Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem deemed Los Angeles “a city of criminals” as protests continued on Monday night.
The latest demonstrations began when agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement carried out raids in the city’s garment district, seeking to arrest undocumented immigrants working in the area. ICE agents also conducted a sweep outside a Los Angeles Home Depot, looking to snatch up migrant laborers.
In response to the protests, President Donald Trump has federalized 4,000 National Guard soldiers and deployed 700 Marines to the Los Angeles area. California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have criticized the move, over which state Attorney General Rob Bonta has sued the Trump administration. The last time a president federalized a state National Guard over the objections of its governor was 1965, when Lyndon Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act to protect Civil Rights marchers in Alabama.
Conservatives have lauded the mobilization of soldiers in Los Angeles, which has long been a punching bag for right-wingers. Appearing on Monday’s Hannity, Noem dialed the criticism up a notch.
“Today, we had over 400 to 500 targets we were going after that were known members of gangs in L.A. that have been victimizing people for years, that Gavin Newsom has done absolutely nothing about, that Mayor Bass has done absolutely nothing about,” Noem said, taking issue with the fact that Bass said Los Angeles is a city of immigrants:
And
now she’s holding press conferences, talking about the fact that people have the right to peacefully protest and that they’re a city of immigrants.Well, they’re not a city of immigrants, they’re a city of criminals because she has protected them for so many years. And so, we’re coming in and doing what the president has said that he’s going to do and he’s going to allow people to live in a safe community again and we’re going to use the authority that he has as president of the United States to conduct these operations. And the more that people conduct of violence against law enforcement officers. Boy, we’re gonna hit them back and we’re gonna hit them back harder than we ever have before.
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