Los Angeles Declares State Of Emergency Due To ICE Raids
Los Angeles County Declares State Of Emergency Due To ICE Raids
On Tuesday, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to declare a state of emergency in response to the ongoing federal immigration raids.
According to ABC News, the declaration, introduced by County Supervisors Lindsey P. Horvath and Janice Hahn, passed by a 4-1 vote with only Supervisor Kathryn Barger opposing. “What’s happening in our communities is an emergency — and Los Angeles County is treating it like one,” said Horvath in a press release.” Declaring a Local Emergency ensures that the full weight of County government is aligned to support our immigrant communities who are being targeted by federal actions.”
Los Angeles County has one of the largest populations of undocumented immigrants in the country. As a result, Los Angeles has been one of the Trump administration’s biggest targets in its ongoing immigration crackdown. The Los Angeles County Supervisors said the ongoing raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have “caused widespread fear” and led to “decreased attendance at workplaces, disruption of local economies, and strain on critical services such as schools, hospitals, and places of worship.”
“We have residents afraid to leave their homes, we have constituents contacting my office because their family members never came home and they don’t know if they’ve been taken by ICE or where they’ve been taken,” Hahn said. “We have entire families who are destitute because their fathers or mothers have been taken from their workplaces and they have no way to pay their rent or put food on their table.”
The New York Times reports that the declaration will assist those who have stopped going to work due to fear of being detained by ICE and to families who have lost income after a member of their household has been detained. It also allows the board of supervisors to authorize a moratorium on evictions for people who have fallen behind on rent due to the immigration raids.
Barger, the supervisor who voted against the declaration, released a statement explaining her vote. “Emergency powers exist for crises that pose life and death consequences like wildfires — not as a shortcut for complex policy issues,” Barger wrote. “Stretching emergency powers for federal immigration actions undermines their purpose, invites legal challenges, and circumvents the public process.”
There has been concern by county lawyers that the declaration could lead to litigation from the Trump administration. Additionally, there’s concern that the assistance will prompt people to publicly disclose their immigration status, which could inadvertently lead to ICE enforcement. The state of emergency will remain in effect indefinitely until the board decides to terminate it.
California has continually pushed back against the ongoing ICE presence in Los Angeles. Last month, the state legislature passed the No Secret Police Act, which bans federal agents from wearing face coverings while conducting operations. The bill was drafted in response to ICE agents wearing facial coverings while they conduct their raids. The state has also filed several lawsuits against the Trump administration over the deployment of the National Guard and the blatant racial profiling by ICE.
Los Angeles residents have frequently protested against ICE’s presence in the city. Despite the GOP narrative framing ICE as tough guys and California liberals as sensitive snowflakes, those snowflakes apparently posed enough of a threat to the “tough guys” that the Trump administration felt the need to deploy the Marines to Los Angeles in June.
SEE ALSO:
The Supreme Court Rules ICE Can Engage In Racial Profiling
19 Unforgettable Photos From LA Protests Against ICE
