{"id":53843,"date":"2025-07-10T10:13:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-10T10:13:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53843\/"},"modified":"2025-07-10T10:13:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-10T10:13:10","slug":"as-l-a-reels-white-house-sees-grand-success-in-novel-crackdown-tactics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/53843\/","title":{"rendered":"As L.A. reels, White House sees ‘grand success’ in novel crackdown tactics"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0National Guard troops and immigration agents on horseback, clad in green uniforms and tactical gear, trotted into MacArthur Park on Monday, surrounding the iconic square with armored vehicles in a show of force widely denounced as gratuitous<\/a>. The enforcement operation produced few tangible results that day. But the purpose of the display was unmistakable.<\/p>\n

Newsletter <\/p>\n

You’re reading the L.A. Times Politics newsletter<\/p>\n

George Skelton and Michael Wilner cover the insights, legislation, players and politics you need to know in 2024. In your inbox Monday and Thursday mornings. <\/p>\n

Enter email address <\/p>\n

Sign Me Up <\/p>\n

You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. <\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s monthlong operation in Los Angeles, which began on June 6 with flash raids at work sites and culminated days later with Trump\u2019s deployment of Marines and the Guard, continues to pay political dividends to a president who had been in search of the perfect foil on his signature issue since retaking office, officials close to the president told The Times.<\/p>\n

At first, officials in the West Wing thought the operation might last only a week or two. But Trump\u2019s team now says the ongoing spectacle has proven a resounding political success with few downsides. Thus far, the administration has managed to fend off initial court challenges, maintain arrests at a steady clip, and generate images of a ruthless crackdown in a liberal bastion that delight the president\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

It may be premature for the president to declare political victory. Anger over the operation has swelled, prompting activism across California. And signs have emerged that the White House may be misreading Trump\u2019s election mandate and the political moment, with new polls showing public sentiment turning nationwide on the president\u2019s increasingly aggressive enforcement tactics.<\/p>\n

The city has struggled to cope, hobbled by an unpopular mayor and a nationally divisive governor who have been unable to meaningfully respond to the unprecedented federal effort. But the raids have also provided California\u2019s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, with an opportunity to fill a leadership vacuum as his party grapples to find its footing in the resistance.<\/p>\n

Lawsuits could still change the course of the operation. A crucial hearing set for Thursday in a case that could challenge the constitutionality<\/a> of the operation itself. <\/p>\n

But critics say the pace of litigation has failed to meet the urgency of the moment, just as the president\u2019s aides weigh whether to replicate their L.A. experiment elsewhere<\/a> throughout the country.<\/p>\n

To Trump, a gift that keeps on giving<\/p>\n

Trump has succeeded in the most significant legal case thus far, with the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals allowing him to maintain control<\/a> of the California National Guard. Troops remain on L.A. streets despite protests that the administration cited to justify their deployment in the first place ending weeks ago<\/a>. And the administration has put the city on the defensive<\/a> in a suit over the legality of its sanctuary city policy.<\/p>\n

One White House official told The Times that the administration\u2019s aggressive, experimental law enforcement tactics in Los Angeles have proven a \u201cgrand success,\u201d in part because national media coverage of the ongoing crisis has largely moved on, normalizing what is happening there.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the White House said the administration\u2019s mission in the city is focused on detaining migrants with violent criminal records, despite reporting by The Times indicating that a majority of individuals arrested<\/a> in the first weeks of the operation were not convicted criminals.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump is fulfilling his promise to remove dangerous, criminal illegal aliens from American communities \u2014 especially sanctuary cities like L.A. that provide safe harbor to criminal illegals and put American citizens at risk,\u201d said Abigail Jackson, a White House spokesperson. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne month later it\u2019s clear, President Trump is doing his job to protect American citizens and federal law enforcement,\u201d Jackson added. \u201cBut Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have enabled violent rioters who attacked federal law enforcement, protected violent criminal illegal aliens, and betrayed the trust put in them by the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s use of Los Angeles as a testing ground to demonstrate raw presidential power has shown his team just how much a unitary executive can get away with. Masked agents snatching migrants has sent a chill through the city<\/a> and its economy<\/a>, but there is no end in sight for the operation, with one Homeland Security official telling The Times it would only intensify going forward. <\/p>\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection have arrested nearly 2,800 people<\/a> in the L.A. area since the crackdown began.<\/p>\n

This week, California Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat, introduced a bill with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey that would bar immigration officers from wearing masks and require them to display clear identification while on the job. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey wouldn\u2019t be saying that if they didn\u2019t hate our country,\u201d Trump said Wednesday, responding to the legislation, \u201cand they obviously do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump could still face setbacks<\/p>\n

The 9th Circuit ruling last month, allowing Trump to maintain temporary control over the California National Guard, thwarted momentum for Trump\u2019s opponents hoping for a decisive early victory against the operation in federal court.<\/p>\n

But a case brought by the American Civil Liberties Union and joined by the city of Los Angeles, set for arguments in court on Thursday, addresses the core of the raids themselves and could deal a significant policy blow to the Trump administration. The ACLU has found success in another case<\/a>, over raids conducted earlier this year by Border Patrol in the Central Valley, using similar arguments that claimed its tactics were unconstitutional.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is far too early to say that challenge has been thwarted,\u201d said Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at UCLA School of Law. <\/p>\n

But Arulanantham argued that city and state officials have demonstrated a lack of leadership in the pace of their response to an urgent crisis.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is much more local leaders could be doing to challenge the unlawful actions the federal government is taking against their residents,\u201d he added. \u201cThe state also could have sued but did not \u2014 they sued to challenge the guard deployment, but not the ICE raids themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The raids have generated favorable coverage for the administration on right-wing media, presenting the crackdown as Trump finally bringing the fight over immigration to the heart of liberal America. But it is unclear whether Americans agree with his tactics. <\/p>\n

Polls released last month<\/a> from Economist\/YouGov and NPR\/PBS News\/Marist found that while a plurality of Americans still support Trump\u2019s overall approach to immigration, a majority believes that ICE has gone too far in its deportation efforts.<\/p>\n

Newsom, speaking this week in South Carolina, a crucial state in the Democratic presidential primary calendar, suggested he saw the president\u2019s potential overreach as a political opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re now raiding the farms,\u201d he told a crowd. \u201cQuite literally, federal agents running through the fields.\u201d <\/p>\n

The governor told the story of a teenage boy from Oxnard whose parents disappeared in a federal raid, despite having no criminal records, leaving their son helpless and alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s America,\u201d he said, \u201cTrump\u2019s America.\u201d<\/p>\n

What else you should be reading<\/p>\n

The must-read:<\/b> Stephen Miller finally gets his revenge on L.A.<\/a>
The deep dive:<\/b> Kidnappers or ICE agents? LAPD grapples with surge in calls from concerned citizens<\/a>
The L.A. Times Special:<\/b> Most nabbed in L.A. raids were men with no criminal conviction, picked up off the street<\/a> <\/p>\n

More to come,
Michael Wilner
\u2014
Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here<\/a> to get it in your inbox. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON\u00a0\u2014\u00a0National Guard troops and immigration agents on horseback, clad in green uniforms and tactical gear, trotted into MacArthur…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":53844,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[6502,1582,276,35851,35850,35852,25742,16665,472,26772,2961,224,5337,35856,35855,35854,6176,35853,278,16966],"class_list":{"0":"post-53843","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-biden","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-court-pick","12":"tag-essential-politics","13":"tag-first-black-woman","14":"tag-gender","15":"tag-high-court","16":"tag-history","17":"tag-jefferson","18":"tag-la","19":"tag-los-angeles","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-media-coverage","22":"tag-nominee","23":"tag-political-criticism","24":"tag-race","25":"tag-stereotypes","26":"tag-supreme-court","27":"tag-women"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114828411271583181","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53843","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=53843"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53843\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53844"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53843"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53843"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53843"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}