Los Angeles protests follow weeks of intensifying immigration enforcement

The Pentagon’s deployment of about 700 Marines to Los Angeles to join the National Guard’s response to immigration protests follows weeks of rapid-fire developments as President Donald Trump pursues his top domestic priority for mass deportations.

The move is the latest escalation of the administration’s immigration crackdown that has built mounting anxiety in communities across the country.

Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and chief architect of Trump’s immigration policies, said late last month that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement should make at least 3,000 arrests a day. That would mark a dramatic increase from Jan. 20 to May 19, when the agency made an average of 656 arrests a day.

Miller’s target has brought new strains on immigration detention and increased ICE’s presence to a level with no recent parallels.

Increased arrests

Tensions soared in Los Angeles after a series of sweeps starting last week, including in the city’s fashion district and a Home Depot, pushed the tally of immigrant arrests in the city past 100. A prominent union leader was arrested while protesting and accused of impeding law enforcement. Trump sent the National Guard and Marines over objections of state officials.

But even before Los Angeles, ICE stepped up its presence with rare shows of force featuring officers in heavy tactical gear firing flash bangs. Officers engaged in a tense standoff at a popular Italian restaurant in San Diego’s trendy South Park neighborhood on May 30 in an operation that resulted in four immigration arrests.

In Massachusetts, a high school student was arrested on May 31 on the way to volleyball practice. Asked why ICE detained an 18-year-old with no criminal record, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons answered, “I didn’t say he was dangerous. I said he’s in this country illegally and we’re not going to walk away from anybody.”

ICE has also worked with the Tennessee Highway Patrol, which conducted nearly 600 traffic stops and arrested about 200 people in recent weeks.

Stretched resources

With no additional funding and limited staff, ICE is drawing from other federal agencies and local police to carry out deportations. The number of agreements to deputize local police to enforce federal immigration laws, known as 287(g) agreements, has more than quadrupled — to about 650 — since Trump took office in January.

ICE also lacks the detention space to carry out Trump’s agenda, leading to overcrowding in some locations. The agency is budgeted to detain about 41,000 people but held more than 53,500 at the end of May, approaching the all-time highs of 2019.

A massive spending bill winding through Congress calls for $45 billion to go toward increasing immigration detention capacity to 100,000 and $8 billion to add 10,000 ICE personnel.

The Los Angeles arrests have created an opening for Trump to highlight one of his favorite targets: state and local governments that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities. California limits cooperation except when people in the country illegally are convicted of serious crimes.

The White House recently published a list of more than 500 “sanctuary” jurisdictions but removed it from its website after widespread criticism that it was inaccurate, including from allies like Huntington Beach, California.

Fire hose of news

The volume of immigration policy changes has not slowed since Trump took office, reaching a breakneck pace in recent weeks.

On Friday, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man mistakenly deported and imprisoned without communication, was returned to the United States to face criminal charges related to human smuggling.

People showing up for hearings to pursue legal status at immigration courtrooms have been met with a spate of arrests across the country. And a travel ban and restrictions on 19 countries took effect Monday.