Over 30 mayors call for stop to ICE raids in Southern California as crackdown escalates

The group of mayors called for the withdrawal of federalized National Guard troops and U.S. Marines from the region.

LOS ANGELES, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on Wednesday stood alongside more than 30 Southern California mayors to call for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across the region as armed federal forces expanded crackdown against immigration beyond downtown Los Angeles into multiple counties.

Bass said during a press conference that everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles and other cities in the region a week ago but the enforcement operations conducted by ICE and other federal agencies caused a huge unrest since then.

She blamed the current "unacceptable" situation to U.S. President Donald Trump's political ambitions, saying "this was provoked by the White House. The reason why, we don't know. I posit that maybe we are part of a national experiment to determine how far the federal government can go in reaching in and taking over power from a governor, power from a local jurisdiction and frankly, leaving our city and our citizens, our residents, in fear."

"When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you're not trying to keep anyone safe. You're trying to cause fear and panic," Bass said.

The group of mayors also called for the withdrawal of federalized National Guard troops and U.S. Marines from the region.

The crisis entered its sixth day Wednesday with more than 400 people arrested across the region, according to Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) reports.

LAPD made 225 arrests on Tuesday alone, including 203 for failing to disperse and 17 for curfew violations. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed that 330 immigrants had been detained since Friday, with 157 people facing assault and obstruction charges.

Federal prosecutors filed serious charges against two men for attempting to throw Molotov cocktails at law enforcement during demonstrations. Emiliano Garduno Galvez, 23, of Paramount, and Wrackkie Quiogue, 27, of Long Beach, were charged with possession of an unregistered destructive device, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison, according to federal court documents.

A dramatic incident involving federal agents unfolded Wednesday morning in Boyle Heights, a neighborhood in Los Angeles, when immigration enforcement officers rammed a white sedan with two unmarked sports utility vehicles before extracting the driver at gunpoint.

The collision occurred at 10:47 a.m. local time in a main street in Los Angeles, according to witness accounts reported by various local media outlets. LAPD is investigating the incident as a possible hit-and-run after federal agents allegedly left the crash scene.

National Guard troops were initially deployed to secure federal buildings, but now assist ICE agents during raids, marking a significant expansion of their mission. Major General Scott Sherman confirmed with CNN that National Guard personnel had temporarily detained civilians during protests.

Bass imposed an emergency curfew covering 2.6 square kilometers of downtown Los Angeles Tuesday night after 23 businesses were looted. The mayor declared a local emergency, stating at a press conference that the city had reached "a tipping point."

The unrest has rapidly spread across Southern California's diverse counties. In Orange County, approximately 200 protesters clashed with federal agents outside immigration offices in Santa Ana Monday evening, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Immigration agents raided multiple locations in the city, including Home Depot sites, arresting 12 to 15 people, according to the OC Rapid Response Network, a legal advocacy group.

Ventura County's agricultural heartland became another flashpoint Tuesday morning when ICE agents pursued farmworkers fleeing produce fields in Oxnard, according to the UFW Foundation. Daniel Larios of the UFW Foundation called the operations "a campaign of fear against people whose only crime is living and working in the U.S."

The enforcement campaign also targeted car washes across Los Angeles and Orange counties, detaining at least 26 workers, according to the CLEAN Carwash Worker Center. In San Bernardino County, over 300 people marched peacefully Monday, demanding due process for detained immigrants. ■