Major ICE Operation Underway in Los Angeles, Hundreds Could Be Rounded Up

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are reportedly in the process of a large-scale sweep in the Los Angeles area. Make no mistake that LA is the belly of the beast when it comes to illegal aliens and with the presence of untold numbers of street gangs, it is a potential motherlode for rounding up those with criminal records.

Latino activists are already complaining that any such operation could potentially include many who don’t have criminal records but since the local authorities are refusing to cooperate with ICE due to the state’s guerilla war against the Trump administration there is little way to avoid this inconvenience.

There is no official announcement from ICE as the sweep is ongoing and details will be provided upon completion.

ICE launches new immigration sweeps in L.A. area; at least 100 detained so far https://t.co/Mmf9kf1ubo pic.twitter.com/OqccB4kEtL

— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) February 14, 2018

Via the Los Angeles Times “ICE launches new immigration sweep in L.A. area; at least 100 detained so far”:

Federal officials are in the midst of an immigration enforcement operation in the Los Angeles area and have so far detained more than 100 people suspected of being in violation of immigration laws.

The sweep, which began Sunday, is focusing on “individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security,” Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez said.

“This means that, ideally, we are working with local police and county jails to identify public safety threats in their custody, who are also in the country illegally, for deportation,” Rodriguez said in a written statement.

But “uncooperative jurisdictions” such as Los Angeles, she said, have forced ICE agents to “conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at greater risk, and increasing the incidence of collateral arrests.”

“That is what ICE is now doing in Los Angeles, and what ICE will continue to do in uncooperative jurisdictions,” Rodriguez said.

The Los Angeles Police Department and many other California law enforcement agencies have said they will not cooperate with ICE on sweeps. The LAPD has long had a policy that prevents officers from asking people about their immigration status, a rule designed to encourage those here illegally to cooperate with law enforcement in criminal investigations.

Rodriguez said the agency would not release additional information about the ongoing sweep until it came to a close. She wouldn’t say when that would be.

The operation is taking place in the agency’s Los Angeles area of responsibility, which includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Ventura, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties.

The absence of local cooperation only makes ICE’s job more dangerous and is solely based on antipathy towards Trump and a lingering bitterness over the inconvenient truth for California liberals that the Electoral College worked. The Justice Department has floated the trial balloon about prosecuting politicians of sanctuary cities but that would surely result in the mayors and other anti-Trump officials in those locales to dig in even deeper.

Hey, it sucks if non-criminals get caught up in the net but California authorities have nobody to blame but themselves for their allowing politics to interfere with the very real issue of the safety of their citizens.