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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted operations at businesses throughout Los Angeles on Friday, which incited protests and altercations outside at least one site, leading authorities to deploy flash bangs to disperse the crowd.
The Associated Press indicated that immigration advocates confirmed a minimum of 45 arrests across seven locations. These included two Home Depot stores, a fashion district shop, and a doughnut shop, as noted by Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), during a news conference held in the afternoon to criticize the actions.
Footage taken by onlookers and TV news crews displayed individuals being led across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents. The videos also showed confrontations between protesters and federal agents at detention locations.
KTLA shared aerial footage of agents outside a clothing store in the fashion district escorting individuals out of a building and toward two large white vans. The individuals were detained and had their hands tied behind their backs. Before being placed into the vans, agents were seen patting the detained individuals down.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement on X that as a mayor of a “proud city of immigrants,” who she said contributes to the city in many ways, she was “deeply angered” by the actions taken by federal agencies in LA on Friday.
“These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city,” Bass said. “We will not stand for this.”
Bass also spoke to reporters on Friday, saying, “We are gonna fight for all Angelenos, regardless of when they got here, whether they have papers or not. We are a city of immigrants and this impacts hundreds of thousands of Angelenos.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., called the ICE raids across Los Angeles a continuation of a “disturbing pattern of extreme and cruel” immigration enforcement operations across the U.S.
“These indiscriminate raids prove once again that the Trump administration cares about nothing but instilling harm and fear in our communities to drive immigrants into the shadows,” he said in a statement shared on X. “It will not work. This fearmongering is not going to change the fact that immigrants are valued members of our communities who contribute to our society and economy, and my office will demand accountability for today’s actions.”
