LOS ANGELES — Some Southern California communities are canceling or rescheduling July Fourth events as immigration arrests spread fear across the region.
But organizations that oppose President Donald Trump’s immigration policies plan to proceed with protests in downtown Los Angeles, where large demonstrations last month sometimes turned violent, prompting Trump to call in the state National Guard and U.S. Marines over the governor’s objections.
The city said it would postpone its annual Fourth of July block party “in light of recent events affecting a portion of Downtown Los Angeles and the ongoing circumstances impacting the region.”
The event is held each year in Gloria Molina Grand Park near City Hall and several federal buildings, including one now being used as a detention center that has been a focal point for demonstrations against raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
During a “No Kings” march on June 14, protesters fled from tear gas, pepper spray and less-lethal munitions fired by law enforcement officers, and large crowds were pushed away from federal buildings and into Grand Park, where demonstrators scrambled up a small hill to safety.
More than 1,618 people in Los Angeles have been arrested by the federal government since it began clamping down on residents without citizenship last month, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
The detentions have spread fear across Southern California, where some 1.4 million people are estimated to live without full legal authorization, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute.
Several L.A.-based organizations said they will launch another round of protests Thursday near Grand Park, and a coalition of multifaith organizations, labor unions, activists and artists will hold a “freedom” car cruise and rally outside City Hall.
Later, activists with the group Centro CSO will hold a march outside the federal courthouse, calling for charges to be dropped against Alejandro Orellana, who was arrested in connection with distributing face shields to “suspected rioters.”
He faces charges of conspiracy to commit civil disorder and aiding and abetting civil disorders. He was released on bond last month and has a preliminary hearing scheduled for Thursday afternoon.
On Friday, the local chapter of 50501, which organized the “No Kings” rally, will hold an all-day demonstration outside City Hall to demand an “end to the occupation” of Los Angeles by ICE, the National Guard and the Marines.
“This isn’t a celebration,” the group said in a statement. “It’s a stand.”
Smaller communities throughout Los Angeles County with large immigrant populations are also rethinking Fourth of July celebrations. In East Los Angeles, a historically Latino area, the neighborhoods of Boyle Heights, Lincoln Heights and El Sereno have postponed July Fourth festivities after several high-profile immigration arrests.
Federal agents last month rammed and trapped a car carrying four U.S. citizens, including a man, woman and two children, in Boyle Heights. The Department of Homeland Security said its target was Christian Damian Cerno-Camacho, who was arrested in connection with punching an immigration officer.
A lawyer representing Cerno-Camacho’s family said he is planning to file a lawsuit against the federal government.
This week, Boyle Heights activists shut down a bridge that links downtown Los Angeles to the small enclave and marched with mariachis to the site of another recent arrest.
Demands for the National Guard to return to normal duties were answered in part this week when 150 members were reassigned to wildfire season preparation. Some 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines remain at federal buildings in Los Angeles while a lawsuit filed by the state against the Trump administration is pending in court.
A three-judge appeals court panel has said that the White House likely lawfully exercised its authority when Trump federalized the National Guard without Gov. Gavin Newsom’s consent. The ruling halted a lower court’s decision, which found the Trump administration had illegally activated the troops.
Newsom said last month that he will pursue legal action to regain control of the guard.
Lawmakers and legal organizations are waging their own court battles ahead of the holiday weekend. On Wednesday, immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, seeking to block an “ongoing pattern and practice of flouting the Constitution and federal law” during immigration raids in Los Angeles.
“Since June 6th, marauding, masked goons have descended upon Los Angeles, terrorizing our brown communities and tearing up the Constitution in the process,” said Mohammad Tajsar, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California.
“No matter their status or the color of their skin,” he added, “everyone is guaranteed Constitutional rights to protect them from illegal stops. We will hold DHS accountable.”
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the claims are false.
This week, county supervisors approved a motion to pursue legal action against the Trump administration. The vote came after U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi filed a lawsuit against Los Angeles over its sanctuary city policies, which prevent local police agencies from voluntarily cooperating with federal immigration enforcement.
The U.S. government claims sanctuary city ordinances discriminate against federal law enforcement agencies by treating them differently from other policing authorities.
