Dozens of community activists gathered outside the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters downtown to blast the department on what they claim is collaboration with federal immigration enforcement operations.
A Tuesday morning enforcement operation carried out by federal agents around East 9th Street and South Spring Street prompted the protest outside police headquarters.
In footage of that incident obtained by KTLA, residents can be seen verbally confronting LAPD officers while federal officers appeared to be taking people into custody.
“You’re seeing the videos, that’s why everyone is out here,” Gabriel Quiroz Jr., with Centro CSO told the crowd assembled in front of the department. “They saw the video of ICE and LAPD collaborating.”
Ron Gochez, another activist who is with Union del Barrio, said that residents near the raid were coming out to defend those getting detained.
“Guess who protected the kidnappers who were kidnapping our people?” he said. “LAPD officers.”
For its part, L.A. police officials released a statement saying that just after 9 a.m., officers responded to the area on reports of a possible kidnapping in progress.
“Initial comments of the call indicated that several individuals were attempting to detain people without identifying themselves, prompting concern by bystanders,” officials said.
Officials further stated that when officers arrived, the situation had escalated, with a growing, agitated crowd spilling into the street, creating a “volatile and significant public safety hazard” in the busy downtown corridor. That’s when additional units were called in to help manage the scene.
“At one point, a partially handcuffed woman approached and stood near a LAPD officer. After several minutes, a Federal agent approached and assumed control of the woman,” officials said. “LAPD was not involved in her detention or arrest.”
Activists, however, said that police officers keeping the public away from the federal immigration operation was a clear sign that the LAPD is helping the Department of Homeland Security and its other agencies execute raids.
“We have to call out that the sanctuary city, the claim of that is a myth and a lie,” Hamid Khan, with the Stop LAPD Spying Coalition, said at the demonstration. “We have to shut down these nodes of information sharing because what it is, is a direct pipeline to deportation.”
Clarifying its position further, LAPD’s statement noted that officers’ roles were limited to maintaining order and public safety.
“Officers remained on scene to de-escalate tensions. The federal agents did not notify LAPD of their planned enforcement activity in advance. The Department responded based solely on the initial radio call reporting a potential kidnapping.”
Many of the activists at the rally didn’t buy that, saying that removing undocumented people from the street without due process is kidnapping.
“Although there are a lot of people who have been kidnapped,” Gochez told the crowd, “the situation would be much worse if it wasn’t for the organized resistance of the people.”
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