The Latin American Report # 516

The immigration raids conducted by ICE and the FBI in the state of California—which have so far resulted in the arrest of just over 100 individuals—have unleashed a series of events rarely seen in recent years, quite disruptive, but perhaps expected or easily explained if we take into account the features of Donald Trump's administration. The Republican leader activated 2,000 National Guard troops stationed in California, appealing to his classic rhetoric of “rebellion” and "invasion", in response to those disputing in the streets the ICE's deployment searching for migrants on its blacklist. Indirectly, local authorities have acknowledged acts of vandalism and looting. The Pentagon is also assisting by sending 700 Marines—another unusual move—while the debate rages over whether or not to invoke the Insurrection Act, and the communications and legal battle between Washington and Los Angeles intensifies.

The Marines, trained in de-escalation and crowd control, are based at a desert location in Twentynine Palms, and neither they nor the National Guard should interfere in law enforcement activities. “We are suing Donald Trump,” California's Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom, said via X. "This is a manufactured crisis. He is creating fear and terror to take over a state militia and violate the U.S. Constitution.“ Newsom is warning that Trump's order could be extrapolated to any state. The White House chief has suggested the possibility of arresting him. ”I would do it if I were Tom [Homan],“ Trump said. In his particular rhetoric, the owner of the Resolute desk stressed that “[the governor's] primary crime is running for [office], because he did such a bad job.” “Come after me, arrest me. Let's just get it over with, tough guy,” Newsom responded.

Much of the social unrest in LA revolves around the treatment of David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was arrested during the protests and recently released. He is accused of interfering with law enforcement. The atmosphere is tense everywhere, even in Manhattan. But, finally, what I find contradictory is that, in the part of the West Wing, the uproar over enforcing immigration laws has been more rhetoric than practice, especially when we look at the actual numbers of deportees or arrests. In that case, there does not seem to be a balance justifying the case Trump is trying to make in LA. Indeed, it is a bad trade-off.

Meanwhile, in Latam 👇