LOS ANGELES — Federal immigration authorities raided three locations across the city on Friday, officials said, in “chaotic” action that drew immediate rebuke from local lawmakers and a distanced response from L.A. law enforcement.
“Today, ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three location in central Los Angeles,” a statement from Homeland Security Investigations said.
As federal agents — often wearing camouflage and bulletproof vests with their faces covered — burst into buildings, protesters and supporters soon showed up, creating tense scenes throughout the city.
Witnesses reported tear gas being employed at least one of the locations to clear a path for federal agents to take in their prisoners.
“Approximately 44 people” were administratively arrested and one person was arrested on an obstruction charge, the HSI statement said.
Gov. Gavin Newsom strongly denounced the raids.
“Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel,” Newsom said in a statement. “Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy.”
Among those arrested was SEIU California President David Huerta, who represents an estimated 750,000 service workers across the state. He was booked by federal law enforcement at the site of one of the raids, according to Bill Essayli, the L.A.-based U.S. attorney for the Central District of California.
“David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle,” he said on X Friday night. “He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.”
The labor union said Huerta was released from a hospital Friday afternoon after being transported for unknown reasons. He remained in custody early Friday evening, it said in a statement. The union said he was “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity” when he was taken into custody.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass visited Huerta in the hospital and spoke to NBC Los Angeles afterward.
“He is doing OK physically, but I know what really impacted him the most was the emotional trauma of watching parents and kids being separated,” she said.
Among the sites targeted by federal agents was clothing manufacturer, importer and wholesaler Ambiance Apparel in the city’s Fashion District, Essayli told NBC Los Angeles.
The agents served a search warrant and were looking for “fictitious employee documents,” Essayli said.
A representative for Ambiance Apparel could not be immediately reached for comment on Friday.
U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., called the ICE action “a continuation of a disturbing pattern of extreme and cruel immigration enforcement.”
“These indiscriminate raids prove once again that the Trump administration cares about nothing but instilling harm and fear in our communities to drive immigrants into the shadows,” Padilla, a Los Angeles native and the son of Mexican immigrants, said in a statement.
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell and Sheriff Robert Luna were both quick to state that their personnel had no role in the federal action.
