Los Angeles saw tense confrontations yesterday after federal agents carried out unannounced Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across the city. The operation led to 44 administrative arrests in areas that included the Fashion District and a Home Depot in the Westlake neighborhood. Local residents and advocacy groups immediately gathered at the targeted sites, leading to clashes with Los Angeles Police Department officers who tried to control the protests.
According to ABC News and the Los Angeles Times, ICE teams arrived before dawn at several locations suspected of sheltering undocumented workers. With tactical gear and armored vehicles, agents moved swiftly into businesses and residences. They detained individuals they believed had violated immigration laws. Word of the raids spread quickly through community networks, and by midmorning, demonstrators had formed at the Fashion District. Protesters chanted slogans condemning the federal action and held up signs calling for an end to forced family separations.
At Ambiance Apparel, one of the first targets, agents used flash‑bang grenades and pepper spray to disperse a crowd of roughly one hundred people. Some business owners joined the protest after they saw their employees led away. Video footage shows agents detaining workers as officers moved the crowd back. Witnesses said that parents who rushed to find out if their children had been taken watched in alarm as the scene became chaotic.
The use of military‑style tactics revived memories of a large 2014 operation in the same area. In that year’s raid, roughly one thousand officers executed search warrants and seized an estimated sixty‑five million dollars in cash and bank deposits linked to money‑laundering schemes. Agents at the time uncovered thirty‑five million dollars in banker boxes and ten million in duffel bags hidden at a mansion in Bel‑Air. Federal prosecutors accused several Fashion District businesses of laundering drug proceeds for cartels based in Mexico.
Labor groups also joined the outcry. David Huerta, president of SEIU California and SEIU‑United Service Workers West, attended the raid with a camera to record the enforcement action. Authorities say he interfered with their work when he stepped in front of an ICE vehicle. Union members dispute that account and say he only exercised his right to observe public officers at work. Video shows Huerta pinned to the ground by agents as he said he had a bad shoulder. He was taken to a hospital and then held at the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. After his arrest, Huerta issued a statement from custody that read, “Our community will not accept being treated like criminals for seeking a living wage.”
Mayor Karen Bass denounced the raids in a forceful statement. She said she felt angry and hurt by tactics that she believes terrorize immigrant neighborhoods. Bass noted that neither her office nor the LAPD had any warning of the planned enforcement. She vowed to work with community groups and city attorneys to seek answers and prevent future operations without local input.
ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons pushed back in a public letter. He said the raids aimed at removing criminal aliens involved in gangs, drug trafficking, and violent offenses. Lyons accused the mayor of choosing disorder over public safety and defended federal law as supreme. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller added that local leaders have no power to block nationwide immigration rules.
The standoff between city officials and federal authorities deepened when Vice President J. D. Vance released a statement blaming local leadership for the protests. He said officials who fail to enforce immigration laws sow chaos in American cities. Community advocates argue that collaboration between police and ICE ruins trust in law enforcement and harms public safety.
As tensions rise, activists plan further demonstrations this weekend. City lawyers have begun to review whether the unannounced raids broke any state or local rules. Meanwhile, families affected by the arrests seek legal aid. This episode has highlighted the deep divisions over immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and set the stage for a broader debate on the balance between local authority and federal action.
