,
Medicare cuts, something that hasn’t been discussed yet, because it adds so
much to the deficit that rural hospitals are going to get cut, I think that’s
who he should be listening to right now, instead of his constant effort for
shock and awe and trying to distract people what they care about most, which is
the economy and their family situation.
To review, when asked about the authorization of the
National Guard, Klobuchar answers about the debt, the tariffs, farmers,
Medicaid, Medicare, and rural hospitals — just about everything except what
the president actually did, which suggests that Democrats aren’t quite sure why
the deployment of the National Guard is bad, other than the fact that Trump is
doing it.
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