ICE Activity in Los Angeles

This is an old essay of mine that I initially published 6/2025, and I've reposted here.

There has a lot of coverage in the new lately about the activity of ICE in Los Angeles, as well as protests against their immigration raids.

Activity of ICE agents:

Activity of ICE agents is in accordance with a Trump policy that "officially" is supposed to target individuals in the United States illegally who have committed violent crimes. The individuals caught up in these arrests are not given due process, and thus are not afforded the opportunity to defend themselves in court, the government punishes them unilaterally and with impunity. As a result, there is no burden of proof on the US government to prove that these individuals have ever committed crimes, or indeed are here illegally.

Many individuals caught up in these arrests are indeed here legally, and get deported without any wrongdoing proven in court. In fact, in more recent raids, ICE agents appear in courthouses where legal immigrants appear for paperwork renewal or illegal immigrants appear for scheduled asylum hearings, are arrested and then deported. While many of the individuals caught up in these arrests are deported back to their home countries, some are sent to prison camps in countries they are not from (eg. El Salvador), without there ever having been proof of wrongdoing on their part.

These agents often appear in unmarked vehicles, are heavily armed, and do not provide arrest or search warrants when they appear. In some particularly heinous recent cases, a legal migrant was detained and sent to a prison camp in El Salvador. A family appearing for a scheduled asylum hearing in San Antonio was ambushed by ICE agents at the hearing, the entire family including the children were ziptied and led away. There appears to be a trend of these federal raids targeting sanctuary cities, usually predominantly "blue" cities.

Specifically in Los Angeles, there were recent raids by ICE targeting day laborers at a Home Depot, as well as workers in the Fashion district. There has never been any evidence provided that these individuals have committed any crimes within the United States.

Activity of protestors:

Because of all of these above reasons, in response to these ICE raids protests have erupted in Los Angeles. Some of these protests involved gathering outside of federal buildings outside of Downtown to protest. These were declared unlawful assemblies. LAPD began to arrest people. A car was burned, though it is unclear if this was caused by protestors or the police, but it is being held up as an example that the protestors are being violent and destroying property.

Protestors attempted to block government vehicles, including some that were thought to be holding detained individuals. The government vehicle drove through the protestors, injuring many. As of now (6/8/25), there has been no significant damage to property (whether federal, state, or private property). No individuals from the government have been injured.

Critique of government and right-wing views on events:

The activity by ICE agents is seemingly meant to intentionally inflame the communities the raids take place in. There has been no threat of harm or attack on ICE agents that would warrant the amount of force that is displayed when carrying out the raids, unless it was meant to intimidate and/or provoke. Targeting of individuals by ICE seems to be indiscriminate, and the government claim that it is only targeting individuals who have committed violent crimes in this country is clearly false.

Furthermore, the fact that the targets of the ICE raids are not able to defend themselves in court and unilaterally have punishments inflicted upon them is deeply troubling, and is profoundly unconstitutional (eg. "aliens who have once passed through our gates, even illegally, may be expelled only after proceedings conforming to traditional standards of fairness encompassed in due process of law"). Even after widespread protests in LA started, ICE pledged to double down on efforts to carry out raids on a daily basis. Surely this is meant to provoke a greater response from the affected communities in LA, as the benefits to society by these raids are vastly outweighed by the disorder they lead to.

Trump ordered the National Guard to LA county. The Secretary of Defense (Hegseth), also threatened to call in the military (specifically Marines stationed in Southern California). This is ostensibly to uphold "law and order". The governor of California has not requested these National Guard troops, and Trump federalized these troops, the first time a governor has been bypassed since 1965. Furthermore, in response to Hegseth's comments, it is illegal and unconstitutional to use federal troops on civilian soil except in cases of insurrection, which it would be absurd to suggest that these protests qualify as.

This is obvious hypocrisy on the part of the government. A common talking point of the Republican party is that they are champions of law and order. The actions they have taken are contrary to those principles. The individuals detained by ICE are not afforded the rights due to them by the Constitution. ICE is not making those communities safer because not only are they not targeting exclusively violent criminals, legal migrants are getting caught up in their raids. The actions of the federal government to double down on these raids despite the massive unrest it is causing in these communities seems to be intentionally provoking "disorder". The federal government is overstepping in its authority with mobilization by the national guard, when city, county, and state resources are more than adequate to deal with the situation. A common Republican talking point is that the Federal government should be limited in its activities and scope, and more latitude should be provided to the states. This is another form of hypocrisy. Trump reportedly "banned masks" for the protestors. Banning their right to protest is an obvious violation of rights to assembly. Banning masks is another blatant overreach of federal power (and executive power in this case), something which should be anathema to Republican ideals.

Given all of the above, it is manifestly obvious that the Federal government is targeting communities of minorities in predominantly "blue" cities to provoke a response, and is then overreacting to that response in order generate an even greater response, resulting in a feedback loop that can only lead to disorder and chaos. The question is why? One can speculate. The federal government hopes to gain support from its base showing images of them cracking down on civilians from a "blue" city. By provoking widespread civil unrest, they galvanize their own supporters to keep them in power in the next elections. The intense sectarianism they themselves promote helps them in framing all of this conflict as a "culture war" between "Democrats and Republicans", attempting to give their followers the mindset that it's a war and they need to support their wartime government. They will try to use this as an excuse to implement martial law to control the "insurrection", with federal troops deployed against American civilians. This can then be a prelude to delaying subsequent elections or providing the executive with emergency powers that will essentially suspend the normal tricameral functioning of the government; a coup, in effect.

Regardless of which of these possible options may be the government's intention, the federal government will use whatever tools are in its disposal to make that happen. Those members of government currently in power have always shown a complete disregard for telling the truth, and regardless of the actions of the protestors, the government will claim whatever they need to justify the response that they are seeking to implement.

I am an Arab, and this I direct to my Arab brothers and sisters who disproportionately supported Trump: to those of you who lived in this country since 2001, was it not obvious the lies the government was telling us when they portrayed the Iraqis and Afghanis they were killing as terrorists? Why then is it so hard to believe that we are being lied to when we are told that the immigrants being detained and deported without due process of law are not violent criminals? No proof is provided.

In defense of the protestors, and notes moving forward:

The ongoing events bring up the age-old conflict between morality and law. In these situations, those with authority (ie. the federal government) will present themselves as defenders of law and order.

Throughout history, there are countless examples of the authorities inflicting violence upon protestors to disperse them by claiming a variety of excuses, including that they are: being violent (towards the authorities themselves or else being destructive towards property), unpatriotic, fomenting insurrection, criminals, or are foreign agents. This is regardless of whether or not any of it is true, the official stance on the part of the government for using violence to disperse a protest is that it will be justifiable for one of these reasons.

Unfortunately, in large protests, there are often individuals who will act in a way that makes it easy for the authorities to spin the narrative in the way that they want. An example evocative of the current protests are the major BLM protests of 2020, where there were a small percentage of the protestors who destroyed private property and partook in looting. This ultimately was spun by the media and by authorities to overshadow the legitimate grievances of the protesters, and was used to justify a heavy-handed response to disperse the protests. Granted, in order for protests to have an effect, they need to cause a disruption, or else they can be ignored and will not be an impetus for change.

Furthermore, even if this looting and destruction of private property had not taken place, the authorities would have found some other excuse for a heavy-handed response, whether that be through lies, false-flag activity, or some combination of the two. If the protests are disruptive, the authorities have an incentive to disperse them and will use whichever of the aforementioned excuses they can to justify their use of force.

While the authorities will present themselves as defenders of law and order, laws are just that. Rules put in place by the authorities, without an inherent morality.

Protesting against the actions of ICE and the federal government in this situation is clearly the moral stance. I will not expound on why that is the case, because I think any discerning reader who has made it this far can see why their actions would be immoral. Regardless of the legality of the actions of the ICE agents, their behavior is immoral. If one believes that the actions of the ICE agents is immoral, the only moral course of action is to impede their ability to carry out their actions by any means necessary. Whatever forces are then wielded by the authorities to protect ICE agents and permit them to carry out their actions, are themselves immoral as well. Regardless of their legality.

In the coming days and weeks (this was all written on 6/8/25), this is the lens in which these protests should be viewed. A word to the protesters, I'm not there and wish I could support this righteous stand against the evil actions taken by the government, and so I sit here in safety. That having been said:

Everything I mention here is keeping in mind that this is going to be a PR battle. The protesters are not going to be able to stop the police and other forces of the authorities from doing what they want to do. And it is virtually a guarantee that there will be violence used by the authorities. The hope is that by drawing attention to this cause, the protesters will spark a wider outrage that will force the government to cease in their actions. This can only happen if the vast majority of the population supports them.

Ideally, these protests would focus on blocking the actions of the ICE agents, and because their targets can be unpredictable, should focus on federal buildings that house the offending agencies, as well as detention centers

Care should be taken to avoid physical violence (eg. stone throwing) against the forces wielded by the authorities. These forces will not be defeated by physical violence, and force by you will be met with greater force. Using your bodies as a physical barrier to create a disruption will be more effective when possible

Care should be taken to avoid damage to physical property, not because there is something necessarily sacrosanct about private property, but again, this is a PR battle.

Some protesters are seen carrying Mexican flags. This will only make it easier for the government to portray the protesters and unpatriotic and foreign agents. Ultimately, these protests are fundamentally American. It is in this nation's fundamental nature to assimilate immigrants. It is the actions of the government, in their draconian overreach of federal authority and ignoring the rights of their detainees, that is unAmerican. The American flag should be flown proudly by the protesters, it is a symbol that should be reclaimed from the right.