Los Angeles, June 8: U.S. federal immigration authorities arrested 44 individuals in Los Angeles on Friday in a series of coordinated raids, prompting public outcry and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement at several locations.
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) carried out search warrants at three confirmed sites, though immigrant advocacy groups reported arrests at seven locations, including two Home Depot stores, a warehouse in the Fashion District, and a doughnut shop.
Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for HSI, confirmed the operation targeted businesses where investigators and a judge had found probable cause of employment based on fictitious documentation.
In one notable incident in the Fashion District, federal agents detained several individuals outside a clothing warehouse. Aerial footage from KTLA showed detainees, hands bound, being searched and loaded into white vans as heavily armed officers cordoned off the area.
At least one protest outside a detention site turned confrontational, with federal officers deploying flash bangs and smoke devices to disperse demonstrators. In footage broadcast by KABC-TV, one protester appeared to attempt to block an SUV before being knocked down; the vehicle then sped off under a barrage of thrown objects.
“This is terrorizing our communities,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA). “These are workers, mothers, fathers—this must stop.”
The Immigrant Defenders Law Center said it had confirmed the expedited deportation of one man apprehended at a Home Depot. The man, who had been in the U.S. for two decades, reportedly contacted his family from Mexico after his removal. One additional person was arrested for obstruction, Pitts O’Keefe said.
Immigrant-rights advocates at the scenes used megaphones to advise workers of their constitutional rights and to refrain from signing or speaking without legal representation.
Among those affected was 18-year-old U.S. citizen Katia Garcia, who said she rushed from school after learning her undocumented father may have been arrested. “We never thought this would happen to us,” she told the Los Angeles Times.
The California branch of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) reported its president was detained while observing and documenting the enforcement action.
The arrests reignited debate over immigration policy and enforcement tactics under the administration of President Donald Trump, who has pledged stricter border and workplace controls.
