 "What triggered the Los Angeles immigration protests? A rumour")
Los Angeles is in turmoil right now.
People are on the streets, cars are on fire and the National Guard has been deployed.
Democratic representatives including California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have taken US President Donald Trump to task over his actions to deploy the National Guard, claiming that he has violated state sovereignty.
But what happened at the hardware store at the centre of the protests?
Let’s take a closer look
What happened?
It all began around 9 am on Saturday in the working-class Latino suburb of Paramount. Border agents were reportedly seen across the street from the Home Depot store.
This came a day after federal agents arrested immigrants in the parking lot of a hardware store in Los Angeles as well as several other locations.
Soon, videos of agents purportedly near the store went viral. Firstpost has not independently verified the veracity of these videos.
There were also reports of raids being conducted at the Home Depot – where illegal immigrants often congregate to find work – and of arrests being made.
However, the border agents weren’t actually at the store – instead, they had gathered inside a gated industrial office park.
Soon, the site became a magnet for protesters. People driving by honked their horns In protest. The Home Depot quickly closed for the day.
As per Los Angeles Times, José Luis Solache Jr of the California State Assembly was on his way to an event when he spotted border patrol vehicles.
Solache, whose parents immigrated to the US from Guanajuato, Mexico, followed the caravan to the Paramount Business Center – which is right across the street from the Home Depot.
“I saw a border agent get off the freeway here off of Alondra. I was like, No, it can’t be happening,” Solache said on Instagram.
“This is horrible,” he added. “I am literally shaking.”
“I don’t know what they’re doing inside. But, I mean, why were they in Paramount?” he asked.
“This is the situation,” Solache told his followers. “The community is coming out strong to show that they are not welcome in our community. “No en mi distrito. Not in my district. Vámonos pa’ fuera (let’s go, get out of here).”
Meanwhile protesters and authorities faced off.
Demonstrators began throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, while the border agents employed flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets and pepper spray against the crowd.
“What the hell are you doing?! Nobody’s hurting you, nobody’s doing anything but making noise, are you intimidated by f— noise?!” one protestor was heard yelling at the agents, as per Los Angeles Times.
The protest was declared an unlawful assembly around 4 pm – crowds were ordered to disperse in both English and Spanish.
However, the clashes continued late into the night with multiple fires being set and at least one car being torched.
The protesters began dispersing only around midnight.
Meanwhile US President Donald Trump called in the National Guard.
Trump invoked a legal provision allowing him to deploy federal service members when there is ”a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
In doing so Trump usurped the authority of Newsom – who as California governor is technically in charge of the National Guard.
Authorities claim to have made multiple arrests.
“Multiple arrests have already been made for obstructing our operations,” FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino wrote on X. “More are coming. We are pouring through the videos for more perpetrators. You bring chaos, and we’ll bring handcuffs.”
The rumours continue to do the rounds in Los Angeles.
“No-one really knows what happened. Everyone is afraid,” Juan, who was in the parking lot of the Home Depot, told the BBC.
Los Angeles resident Dora Sanchez called the development a “breaking point” for the entire community.
Maria Gutierrez, who was part of the protests, added, “It was time to stand up. These are my people. This is LA. It touches us all. Everyone has family or knows someone who doesn’t have papers.”
Raid or no raid?
Interestingly, the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has dismissed the reports of a raid on the Home Depot store on Saturday as misinformation.
“Despite false reports, there was no ICE ‘raid’ at a Home Depot in LA,” the DHS told the BBC.
The DHS added that authorities were using the location “as a staging area and rioters found it”.
They claim to have arrested 118 illegal immigrants in the Los Angeles this week, including five suspected gang members.
Fox News reporter Bill Melugin of Fox News cited federal sources as saying that, contrary to local claims, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had not conducted raids on the Home Depot.
“Per federal sources, despite local claims, there was no ICE “raid” at a Home Depot in LA today. DHS has a nearby office in Paramount that they are using as a staging area. Protesters found it and began gathering. ICE will conduct targeted enforcement around LA today, serving criminal judicial warrants and enforcing final orders of removal/deportation orders,” Melugin wrote on X.
Meanwhile, Newsom has urged Trump to remove the National Guard from Los Angeles.
Newsom in a letter to Trump called the development a “serious breach of state sovereignty.”
Newsom has has received support from Mayor Karen Bass.
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,” she said in an afternoon press conference. “This is about another agenda, this isn’t about public safety,” Bass said.
However, the White House seems to be undeterred.
Trump on Sunday said he had deployed 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles.
He said there were “violent people” in Los Angeles “and they’re not gonna get away with it.”
“We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden,” Trump added.
“It’s a bald-faced lie for Newsom to claim there was no problem in Los Angeles before President Trump got involved,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said.
Ex-Vice-President Kamala Harris, a resident of Los Angeles, said the immigration arrests and Guard deployment were designed as part of a “cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.”
She said she supports those “standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.”
With inputs from agencies
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