Ongoing operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Los Angeles have reportedly caused members of the city’s Latino community to go into hiding, with one individual stating: “It feels like Anne Frank.”
Just a month after protests ignited against ICE’s actions in L.A. – prompting President Donald Trump to deploy the National Guard and active-duty Marines to restore order against the preferences of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass – a climate of “insanity and terror” prevails, as reported by The Wrap.
The report references anecdotal accounts from locals who claim that both documented and undocumented Latino residents are choosing to skip work and remain indoors.
Doing otherwise risks detention by armed agents in tactical gear, who have been raiding homes, businesses, and even medical facilities with “faces covered, no warrants, and no identification” over the past month.
The Department of Homeland Security reports that over 1,600 immigrants were apprehended in southern California in the two weeks leading up to June 25, amounting to 101 arrests per day in support of Trump’s promise of the largest mass deportation effort in American history made during his campaign last year.
The report features a local father who is struggling to find childcare because his nanny is too frightened to come to work, as well as business owners of car washes, grocery stores, and restaurants throughout the city claiming they have had to close down to protect their employees, whom they believe are being unfairly targeted.
“People are staying home. It feels very frightening out there right now,” stated immigration attorney Jaclyn Granet.
“It’s deeply concerning to see this unfold as a human and also as an immigrant attorney who collaborates with foreign talent. I advocate for the notion that America thrives with a diverse community within its borders.
“It truly seems like this campaign of mass ICE raids and mass detention is profoundly short-sighted… If you’re targeting the farms, the restaurants – how much longer until a restaurant closes, or until we end up without certain crops?”
She continued: “Do I believe this level of force is needed? Absolutely not. That is part of the chaos and fear tactics intended to be communicated through these raids. Part of Trump’s strategy is to instigate confusion.”
Residents have been actively sharing videos of confrontations between agents and citizens on social media, aiming to capture what they perceive as harassment and intimidation occurring in their neighborhoods.
With tensions escalating, Cynthia Gonzalez, the vice mayor of Cudahy, a city southeast of L.A., faced calls for her resignation last week for challenging the infamous 18th Street and Florencia gangs to support local residents in standing up to ICE, which she referred to in an Instagram video as “the biggest gang there is.”
Gonzalez later released a statement through her attorney clarifying that she “in no way encouraged anyone to engage in violence.”
