Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday that her city “will not allow fear to be used as a weapon” against its residents.
“Los Angeles will not allow fear to be used as a weapon against Angelenos who make our city strong,” Bass said in a post on the social platform X.
“My administration is working with community organizations, legal advocates, and local leaders to ensure that every resident knows their rights and has the support they need. This city stands united,” she added.
Earlier Wednesday, Bass said the raids were “political retribution” against residents of the predominantly Democratic city.
“This fear paralyzes communities. We saw it before: kids too scared to go to school, families torn apart without warning. Let’s not pretend this is about public safety. It’s political retribution—plain and simple,” she added.
President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said the LA protests were making ICE raids more “difficult” and “dangerous” on Tuesday.
“It’s like we’re a third world nation where people think it’s okay to threaten the life and safety of federal law enforcement officers and their families,” Homan said during an appearance on NBC Nightly News.
On Monday, Bass said that immigration raids in her city resulted in “disorder” the prior night.
“Well, I just have to say that if you dial back time and go to Friday, if immigration raids had not happened here, we would not have the disorder that went on last night,” Bass said on CNN’s “The Situation Room.”
“I will tell you that it is peaceful now, but we do not know where and when the next raids will be,” she added.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) went after President Trump in a video address later on Tuesday, following the Trump administration deployed thousands of National Guard soldiers and Marines to Los Angeles in an attempt to subdue immigration protests.
Newsom said while California is not unfamiliar with immigration enforcement, the administration was not focusing on immigrants living in the country illegally who have criminal records or those with deportation orders but “indiscriminately targeting hard-working immigrant families regardless of their roots or risk.”
