3 days Ago
On Sunday, Juan, a day laborer, was one of the few remaining at the usually bustling parking lot of a hardware store. The day before, the area was the epicenter of large-scale protests after false reports that immigration agents had arrested undocumented workers there. Home Depot is a popular meeting place for day labourers — many are undocumented immigrants.
Residents said they had seen immigration enforcement vehicles in the area and feared that raids had occurred. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security later confirmed that no such raid was carried out at the store, but the damage was done. Wrathful protesters fought with the police, and rocks and Molotov cocktails were thrown. The police met the demonstrations with pepper spray, rubber bullets and smoke bombs.
Outrage and Threats of Police Response Protests Grow and Federal Forces Move In
In Los Angeles, the demonstrations escalated in violence. A car burned, businesses were looted, and President Trump made an unusual decision to call up the California National Guard — something that is normally left to the state governor. Troops with weapons drawn established blockades and made armed protection of sites, including a DHS office that served as a staging area.
Tensions flared when the protesters began shouting at soldiers and waving Mexican flags. Some defaced property in the vicinity, and voiced anger that the undocumented immigrant community was being singled out. In the last week alone, DHS announced 118 undocumented immigrants, many with criminal histories, had been arrested in the LA area.
Shocked Community, Divided Over Next Steps
The fallout has roiled this tightly knit, Hispanic-majority community of Paramount, where more than 82 percent of residents are Hispanic. Sunday at the local Chapel of Change church, long-time residents shook their heads at how fast fear turned to chaos. For many, it seemed a boiling over point for years of pent-up frustration over immigration policy.
"These are my people," said Maria Gutierrez, a local protester. A native of Mexico who grew up in LA, she said virtually everyone in the neighborhood knows someone who was their loved one without legal papers. "It's something that really hits us all," she said.
The city of Los Angeles, home to a huge population of immigrants and a sanctuary city, has for some time defied the federal government on immigration enforcement. But as Trump's administration tightened the noose, many residents said they felt compelled to do something — even if the provocation proved unfounded.
