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U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out operations at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, sparking protests and clashes outside at least one location, which resulted in authorities throwing flash bangs in an effort to disperse the crowd.
The Associated Press reported that immigration advocates confirmed at least 45 people were arrested across seven locations. The locations included two Home Depot stores, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, according to Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), who spoke at an afternoon news conference to denounce the actions.
Videos of the operations taken by bystanders and TV news crews showed people being escorted across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents. The videos also captured clashes between protesters and federal agents at detention sites.
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.
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Agents executing the operations wore vests bearing FBI, ICE and HSI (Homeland Security Investigations).
In one video, officers were seen throwing smoke bombs and flash bangs onto the street to get people to disperse, so the authorities could drive away in vans, SUVs and military-style vehicles.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the operations executed in Los Angeles on Friday.
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HSI spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants relating to the harboring of people illegally in the country.
Still, local and state officials raised issues with the federal agencies’ actions on Friday.
“Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop,” Salas said while being surrounded by a crowd holding signs protesting ICE. “Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now.”
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While police were spotted on the scene, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McDonnell said his officers were not involved in civil immigration enforcement.
“Today the LAPD became aware that federal law enforcement agencies conducted activities in the City of Los Angeles. 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,” the chief said in a statement posted on X. “While the LAPD 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 also said a policy in place since 1979 has barred police officers from initiating law enforcement action simply to determine a person’s immigration status.
Instead, he added, the LAPD remains focused on initiatives that improve the quality of life for all city residents, regardless of immigration status.
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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.”
