After escalating incidents of violence involving federal agents taking part in the Trump administration\u2019s immigration crackdown, officials are looking to create \u201cICE-free\u201d zones in L.A. County. <\/p>\n
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to bar immigration enforcement officers from county-owned spaces. <\/p>\n
Lindsay Horvath, the District 3 supervisor, announced the motion to establish county property as \u201cU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement-free\u201d zones, prohibiting agents from staging, processing or operating in those areas. <\/p>\n
\u201cLos Angeles County will not allow its property to be used as a staging ground for violence caused by the Trump administration,\u201d Horvath said at the Tuesday Board of Supervisors meeting.<\/p>\n
The motion instructs county counsel to draft an ordinance for board consideration within 30 days. <\/p>\n
The Times reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment but did not receive a response by publication. <\/p>\n
Since June 6, when immigration enforcement officials descended on the region \u2014 raiding four businesses including<\/a> a fast-fashion warehouse in downtown Los Angeles and detaining dozens \u2014 to the first month of 2026, Horvath said, \u201cfederal immigration enforcement has too often escalated into extreme violence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOur federal government is freely, without cause, murdering its own citizens in broad daylight,\u201d she said, \u201cin front of witnesses and cameras.\u201d<\/p>\n The action comes after multiple incidents of violence in California as well as last week\u2019s fatal shooting in Minnesota<\/a> of 37-year-old Renee Good by a federal immigration agent, which spurred an outcry across the country. Good, a mother of three, has been portrayed by government officials as a domestic terrorist who tried to run down an agent with her vehicle. State and local officials in Minneapolis have rejected those claims. <\/p>\n On Friday in Southern California, a 21-year-old protester underwent six hours of surgery<\/a> after a Department of Homeland Security agent fired a nonlethal round at close range at him during a protest. The protester is shown in video, his face covered in blood, being dragged by the neck by an agent. He suffered a fractured skull around his eyes and nose and permanently lost the vision in his left eye, according to family.<\/p>\n An off-duty ICE agent fatally shot Keith Porter Jr.<\/a> at a Northridge apartment complex on New Year\u2019s Eve. The officer suspected that Porter was an \u201cactive shooter,\u201d according to Homeland Security. Porter was firing<\/a> an assault-style rifle in what family members said was an act of celebration on New Year\u2019s Eve. <\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s really important for our communities to understand what we\u2019re saying is, you don\u2019t have the right to come in and harass people without a federal warrant,\u201d said Hilda Solis, District 1 supervisor and co-author with Horvath of the motion. \u201cIf [federal agents] use our property to stage, then you need to show us documentation, a federal warrant, to back that up.\u201d<\/p>\n Solis said she hoped city councils and other jurisdictions would be motivated to adopt their own ordinance to create \u201cICE-free\u201d zones.<\/p>\n Prior to President Trump taking office in 2025, ICE agents were prohibited from conducting arrests and other enforcement activity in sensitive locations, including places of worship, schools and hospitals. <\/p>\n A Homeland Security directive from Jan. 20, 2025, superseded that practice, saying that officers taking enforcement action in a sensitive location should use \u201cdiscretion along with a healthy dose of common sense.\u201d<\/a> <\/p>\n Bay Area officials are also considering the adoption of \u201cICE-free\u201d zones. Alameda County officials introduced a proposal for these designated zones in November; on Thursday, officials will incorporate feedback from the county\u2019s sheriff, district attorney, probation department, and public defender, the Oaklandside reported<\/a>. <\/p>\n