Immigration raids fuel protests and fear in Los Angeles

In recent days, mass protests in Los Angeles have dominated the headlines. Images of demonstrators facing off with National Guard members and flaming cars have filled the news.

The primary cause of this unrest has been less visible, but no less disorderly or disruptive. Behind the tensions in LA lies a radical escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

The mass protests in Los Angeles began as a rejection of President Donald Trump’s new blitz of immigration raids.

US Immigration and Customs Enforcement descended on locations throughout LA on Friday, including Home Depot and the city’s garment district. During the raids, immigration authorities reportedly arrested more than 200 people, though the Trump administration has not yet released official figures. Some of them have already been deported, according to the Washington Post.

My mom has been a housekeeper for as long as I can remember. As a child, I’d accompany her on the bus to the houses she cleaned, impressed with how it seemed like she knew just about everyone en route to their own jobs. There was always friendly acknowledgment and solidarity — especially with those in restaurant uniforms or carrying their own cleaning supplies.

Some of the people she befriended became trusted confidants she’d recruit to help with strenuous cleaning gigs and eventually help land custodial jobs with the city of Los Angeles. Many years later, these individuals would pool together money to ensure I didn’t fly across the country to an internship in New York City empty-handed, even though they didn’t have much to give. Getting a front-row seat to the community my mom built with others who worked low-wage jobs with long hours — for a shot at not just a better life for their families but for survival — was one of the most special acts of camaraderie I’ve had the privilege to witness.

When President Donald Trump and Elon Musk had their dramatic falling-out last week, it appeared the right was on the brink of civil war — with Musk’s allies in the “tech right” poised to battle Steve Bannon and his faction of populist tribunes. The battle lines reflected deep disagreements between the right’s factions about the nature and purpose of government, divides made increasingly salient by Trump’s policies in areas like trade.

But now, after several days of protests and unrest in Los Angeles, everyone is once again reading from the same hymnal — condemning disorder and calling for a harsh crackdown. Even Musk is back to retweeting Trump like nothing happened.

President Donald Trump can’t stop using — and abusing — his legal authority to block the entry of noncitizens into the country.

When he issued a travel ban on citizens of Muslim-majority countries early in his first term, he did so by invoking Section 212(f) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which allows him to block any foreigner if he deems that their entry would be “detrimental to the interests of the United States.”

Federal law states that the United States shall not “expel, extradite, or otherwise effect the involuntary return of any person to a country in which there are substantial grounds for believing the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture.” This law implements a treaty, known as the Convention Against Torture, which the United States ratified more than three decades ago.

Federal regulations, moreover, provide that even after an immigration judge has determined that a noncitizen may be deported to another country, that judge’s order “shall not be executed in circumstances that would violate Article 3 of the United Nations Convention Against Torture.” And those regulations also establish a process that immigrants can use to raise concerns with an immigration judge that they may be tortured if sent to a specific country.

This story appeared in The Logoff, a daily newsletter that helps you stay informed about the Trump administration without letting political news take over your life. Subscribe here.

Welcome to The Logoff: President Donald Trump is sending troops to Los Angeles amid unrest over his immigration policies, a threat to civil liberties and another example of the president claiming that an emergency justifies a major expansion of his power.

After protests erupted in response to federal agents raiding businesses around Los Angeles to arrest immigrants, President Donald Trump quickly decided to dump fuel on the fire: On Saturday night, the president declared that he would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to the city.

Given that presidents usually only activate the National Guard upon a governor’s request, it’s an extraordinary step that bypasses California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority, since Newsom made no such appeal.