{"id":14674,"date":"2025-06-25T22:42:16","date_gmt":"2025-06-25T22:42:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14674\/"},"modified":"2025-06-25T22:42:16","modified_gmt":"2025-06-25T22:42:16","slug":"official-criticized-for-appearing-to-call-on-gangs-to-intervene-in-immigration-raids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/14674\/","title":{"rendered":"Official criticized for appearing to call on gangs to intervene in immigration raids"},"content":{"rendered":"

CUDAHY, Calif. (AP) \u2014 The vice mayor of a tiny Southern California city is under fire after appearing to call on street gangs to organize in the face of immigration sweeps<\/a> by federal agents in and around Los Angeles.<\/p>\n

In a video post on social media that has since been deleted, Cynthia Gonzalez, vice mayor of Cudahy, referenced two well-known street gangs and questioned why gang members were not protesting or speaking up about the immigration raids. She said ordinary citizens are the ones on the streets protesting the presence of federal agents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys tag everything up, claiming hood, and now that your hood\u2019s being invaded by the biggest gang there is, there ain\u2019t a peep out of you,\u201d Gonzalez said.<\/p>\n

She referenced \u201c18th Street\u201d and \u201cFlorence,\u201d two infamous street gangs, and appeared to be speaking directly to their members. She said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are \u201crunning amok all up in your streets.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re out there fighting our turf, protecting our turf, protecting our people and, like, where you at?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The video comes as President Donald Trump\u2019s administration has aggressively stepped up immigration arrests in the Los Angeles area in recent weeks<\/a>. Agents from ICE, as well as Border Patrol, have been seen arresting and detaining people at their workplaces, and Trump has deployed the National Guard and Marines to protect federal buildings and guard officers making arrests.<\/p>\n

The Department of Homeland Security called Gonzalez\u2019s comments \u201cdespicable\u201d and said the remarks will contribute to rising assaults against federal ICE agents.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe calls for criminal gangs \u2014 including the vicious 18th street gang \u2014 to commit violence against our brave U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement law enforcement,\u201d the department said in a post on X that included Gonzalez\u2019s video. \u201cSecretary Noem has been clear: If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gonzalez did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

According to her biography on the city\u2019s website, Gonzalez grew up in nearby Huntington Park, the daughter of immigrant parents. She has two daughters.<\/p>\n

She received a bachelor\u2019s degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara. She later earned two master\u2019s degrees in education from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she also earned an educational leadership doctorate, the website said.<\/p>\n

Gonzalez has worked for the Los Angeles Unified School District as a teacher and school principal in the LA area and is currently the director of pilot schools support and innovation, the biography said.<\/p>\n

It says Gonzalez \u201cis passionate about creating healthy and safe communities that allow students and families to lead healthy and meaningful lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

The school district said in an emailed statement, \u201cAs of June 1, 2025, Cynthia Gonzales has been on a leave of absence. We are aware of the situation and are looking into it in accordance with district policy. However, due to the confidentiality of personnel matters, we are unable to further comment on this.\u201d <\/p>\n

The city of Cudahy said in a statement Tuesday that it was aware of the video.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe comments made by the Vice Mayor reflect her personal views and do not represent the views or official position of the City of Cudahy,\u201d the statement read. \u201cThe City will not be providing further comment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cudahy is a Los Angeles suburb that\u2019s home to 22,000 residents, about 10 miles (16.09 kilometers) south of downtown LA. According to U.S. Census data, 97% of residents are of Hispanic heritage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CUDAHY, Calif. (AP) \u2014 The vice mayor of a tiny Southern California city is under fire after appearing…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":14675,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2064,2059,276,13138,69,57,409,224,50,80,2065,61,67,370,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-14674","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-border-security","10":"tag-ca-state-wire","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-cynthia-gonzalez","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-immigration","16":"tag-los-angeles","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-politics","19":"tag-u-s-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","20":"tag-u-s-news","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-government","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114746422011207221","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}