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(AP) — Federal immigration authorities carried out enforcement activities at several locations in Los Angeles on Friday, with some clashes breaking out as crowds gathered outside a warehouse and other locations across the city to protest the activity.
Federal law enforcement officials were present at a Home Depot, an apartment complex, federal courts and in the fashion district, said Jorge-Mario Cabrera, a spokesman with the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement declined to discuss the details of its operations. The agency said it routinely makes arrests of noncitizens “who commit crimes and other individuals who have violated our nation’s immigration laws.”
“Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop. Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now,” said Angelica Salas, executive director for CHIRLA.
Salas said her organization has confirmed the detention of 45 people across seven locations.
Cabrera said people calling a rapid response hotline reported dozens of arrests.
KABC-TV reported crowds tried to hinder officers from leaving one location after their operation was over. Aerial footage broadcast by the station showed officers throwing smoke bombs or flash bangs on the street to disperse the people so they could drive away in SUVs, vans and military-style vehicles.
The station showed one person running backward with their hands on the hood of a moving white SUV in an apparent attempt to block the vehicle. The person fell backward, landing flat on the ground. The SUV backed up, drove around the individual and sped off as others on the street threw objects at it.
Other video showed people being handcuffed by federal authorities in a Home Depot parking lot.
At one of the spots, immigrant-rights advocates used megaphones to speak to the workers inside a store, reminding them of their constitutional rights and instructing them not to sign anything or say anything to federal agents, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The advocates also told the federal agents that lawyers wanted access to the workers, and sometimes yelled out specific names, the newspaper reported.
Among the names immigration advocates called out was that of Marco Garcia, 37. Outside, his daughter, 18-year-old Katia Garcia, peered into the store as federal agents swept through the location.
“I’m in disbelief,” she told the Los Angeles Times. “I can’t believe this is happening.”
Katia Garcia, a U.S. citizen, said she was notified about her father’s situation by phone, left school and headed to the clothing store. She said her father is undocumented and has been in the U.S. for 20 years.
“We never thought this would happen to us,” she said.
Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror.”
“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place. These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city,” Bass said.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a written statement that his department was aware of the enforcement activities.
“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,” he said in a statement.
Earlier this week, Todd Lyons, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his tactics against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed as they ramp up arrests toward President Donald Trump’s promises of mass deportations.
“I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks, but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line, their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” he said at a news conference Monday in Boston to announce nearly 1,500 arrests in the region as part of a monthlong “surge operation.”
Eleven of the LA City Council’s 15 members issued a statement accusing federal immigration agencies of “an egregious escalation.”
“This indiscriminate targeting of children and families not only harms the individuals who are directly impacted, but destroys our communities’ sense of trust and safety in their own homes,” the statement said.
The council members said LA was built by immigrants and thrives because of immigrants.
“We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city,” the statement said.
The statement was issued by Councilmembers Eunisses Hernandez, Adrin Nazarian, Bob Blumenfield, Nithya Raman, Katy Yaroslavsky, Imelda Padilla, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Heather Hutt, Hugo Soto-Martínez, Ysabel Jurado, and Tim McOsker.
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Rodriguez reported from San Francisco and McAvoy from Honolulu. Associated Press writer Amy Taxin in Santa Ana, California contributed.
