Immigrant-rights groups tell Los Angeles City Council raids are terrorizing communities; urge emergency aid and legal support

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), told the Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday that federal immigration enforcement actions have become a “dragnet” across the region and are violating residents’ constitutional rights.

“There is an indiscriminate dragnet unleashed by the federal government upon immigrant Latino communities in Los Angeles, and it is violating individual veil and constitutional rights irrespective of immigration status and endangering public safety,” Salas said at a packed council hearing where community groups, council members and legal advocates described weeks of raids and arrests.

The presentation drew sustained testimony from immigrant legal advocates, who documented large numbers of enforcement actions and urged the council to take immediate steps to protect families and small businesses. The council approved related motions calling for a city response and for policy measures to protect residents.

Why it matters: advocates said the raids are deterring people from working, schooling and accessing services; they asked the city to expand legal representation, provide emergency assistance for families and small businesses, and press LAPD to uphold constitutional protections when federal agents operate in the city.

CHIRLA, the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) and the ACLU of Southern California said their networks have documented hundreds of incidents since June. Salas said CHIRLA’s Los Angeles rapid-response network includes “over 30 organizations and labor unions and more than a 300 volunteers,” and that the network’s hotline recorded 1,916 sightings of immigration agents and 667 witnessed…