DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) — The Los Angeles City Council is looking for ways to mitigate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and support immigrant communities.<\/p>\n
One proposal they are considering requires Los Angeles police to verify the identity of masked agents.<\/p>\n
After months of raids, immigrant rights groups visited Los Angeles City Hall on Tuesday to ask for help.<\/p>\n
“There is an indiscriminate dragnet unleashed by the federal government upon immigrant Latino communities in Los Angeles, and it is violating individual civil and constitutional rights, irrespective of immigration status and endangering public safety,” said Angelica Salas from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA).<\/p>\n
Salas says more than 4,200 individuals have been detained so far. CHIRLA officials are very upset that three raids have occurred at the same Home Depot location in the West Lake District. The latest incident was the so-called “Trojan horse raid,” where agents jumped out of a Penske truck.<\/a><\/p>\n Several people were reportedly taken into custody after federal agents stormed a Home Depot parking lot in the Westlake area of Los Angeles Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n “These agents had no warrants and no right to chase our day laborers and street vendors like animals. Our community ran for their lives. We had men and women running, falling in the streets, and getting hurt,” said Martha Ar\u00e9valo from the Central American Resource Center (CARECEN).<\/p>\n Officials from the immigrant rights groups went to city hall to brief council members on the impacts the raids are having all over the city. The city council says it wants more transparency to know who is making the arrests.<\/p>\n “These federal agents enforcing immigration laws continue to shield their identity and refuse to provide basic information as to who they are. Some identify as Border Patrol, others as ICE, others as DEA, others as FBI, ATF, and U.S. Marshals,” Salas said.<\/p>\n The city council is now considering several proposals, including support for small businesses and eviction prevention. It comes as they’re dealing with a big budget crisis.<\/p>\n “Sometimes we need to reassess our investments to meet the moment. Before the budget, we weren’t in these federal enforcement immigration raids,” said Los Angeles Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez.<\/p>\n