The ongoing legal battle concerning President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize thousands of National Guard troops and dispatch them to Los Angeles has now reached a federal appeals court in San Francisco.
On Tuesday, the court reviewed a request from the Trump Administration to maintain a stay on a lower court’s ruling that mandated the return of the National Guard to California Governor Gavin Newsom.
In a controversial move, President Trump had deployed over 4,000 Guard members to Los Angeles to safeguard federal property and personnel amidst heated protests against immigration policies.
Governor Newsom has criticized this deployment, asserting that it represents an overreaction and fosters counterproductive responses to the situation.
Simultaneously, amid this legal turmoil, the immigration raids that ignited these protests in early June have intensified significantly.
Vlad Carrasco, affiliated with the immigrant advocacy group CHIRLA, noted a quickening pace of such operations.
He highlighted the challenges of documenting Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activities, stating that it has become increasingly difficult to capture their actions on video.
“Operations are getting a little bit more faster, and they’re in and out,” Carrasco explained.
Previously, he could arrive in time to witness and document ICE operations, but that has changed dramatically since the beginning of June.
Now, he often reaches the scenes only to find ICE agents already departed.
“Their awareness of potential community mobilization seems to push them to act quickly,” Carrasco noted.
Various advocacy groups have started circulating videos where ICE officers are confronted by public protests.
In some instances, National Guard members have intervened to create a buffer between ICE agents and civilians, yet it appears that more often, speed is used as a primary defensive strategy.
Guillermo Torres, representing Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, expressed the heightened anxiety within the community, pointing to the demeanor of federal agents.
“It makes you think of a totalitarian regime,” Torres remarked, drawing parallels to environments where individuals can disappear without notice.
The Trump administration, however, defends its intensified raids, attributing the escalation to local policies in Los Angeles that restrict cooperation between city law enforcement and federal immigration enforcement.
Officials like ‘border czar’ Tom Homan have frequently articulated that such ‘sanctuary’ policies compel federal agents to conduct riskier arrests within neighborhoods instead of detaining suspects from local jails.
“Los Angeles’ and California’s sanctuary policies have made these operations much more challenging,” stated Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem last week.
Regarding the agents’ choice to wear masks for their safety, acting ICE director Todd Lyons defended the measure, citing threats against agents and their families due to online harassment.
“Is anyone upset with the fact that ICE officers’ families were labeled ‘terrorists’?” Lyons asked earlier this month.
Conversely, Oscar Zarate from CHIRLA expressed concern over the considerable anxiety stemming from the deployment of multiple federal agencies to immigration enforcement in the region, affecting community perception.
“This situation creates confusion, especially when federal agents are often in plainclothes or unmarked vehicles,” Zarate explained.
This ambiguity has led CHIRLA’s rapid response team to receive a surge of mistaken reports from locals who misinterpret routine law enforcement activity as ICE action.
Zarate added, “With ICE operating in disguise now, people struggle to identify who they actually are.”
Amid growing scrutiny, ICE agents may soon face pressure to enhance their identification practices.
The ACLU of Southern California has pursued a class-action lawsuit that demands transparency from immigration enforcement personnel, particularly in cases where they have impersonated regular police.
A federal court has provisionally approved a settlement that would require ICE personnel in the Los Angeles area to wear more visible identification insignia going forward.
Stephanie Padilla, an attorney with the ACLU of Southern California, remarked, “Requiring that the identifiers at least be equally visibly prominent [as the word ‘POLICE’] will help with some of the confusion that there is when ICE officers are out and about.”
image source from：npr
