The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Wednesday identified nine men with criminal records in the United States who were arrested on Monday and Tuesday during immigration raids in Los Angeles.
The DHS said those arrested include a convicted murderer, a pedophile and drug traffickers.
Officials provided the following list identifying the nine arrested:
- Gerardo Antonio-Palacios: Convictions for homicide and burglary
- Mab Khleb: Convictions for transport of a controlled substance, possession of a controlled substance, lewd action with a child, and battery
- Sang Louangprasert: Convictions for lewd or lascivious acts with a child under 14 and inflicting corporal injury, spouse or cohabitant
- Antonio Benitez-Ugarte: Conviction for drug trafficking
- Alberto Morales-Mejia: Convictions for manufacturing amphetamine and prior arrests for document fraud and possession of a weapon
- Raul Teran-Guillen: Prior arrests for human smuggling and money laundering
- Carlos Alberto Escobar-Flores: Conviction for grand theft (money/labor/property)
- Jose Jimenez-Alvarado: Conviction for two counts of theft
- Jesus Romero-Retana: Convictions for threatening crime with intent to terrorize and battery
“These are the types of criminal illegal aliens that rioters are fighting to protect. How much longer will Governor Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass continue to prioritize these criminal illegal aliens over their own citizens?” said Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.
The protests, which started as peaceful demonstrations but turned violent, began on Friday as ICE ramped up raids on undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area.
Footage of federal agents chasing workers across Home Depot parking lots and agricultural fields quickly drew criticism, prompting Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to question the intended targets of the raids.
“If you remember, at the beginning of this administration, we were told that raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who had warrants,” Bass said in an earlier interview. “I don’t know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot, to people’s workplaces where they’re just trying to make a living.”
Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom have also issued statements this week, blaming much of the protest violence on “fringe” groups – often from outside the area — and on President Donald Trump’s deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines to Los Angeles.
“The federal government coming in and taking authority away from the governor when it was not requested, because it was not needed, is an incredible overreach of the authority of the president,” Bass said on Tuesday.
Bass and Newsom, who called for the state to sue the Trump administration over the deployments, believe the presence of the National Guard has only exacerbated the situation.
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