#CommunityDefense Groups Take the Last Stand Against #ICE in #LA
Organizers argue that LA’s #sanctuary laws aren’t enough to keep their #immigrant neighbors safe.
By Claudia Villalona, June 21, 2025
"Across #LosAngeles County, ICE’s operations played out differently. When combat-ready federal agents gathered in large numbers at staging areas in Paramount and Compton on June 8, protesters swiftly mobilized collective resistance efforts and emergency patrols. Agents responded to large crowds with #TearGas, #FlashBangs, and so-called 'less-lethal' weapons.
"Organizers maintain that this grassroots mobilization sabotaged enforcement operations, putting agents on the defensive and preventing them from conducting raids for the rest of the day.
"As ICE raids escalated across Los Angeles in early June, sending #protesters into the streets and immigrant communities into hiding, the contrast between how the consequential weekend unfolded in different parts of the city was stark. Divergent outcomes in majority #Latino areas further east with a long history of organizing and those largely disconnected from grassroots support highlighted the crucial role of #CommunityLedDefense in the absence of meaningful government protection.
"Unlike Compton or Paramount, the airport-adjacent Westchester is geographically and socially isolated from more established community organizing networks. And while LA’s sanctuary laws prohibit local #police from working with ICE, organizers argue that the local law enforcement agencies can’t be trusted to keep immigrants safe.
" 'Workers need to know their rights, whether it’s at the workplace or at their home, and they feel empowered to exercise those rights,' said Flor Melendrez, executive director of the labor advocacy group CLEAN #Carwash Worker Center. Car wash workers, street vendors, and day laborers working in high-visibility, outdoor spaces face heightened risk for arrests as 'easy targets' for ICE raids, while often lacking access to critical resources and workplace protections. Organizers said more than 26 car wash workers were arrested across at least six businesses in the set of raids began on June 6."
https://theintercept.com/2025/06/21/los-angeles-ice-raids-immigrants-organizing/
Archived version:
https://archive.ph/YpyRV
#ResistICE #ResistFascism #USPol #ACAB #WeProtectOurselves #WeKeepUsSafe #LAResists #SanctuaryCity #ICERaids #FuckICE
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