Trump calls LA protesters a security risk as the clash continues
The protesters clashed with police on a highway off-ramp in Los Angeles on the fifth day. President Trump called them a national security risk.
- Six months ago, Los Angeles County was hit hard by a devastating wildfire.
- The national spotlight is currently in the region amidst a fierce protest against federal immigration attacks.
- For some residents, all of that exacerbates the fear.
- “We are undoubtedly tackling collective sadness and frustration,” one resident told USA Today.
ALTADENA, CA – Uncertainty continues to rise in the Los Angeles suburbs, where scars and scorching scenery from wildfires remain.
Sergio Hernandez said this week that his 44-year-old family home was standing in a place burned out six months ago from a fatal wildfire, and from where protesters set fire to a self-driving Waymo taxi in downtown Los Angeles.
Hernandez’s sadness is getting worse now. The protests sparked by controversial attacks made by US immigration and customs enforcement across Los Angeles County further heightens fear in America’s largest county.
“I thought Covid was bad,” Hernandez, 43, told USA Today. “But no, I was wrong. This is much worse.”
Heading down the road, Eduardo Escobedo, 40, who runs his second-generation family-owned tree trimming service, shares similar sentiments.
“There’s a lot of uncertainty,” Escovedo said. “Many people don’t feel safe.”
In a year already interrupted by a devastating wildfire that took years to rebuild, emotionally exhausted Los Angeles County has returned to the unnecessary spotlight for almost a week, where anti-ice protests testing its character are testing.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom has accused President Donald Trump of intentionally inciting the county’s flames, accusing him of “pulling military dragees” on Los Angelenos by adding thousands of troops to the area, negating peaceful protesters and targeting hard-working immigrant families.
“Donald Trump’s government doesn’t protect our community. They’re hurting our community,” Newsom said. “And that seems to be the whole point.”
In his June 10 speech, the governor added that the president chose to play “public safety play,” and Trump is hurting many people in the process.
“This valiant abuse of power by a sitting president is at risk and at risk to our people, our officers, and even the National Guard,” Newsmom said. “That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled the deployment of the dangerous National Guard by inciting the flames even more vigorously, and he did it on purpose.”
Meanwhile, the president rebutted, saying he sent the National Guard for control he called “a rebelist, agitator or troublemaker whom he paid.”
“This should never have been allowed to start. If we weren’t involved, Los Angeles would be burned out right now,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on June 10, also remarking about the fatal wildfire. “Like the house burns out.”
For Christian Alana, a native of Los Angeles, when he was young, “it’s almost a tradition” is to attend protests and defend immigrant families.
“And now, over 30 years later, we’re doing the exact same thing, except we’re encountering a militaristic response,” says Alana, vice president of citizenship and policy at the nonprofit Latino Community Foundation. “The White House may call this confusion, but in this pain and sadness, I see hope. We want to see better from the government.”
“I’m sad enough already.”
The area here is still rebounding from the Pallisard and Eton fires that swept Altadena and the Pacific region earlier this year, killing at least 29 people and burning 37,000 acres (more than 57.8 square miles). There comes a stir and uncertainty from the undocumented ice attacks on residents and the protests that have led to occasional violence.
Los Angeles County manager Katherine Berger said it was hard to bear.
“We are undoubtedly tackling collective sadness and frustration,” Burger told USA Today. “But this isn’t the first time.”
The supervisors endured through civil unrest after the 1992 Rodney King riots, then rattled residents in 2020, protesting amid the public health crisis brought on by Covid-19.
“Every time, we felt like we were standing on the edge, and each time, Los Angeles County decided to pull out and move forward strongly,” Burger said. “We are an area that is defined by how we respond to them, not by the challenges we face.”
But even optimistic supervisors who are fighting wildfires, cleaning after the protest, “Even optimistic supervisors who add that they are just showing up to each other and whether their spirit and resolve are hopeful, know that it’s not easy.
Hernandez, the son of a Mexican immigrant who came to the US in the 1970s, said he was trying to rebuild his family’s Altadena home by rubbing his face and pulling a black bucket hat. You have permission to get it and you have an invoice to pay if the invoice moves forward.
“I don’t know what the future holds,” he said. “But I think we can do that.”
However, the self-employed screen printer said he was very concerned about the possibility of deporting friends from close family members.
“My close relatives don’t have the risk of being deported, but I know a lot of people who could potentially be deported,” he said, gloomy. “I hope we can understand something. That’s just not right.”
Hernandez said seeing images of Ice’s arrest and seeing and hearing sounds from the destructive protest hinders him. It causes a flashback from the wildfire as Hernandez points to the thick black mark on the driveway of his family’s home. He recalls the crackling and boom of an explosion car that was lit by flames as Eton tores his town.
“I just siren all night,” Hernandez said of the recurring pain. “…I don’t think we had time to recover from the fire.”
Tackling home loss is devastating, but it may be more unbearable for families who may face separation from undocumented relatives, said Patty Porter, an insurance inspector who was knocking on the doors of people who had escaped home in Altadena.
“That’s already sad enough,” said Porter, 65.
Palpable fear and pain
On the same day, Hernandez shared his grief with USA Today, with 700 US Marines arriving in Los Angeles. House Speaker Mike Johnson said Trump’s one big, beautiful bill act includes 10,000 new ice agents and billions of dollars to deport each year.
Los Angeles City and the county will become ripe targets for those seeking crackdowns and reform. About a third of Los Angeles County’s 10 million residents are born in another country, with a lack of documentation to help one in ten people stay legally, according to the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank.
A 2023 survey by the University of Southern California found that many undocumented parents are U.S. citizens and have children that are about 16% of the county’s child population. These statistics have unfairly disprove Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement in this heaven of immigration, Alana said.
The same USC study also shows that a roadmap to US citizenship could result in an increase of between $1.5 and $2.6 billion in annual income, which is currently undocumented.
A 2024 survey showed that, in 2022, undocumented Californians paid state and local taxes to approximately $8.5 billion, according to estimates from the Institute for Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). This figure is paid indirectly through sales and excise taxes paid on purchases, property taxes paid at home, or rent, personal income tax, unemployment tax, and other types of taxes.
Despite their contributions and support, this is all at risk, Alana said before attending a prayer vigil for them on June 10, featuring Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and local clergy.
“You have to understand the fear (of undocumented residents), and that’s obvious fear and pain,” Alana said. “They don’t want to leave their homes, go out to work, send their children to school, miss out on planned doctor appointments, or go shopping for grocery items.
That fear can be felt in places like Los Angeles and elsewhere, but many Americans support a more stringent deportation policy. A CBS News/YouGov poll in early June said 54% of Americans supported Trump’s deportation policy, while 50% approved how immigrants were treated. Additionally, more than 40% of Americans who voted for it said they believe Trump’s crackdown makes the country safer. The poll was conducted just before Trump ordered National Guard forces to LA
Rather than focusing on undocumented criminals and public safety threats, Escovedo believes that broad targeting of ice is affecting Hispanics from all classes.
“If you’re really doing something bad, there should be consequences, but those trying to support their families to chase the working class will go overboard,” Escovedo said. “That’s something I disagree with.”
He said it’s not the division that makes Los Angeles so unique, it’s the diversity.
“Everyone is grateful here,” Escovedo said. “Even if we don’t agree with each other, that’s what makes Los Angeles so beautiful. We can agree that we don’t agree, and we still respect each other. What’s wrong with that?”
While their resilience was being tested, Burger said the county had found the strength to pull out.
“This year we’re leaving scars and creating new ones,” Burger said. “But I really believe Los Angeles County will be on the top, and we do that all the time.”