In a show of force in the heart of Los Angeles, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on Friday carried out a series of immigration sweeps, including two downtown that sparked a tense standoff.
Videos showed federal agents running after people in the parking lot of the Home Depot in Westlake, not far from downtown Los Angeles. A man recording the video can be heard warning people in Spanish that immigration officials were at the location and to stay away.
Another raid occurred at a business in the Garment District, with agents in riot gear detaining workers at a clothing store as dozens of people began to gather outside. As workers were hauled off in cuffs, throngs of people yelled at the agents and held up cellphones to record them, according to videos of the showdown. One person threw eggs at one of the vehicles as agents pushed members of the public back, the videos showed.
In the street, immigrant-rights advocates stood on a bed of a truck, using megaphones to speak to the workers inside the store, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents. They also told the agents that lawyers wanted access to the workers, and sometimes called out specific names.
“I want to talk to my clients Luis Lopez and Michel Garcia. We are here,” one person could be heard saying. “The community is here with you. Your family is here with you.”
Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations, a branch of ICE, said federal agents in downtown Los Angeles were executing search warrants related to the harboring of people illegally in the country. No other details were provided, and it wasn’t known how many operations were taking place.
The raids are the latest in a string of high-profile immigration enforcement actions over the last week, part of President Trump’s promised deportation crackdown. A few days ago, immigration agents raided a popular San Diego restaurant and made arrests, sparking a standoff with outraged residents. Agents also arrested Chinese and Taiwanese nationals at an underground nightclub in the Los Angeles area.
Officials from the Service Employees International Union said in a statement that its California president, David Huerta, was detained and injured during a downtown raid “while exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.” The union said he was receiving medical care while in custody and called for his immediate release.
Friday’s actions were met with criticism from some L.A. leaders, who oppose the immigration crackdown.
“These actions are escalating: agents arrive without warning and leave quickly, aware that our communities mobilize fast,” Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez said in a statement. “I urge Angelenos to stay alert.”
Mayor Karen Bass said that such raids “sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city... We will not stand for this.”
Among the names immigration advocates called out Friday during the downtown L.A. raid was that of Marco Garcia, 37. Outside, his daughter, 18-year-old Katia Garcia, peered into the store as federal agents swept through the location.
“I’m in disbelief,” she said. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Katia Garcia, a U.S. citizen, said she was notified about her father’s situation by phone, left school and headed to the clothing store. She said her father is undocumented and has been in the U.S. for 20 years.
“We never thought this would happen to us,” she said.
The crowd remained mostly peaceful, but photos and videos of the scene showed some unmarked vehicles used by ICE had been vandalized with graffiti. As agents whisked away workers in white SUVs, members of the crowd walked and ran alongside the vehicles, videos from the scene showed. At one point, a man backpedaling in front of a departing SUV was nearly run over when he tripped and fell in front of the vehicle. The SUV reversed and sped around him, the videos showed.
Two miles away, near the intersection of 15th Street and Santa Fe Avenue, FBI agents were spotted at a warehouse. A crowd had gathered outside the gates of the business, where agents arrested Huerta.
Ilse Escobar, a United Teachers Los Angeles political organizer, told The Times she saw a scuffle take place before seeing Huerta being thrown to the ground by a federal agent.
“I told him, you just arrested a labor union president,” Escobar said.
She said Huerta was treated for an injury at the scene.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a written statement that his department was aware that ICE was conducting operations in the city.
“I’m aware that these actions cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement,” he said. “While the [department] will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status.”
McDonnell said since 1979, the department’s policy has barred officers from initiating police action solely to determine a person’s immigration status, and it will continue to focus on reducing crime and enhancing public safety.
“I want everyone, including our immigrant community, to feel safe calling the police in their time of need and know that the LAPD will be there for you without regard to one’s immigration status,” he said.
White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller has pushed ICE to start making at least 3,000 arrests a day, an effort that is reflected in the rising detention numbers by ICE, which have topped more than 50,000 for the first time since Trump’s first presidency, according to Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, a nonprofit that tracks the federal government’s enforcement activities.
This week, CBS reported that ICE had recorded 2,000 arrests each day, a dramatic increase from the daily average of 660 arrests reported by the agency during Trump’s first 100 days back at the White House.
Another video posted on Instagram shows six federal agents walking near the intersection of Towne Avenue and 10th Street in the Fashion District.
Ron Gochez, a member of Unión del Barrio, an independent political organization advocating for immigrant rights and social justice, said his group has been “flooded” with calls about immigration sweeps taking place.
“There were ICE agents at a Home Depot in Cypress Park, there’s ICE agents at Wilshire Boulevard and Union Avenue, a construction site in North Hollywood and in South L.A.,” he said in a phone interview. “They’re everywhere.”