War of Words Over ICE Enforcement Continues Between CA, DC Officials

LOS ANGELES, CA — Some members of the Southern California Democratic congressional delegation lashed out Tuesday at the Trump Administration and accused federal immigration authorities of flouting the law by conducting warrant-less raids that have led to days of protests.

Rep. Norma Torres, D-Ontario and a former Los Angeles-area 911 dispatcher, accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement of "indiscriminately" carrying out "violent raids in California and illegally detaining people without warrants."

During a news conference in Washington, D.C., she and other congressional representatives called for an end to the immigration activity in the area. They also accused ICE officials of denying members of Congress their legal right to inspect immigration enforcement facilities in the Los Angeles area.

"The conditions that we have been told these migrants are being held under are nothing more than inhumane," Torres said.

"This is no longer about immigration policy, it is about human dignity and the rule of law," she said. "We are witnessing ICE ignoring federal laws designed to protect families. We are also seeing people going missing, families being torn apart and even American citizens being detained."

Rep. Jimmy Gomez, D-Los Angeles, said he was also denied access to an immigration facility, and he condemned the deployment of the National Guard to the city, saying such a move can't be made unless requested by the governor.

The comments of congressional representatives were part of the continued war of words between California elected officials and the presidential administration.

On Monday night, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller took to X to call out Gov. Gavin Newsom's suggestion that Los Angeles "didn't have a problem" until Trump got involved and dispatched the National Guard to the city.

"Your state is a criminal sanctuary for millions of illegal alien invaders, cartel killers, foreign terrorists, transnational gangs and insurrectionist mobs," Miller wrote. "Huge swaths of the city where I was born now resemble failed third world nations. A ruptured, balkanized society of strangers. When our courageous ICE officers, fighting to rescue your communities, came under violent organized attack you and the L.A. mayor left them, unforgivably, to fend for themselves. When the rioters swarmed, you handed over your streets, willingly. You still refuse to arrest and prosecute the arsonists, seditionists and insurrectionists. This Administration is fighting to save the city and the citizens you have left to struggle and suffer."

Newsom countered Tuesday morning, posting in response, "The only people defending insurrectionists are you and (Trump). Or are we pretending like you didn't pardon 1,500 of them?," in reference to the Jan. 6 U.S. Capitol pro-Trump rioters who were pardoned by Trump this year.

Trump himself took to social media Tuesday, again insisting that his deployment of the National Guard saved the city.

"If I didn't `send in the troops' to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground right now," he wrote, referring to Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass as "incompetent."

Bass on Monday night disputed Trump's claims that the National Guard deployment played any role in quelling protests, noting that the troops are in place solely to protect federal assets, such as the federal buildings in downtown Los Angeles and Westwood. She said the Los Angeles Police Department and other local authorities have been solely responsible for controlling protesters and rioters, and she said the violence in the streets is the result of "unnecessary" ICE raids.

"Stop the raids," she said. "This is creating fear and chaos in our city and it is unnecessary."

City News Service