Hundreds call for end to ICE raids

Hundreds of people gathered Saturday morning at downtown Los Angeles’ 6th Street Bridge to protest the Trump administration's immigration policies that have left many migrant communities shaken.

- BY JASMINE MENDEZ

“I LOVE all immigrants across the country, they don’t deserve to be treated like this,” one demonstrator said.

More than a dozen local unions, immigration rights organizations and elected officials gathered for “We the People Are Rising,” calling for an end to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, racial profiling and government attacks on freedom of speech — exemplified for many by the brief cancellation of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” which is recorded in Hollywood.

“Trump wants to silence voices,” said David Huerta, labor president of SEIU-USWW and SEIU Local 1000, who attended the rally as a keynote speaker. “He wants to silence the working people. He wants to silence the voice of immigrants. And so right now, we have to be louder and make sure our voices are heard.”

Huerta, who was detained and injured by federal agents while documenting a raid in June, described ICE’s tactics as “cruel.”

“The biggest difference between previous administrations and the current one is anger and cruelty,” he said. “They consider us an enemy within the country and weaponize the very government that’s supposed to represent us.”

Another rally participant, 21-year-old Yungsu Kim, noted that local businesses have been hit hard due to fears that federal agents could be waiting in the corner “to snatch you up.”