Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out multiple arrests in the Los Angeles area during the Fourth of July holiday, as part of an ongoing immigration crackdown. Over recent months, the agency has detained more than 1,600 individuals in Southern California, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Among those arrested on Independence Day were two long-standing car wash employees and a well-known local food vendor who runs a birria stand, the newspaper reported.
Speaking to NBC 4 LA, the son of one of the detainees expressed confusion over the actions taken by ICE. “He’s not a criminal,” he said. “He wasn’t doing anything wrong. He just showed up to work on the Fourth of July.”
Criticism from local authorities and public protests
Officials from West Hollywood voiced concern about the timing and nature of the raids. In a statement published on the city’s website, they said: “On a day meant to honour the ideals of liberty, democracy, and freedom from oppression, we are instead confronted with a troubling example of federal overreach. Independence Day should be a moment for reflection, not fear.”
Protests against ICE continued over the holiday. Five individuals were arrested during demonstrations in downtown Los Angeles, according to Los Angeles Times reports.
In a separate act of protest, supporters of the LA Galaxy football club walked out of a match on Friday, criticising the club’s ownership for not speaking out publicly in support of immigrant communities. Fans also held up a banner reading, “Fight Ignorance, Not Immigrants.”
Expanded funding and controversial new detention centre
Earlier that week, ICE agents conducted operations at three Home Depot locations across the Los Angeles area, leading to the arrest of 37 individuals, according to KTLA.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed a major spending and tax bill into law on Independence Day, during an event held for military families. The legislation allocates approximately $45 billion over the next four years to fund ICE’s immigration enforcement activities.
This funding supports Mr Trump’s pledge to implement what he has described as the “largest deportation programme in American history.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, told Democracy Now! that the scale of funding is unprecedented. “This represents nearly 20 years’ worth of detention spending compressed into just four years. It dramatically expands ICE’s budget and capacity to carry out mass deportations nationwide.”
President Trump also visited a newly constructed ICE detention facility in Florida, informally dubbed “Alligator Alcatraz.” During his visit, he stated that the centre would house “some of the most menacing migrants, some of the most vicious people on the planet.”
A YouGov poll conducted around the same time found that nearly half of Americans disapprove of the new detention centre.
