As Los Angeles protesters continue to organize against ICE operations, they said they are met with aggression from both DHS and L.A. police.
Most are released quickly, but these confrontations highlight ongoing tensions over immigration enforcement and civil rights in the city.
Community organizations in Los Angeles raised nearly $200,000 to help nearly 150 food vendors and day laborers stay home and pay their bills during ICE raids.
Capital & Main spoke with vendors who have been able to pay rent and afford groceries for a month through these efforts.
But the funds have stopped coming, and organizers say lawmakers must push for longer term protections as workers return to work.
After a century of operation, an oil refinery in a Los Angeles neighborhood is closing. But residents of Wilmington fear the company, Phillips 66, won't fully clean up vast tracts of polluted land and water.
As California predicts more refinery closures due to rising electric vehicle sales, residents want the state to develop a plan for closing refineries.
The Los Angeles Police Department's response to anti-ICE protests, which has already resulted in litigation, is putting additional stress on the city’s budget.
Since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began conducting workplace immigration raids across Southern California on June 6, the LAPD have arrested 575 people at the resulting protests.
Their use of crowd-control weapons on press and protesters have also resulted in significant injuries.
Capital & Main review of local reporting, video and social media posts found at least nine citizens were taken into custody by agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement or U.S. Customs and Border Protection after protesting near or observing immigration raids in the Los Angeles area since June 6.
Two are currently facing federal charges.
LAPD arrested Anthony Orendorff while he was documenting an immigration raid in Pacoima and detained him for four days before his charges were dropped.
His arrest is part of a growing threat to press rights violations, media advocates say.
Los Angeles Police Department officers have arrested hundreds and injured dozens of people protesting or documenting federal immigration enforcement.
Since 1979, the LAPD has prohibited its officers from initiating police action to determine someone’s immigration status, but many people point to the LAPD’s blocking of traffic and arresting of protesters and journalists as evidence of their collaboration with federal immigration agents.
The LAPD has repeatedly denied such allegations.