Clashes at LA immigrant protests

Police used tear gas and flash bangs to disperse protesters who demonstrated in Los Angeles on Saturday against immigration enforcement operations in the city, CNN reported .

The protests began last Friday, June 6, according to Reuters, after 44 people were arrested on a day marked by a major activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is the agency responsible for identifying, arresting and deporting illegal immigrants in the United States of America. In a statement, the Department of Homeland Security (internal security) says that 1,000 people are said to have “surrounded ICE agents, slashing tires and destroying taxpayer property.”

On Saturday, protesters gathered in Paramount, a suburb of Los Angeles, where ICE operations were expected. According to Jose Luis Solache, a California congressman, four people were arrested during the protests. The FBI is investigating allegations that protesters obstructed ICE operations in Los Angeles on Friday and Saturday, said the bureau 's deputy director, Dan Bongino, who confirmed that several people were arrested.

On the social network X, the Assistant Secretary of the Department of Justice, Tricia McLaughlin, confirms that ICE operations arrested 118 people this week, including “people with criminal records such as drug trafficking, harassment, animal cruelty, domestic violence, robbery, human trafficking and five gang members”.

The White House has called the protests an “insurrection” against the country. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem warned that “ICE will continue to enforce the law. And if you touch a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”