Tensions over L.A. immigration sweeps boil over as Padilla is tackled, ICE arrests pick up

Tensions over President Trump’s immigration crackdown boiled over Thursday as Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) was forcibly removed from a Homeland Security news conference and immigration agents swept across the region arresting people suspected of living in the United States illegally.

Outrage over the operations has sparked a week of protests, with California officials going to court in an attempt to roll back Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles without the consent of state or local leaders.

Federal officials declined to say how many were arrested in recent days. But Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said at a news conference Thursday that the department is not limiting its arrests to only those with criminal records. In fact, two-thirds of those taken into custody so far have no criminal records, according to the White House.

About five minutes into the Noem news conference at the Wilshire Federal Building, Padilla tried to interrupt Noem to ask a question. Secret Service agents grabbed him and began to shove him out of the room. “I’m Senator Alex Padilla,” he called out. “I have questions for the secretary ...”

Addressing reporters after the news conference, Padilla called upon people to peacefully protest the Trump administration’s actions.

“There is a lot of concern, there is a lot of tension, there is a lot of anxiety,” he said. “I encourage everybody to please peacefully protest, just like I was calmly and peacefully listening to that press conference and preparing, attempting to ask a question.”

What happened to Padilla sparked outrage among Democrats in L.A. and Washington, and the senator said it was indicative of the larger immigration sweep.

“I can only imagine what they’re doing to cooks, to day laborers out in the Los Angeles community,” he said.

The seemingly random raids have targeted Home Depots, churches, farms, retail centers and other locations, with growing concern that it is forcing immigrants to go underground in ways that will hurt the local economy.

Jose, 26, who declined to provide his last name because of safety concerns, is the son of the owner of Galaxy Auto Detail in Downey that was targeted by federal agents on Wednesday.

Two agents arrived shortly after 9 a.m. and attempted to quickly surround an employee in an apparent attempt to keep him from running away. But the worker saw what was happening and sprinted toward nearby train tracks. He was later detained along with another man. Only one of the individuals was undocumented, Jose said.

Jose said he tried to ask the agents if they had a warrant but was told he was going to be arrested for interfering if he kept asking questions.

With only five workers remaining, the car wash was closed on Thursday and Jose said he doesn’t know when it’ll reopen. Jose’s mother, an immigrant from Mexico, has owned the car wash for 12 years. She and her son said they believe federal agents are targeting businesses owned by Mexicans.

“I have my citizenship,” said Jose, who was born in the U.S. “I feel unsafe, even if I have papers. I just saw them targeting brown people.”

Downey Councilman Mario Trujillo said the raids are “creating a culture of fear” that’s prompting people, even with documents, to stay home out of concern they could be targeted by federal agents simply for being Latino.

The downtown Downey area, which had already been hurting amid a tenuous economy, is now a ghost town, Trujillo said. While he understands that immigration agents have a job to do, Trujillo questions the necessity of grabbing workers trying to support their families and people just trying to go about their daily lives.

“We’re supposed to be made to feel safe by this agency because they’re removing bad people,” he said. “That’s what they’re supposed to be doing.

“We’re starting to feel that we’re the only race that’s being targeted because it’s easy pickings because of the color of our skin,” Trujillo said. “That’s what it’s starting to feel like — racial profiling.”

On Wednesday, masked federal agents detained at least 12 people from businesses in Downey, but community members were able to discourage them from taking one man without proper documents.

In a video of the encounter, the unidentified man can be seen sitting on the ground surrounded by masked agents who had chased him down. The man spotted Immigration and Customs Enforcement at his job and rode away on his bicycle, but one of the masked men grabbed his tire, causing him to fall, ABC7 reported.

Melyssa Rivas recorded community members peppering federal agents with questions about why they were chasing the man. It’s unclear what prompted the agents to leave the scene.

“It looked like a full-on kidnapping scene out of a movie, it was scary,” Rivas told the outlet.

Alex Cruz, a 43-year-old Downey resident who has worked at Papa John Car Wash for the past year, said the raids have been so unsettling that many have stopped coming to work. Cruz said the seven or eight undocumented workers who were employed at the car wash stopped showing up two weeks ago.

“Everybody is intimidated,” he said. “Everybody is afraid to get out of their house. Everybody is afraid to go to work.”

Cruz, the son of an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador who came to the U.S. in the 1970s, said he’s angered by the federal government’s portrayal that anyone without documents living in the United States is a criminal.

“That’s how they’re categorizing every Hispanic or Latino,” he said. “The president should have a little more humanity. If it wasn’t for immigrants washing their dishes, nobody would do it.”

“This is not right,” he added. “Everyone deserves the opportunity to work and support their families. A lot of these guys are missing out on a paycheck or a salary because of what’s going on right now.”

Some are continuing to work despite the uncertainty they feel leaving their homes each day.

A man who identified himself only as “Francisco” because he was undocumented and feared deportation said he has been working as a taquero on the outskirts of downtown for over a year. He said he has never felt as worried as he does now, in the shadow of this week’s ICE raids.

“We can’t go out to work as much on the streets now,” the 23-year-old said in Spanish. “We’ve heard from some colleagues who work in other positions, and they’ve even arrested a couple of them. We go to work afraid they might arrest us.”

To stay safe, Francisco said he has limited his movement, turning to Uber Delivery for necessities such as groceries and medicine. But he continues to come to work.

“If we don’t go out to work, how do we cover our expenses?” he asked.

As immigration actions continue, Los Angeles Police Department officials report increasing success in quelling violence and property damage in the city’s core, thanks in part to an 8 p.m. curfew imposed this week. The number of people taken into custody during the protests declined sharply on Wednesday, down to 81 from 225 a day earlier, according to police.

As the response from the federal government has ramped up — first bringing in the National Guard and then the Marines — so have the demonstrations.

At 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, the LAPD announced it would be arresting all protesters who remained downtown. Fifteen minutes later, the protest had dwindled to a few dozen demonstrators corralled outside the county courthouse.

Seemingly resigned to their fate, protesters began to sit on the road and write the number of bail support on their arms. More than a hundred law enforcement officers surrounded them on the block.

Los Angeles police on Wednesday arrested 71 people suspected of failing to disperse and seven people for alleged curfew violations. Two people were arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer and one person was taken into custody on suspicion of resisting a police officer, according to the LAPD.

A day earlier, Mayor Karen Bass enacted a curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. for most of downtown L.A.

The curfew, which is expected to remain in place for several days, encompasses the downtown Civic Center, including City Hall, the main county criminal courthouse, LAPD headquarters and federal buildings, which has been the target of protests and resulted in property damage and arrests.

As hundreds have protested peacefully for days, some have taken the opportunity to burglarize businesses or hurl things at law enforcement while hidden within the crowd.

In an effort to respond, the LAPD has altered some of its tactics. Police are now issuing dispersal orders far earlier in the day and immediately targeting anyone throwing objects, according to law enforcement sources familiar with the planning.

Meanwhile, protesters have complained that they are being corralled, or “kettled,” between lines of police and effectively trapped. The ranks of law enforcement have also been boosted by mutual aid from surrounding police agencies, increasing their effectiveness, officials say.

On Wednesday evening, hundreds of protesters marched from Pershing Square to City Hall, where L.A. police warned protesters to leave the area. Dozens of LAPD officers, backed by L.A. County sheriff’s deputies, declared the gathering an unlawful assembly.

Authorities fired so-called less-lethal munitions, causing the crowd to scatter. Police on horseback charged into the crowd, and several demonstrators fell to the ground. Officers pushed hundreds of protesters into Gloria Molina Grand Park, where they gathered and began chanting, “Shame.”

Times staff writers Nathan Solis, Andrea Castillo, Laura J. Nelson, Marie Sanford and Richard Winton contributed to this report.