Mass detentions of undocumented migrants began in Los Angeles on June 6, when citizens took to the streets in response to the raids NEW YORK, June 11. /TASS/. The number of US troops deployed in the Californian city of Los Angeles currently exceeds that in Iraq and Syria, ABC News reports.
“There are 4,800 activated Guard and Marine personnel in LA, compared to the 2,500 troops in Iraq and 1,500 in Syria,” the broadcaster points out.
Mass detentions of undocumented migrants began in Los Angeles on June 6. By the evening of June 7, at least 44 people were already held on suspicion of immigration violations. Citizens took to the streets in response to the raids, with protests escalating into riots.
US President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to the unrest without consulting California Governor Gavin Newsom, who later sued the US president and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for sending in troops without his permission.
Chaos & Cruelty: Trump Deploys Thousands of Soldiers to Put Down Anti-ICE Protests in Los Angeles
On Tuesday, Democracy Now interviewed Jean Guerrero, author of a book about Stephen Miller and Trump’s immigration agenda aptly titled Hatemonger. The segment first quotes LA mayor Karen Bass talking about the situation in LA: “We didn’t need the National Guard. Why on Earth? What are they going to do? … So, they need marines on top of it? I don’t understand that. That’s why I feel like we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of.”
Guerrero highlights the way the community in LA is coming together across traditional lines of division: “…people of all races and backgrounds are putting their bodies on the line to protect their friends, their neighbors, their family members from these arrests… I spoke to… white grandmothers, who are going out to protect people that they love and who they’re afraid could be picked up by ICE. I spoke to Latinas who are, you know, afraid of being racially profiled and arrested because of the indiscriminate nature of these arrests, but they are nevertheless putting their bodies on the line, because they’re citizens and they believe in using their privilege to defend the people that they care about.”
Anyone who has a phone and witnesses an ICE action can help by documenting that action: “The administration is ramping up deportations to a never-before-seen level, which means that they are more visible than ever. They used to happen in the shadows. Now people can see it happening everywhere. And people are taking out their phones… as a result, these deportations, these arrests are becoming much harder to misrepresent, and this is a threat to the narrative that Trump and Stephen Miller have spent years putting out there.”
(Taken from an email sent to me by Never Again Action. Emphasis original.)
