At a information convention Thursday, Mayor Karen Bass made a startling declare.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement brokers had appeared at a homeless shelter that day, amongst different delicate places in Los Angeles, she stated.
However what really occurred on the Whitsett West Tiny House Village in North Hollywood stays murky. The shifting narratives mirror the anxiousness of Angelenos amid ICE raids focusing on immigrants at House Depots, church buildings and retail facilities.
In L.A., a “sanctuary metropolis” the place native officers don’t take part in federal immigration enforcement, tensions with the federal authorities are at an all-time excessive. After some protests towards the raids turned violent, the Trump administration referred to as within the Nationwide Guard and the U.S. Marines.
With federal officers holding town in the dead of night on immigration enforcement actions, Metropolis Council members and the mayor typically depend on the rumor mill.
ICE’s mother or father company, the Division of Homeland Safety, rapidly responded to Bass’ feedback, saying they had been “false.”
“[ICE] will not be in homeless shelters,” the company wrote on X. “This rhetoric from [the mayor] and California politicians demonizes the courageous women and men of regulation enforcement.”
The Whitsett West Tiny House Village, which is on metropolis property and is run by the nonprofit Hope the Mission, has beds for about 150 individuals in shed-like buildings off the 170 Freeway close to Whitsett Avenue and Saticoy Avenue.
In line with Laura Harwood, Hope the Mission’s deputy chief program officer, individuals in a automotive tried to get entry to the tiny dwelling village on Thursday afternoon, telling safety guards that they had been Americans who needed to see how their taxpayer {dollars} had been getting used. The guards didn’t admit the guests, who had been carrying civilian garments.
“It is a actually uncommon state of affairs. This actually doesn’t occur,” Harwood stated.
Different staff noticed some males wanting into the advanced from completely different sides and taking footage.
A employee on the tiny dwelling village, who requested anonymity as a result of he has relations who’re undocumented, instructed The Instances that he was coming back from lunch when he noticed two DHS SUVs with tinted home windows down the block.
Tiny dwelling staffers had been involved sufficient that they reached out to Metropolis Councilmember Adrin Nazarian, who got here to the advanced.
“We obtained reviews that some ICE brokers had been round within the space viewing the situation from each the entrance and the bottom entryways,” Nazarian stated on Instagram.
Nazarian stated that immigration brokers showing on the tiny dwelling village could be a “worry mongering” tactic.
The focusing on of interim homeless housing might dissuade individuals from shifting off the road, or push these in shelters to depart out of worry, stated Rowan Vansleve, Hope the Mission’s president.
“Final Thursday, ICE entered our metropolis, and provoked town, by chasing individuals via House Depots and automotive washes and exhibiting up at faculties. And at this time, exhibiting up at emergency rooms and homeless shelters,” Bass stated on the Thursday press convention.
Bass’ crew confirmed to The Instances that she was referring to the incident on the Whitsett West Tiny House Village.
Metropolis Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez stated that group organizations and native elected officers have been sorting via reviews of DHS sightings to see if they’re credible.
“We have now seen conditions the place individuals say federal brokers are right here, after which when somebody goes, it seems they had been by no means there or had been gone an hour in the past,” Hernandez stated.
