Tensions flared Tuesday as an L.A. County supervisor suggested some of the masked men detaining residents across the region were not immigration officials, but rather “bad players” impersonating immigration enforcement.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger said a staff member’s godson was recently pulled over by two men in an unmarked car with flashing lights, who told him he had a “nice truck for someone with that surname.” One man asked him to get out of the car, while the other tried to open the side door, she told her colleagues at the weekly board meeting.
As people on the street began to record the confrontation, the two men drove away.
“I tell you this story because we don’t know if they were ICE agents or not,” said Barger, the sole Republican on the board.
“Make no mistake about it: It isn’t people impersonating ICE,” Supervisor Janice Hahn shot back. “It is ICE.”
Barger said she called Immigration and Customs Enforcement to report the incident. She never heard back.
“I do believe there may be people out there impersonating ICE, taking advantage of this population,” Barger said.
County lawyers told the supervisors it was a requirement that immigration officials identify themselves during an arrest, but said there was “some room” as to when that is required to happen.
California lawmakers on Monday proposed a state law to ban members of law enforcement, including federal immigration agents, from wearing masks while on the job, with some exceptions. Any attempt by the state to restrict federal law enforcement officers would probably face a legal challenge.
In some of the videos circulating of recent raids, questions linger over what agency was responsible. A military-style vehicle arrived at a Compton home last week in what residents say was a immigration raid, though ICE never confirmed the account. In other videos, officials appear in unmarked cars, their faces hidden behind masks.
“I don’t understand the reason they have to wear the half-face, ski-type mask in L.A. in the summer,” said Supervisor Holly Mitchell, who suggested the county support the proposed bill that would prohibit law enforcement from hiding their face.
The discussion came as the supervisors prepared to vote on a motion, crafted by Supervisor Hilda Solis, that asked for a study of how the recent immigration blitz had affected the county’s economy.
Since the raids began, many parts of the county have gone eerily quiet with residents saying they’re petrified to leave their home.
“They are terrorized,” Solis said of many within the county’s immigrant population. “You don’t see them.”
The areas surrounding downtown, which Solis represents, have been been hit particularly hard, amid protests, a curfew and a raid at Ambiance Apparel that ensnared dozens of people. Business owners in the city’s Fashion District say sales have dropped in half.
But the impact extends far beyond downtown. Restaurant owners in Boyle Heights, a predominantly Latino working-class neighborhood, say business has dried up. Residents in Hawthorne, where half the population is Latino, say they’re frightened to leave their home. Street vendors have disappeared from their usual corners. Food pantries’ lines have gotten shorter, Solis said.
“Even Metro is empty,” Rigo Reyes, head of the county’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, told the board. “No one is willing to come out of their homes.”
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