Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti posted a video message Saturday for Los Angeles residents and those in the country illegally, telling them the city would not be “coordinating” with federal immigration officials carrying out raids.
“A message for all Angelenos: Here in Los Angeles, we will not be coordinating with ICE. Your city is on your side, we are in this together,” the mayor tweeted in the video’s caption.
Garcetti is seen standing next to Los Angeles Police Chief Michel Moore in the video as he offered illegal aliens a few tips on how to avoid deportation by federal agents and get legal advice if they are detained.
“I want every Angeleno to know their rights and how to exercise them. Remember, you have the right to remain silent. You don’t have to open your door to an ICE agent that doesn’t have a warrant signed by a judge,” he said.
“You have the right to speak to a lawyer before signing any documents or speaking to law enforcement. And, if you need help finding an attorney, you can call 311 and learn more about our Justice Fund and other resources that offer legal support,” the mayor continued.
But the mayor also offered those in the country illegally moral support, mainly insisting that as a city, it would not cooperate with federal immigration authorities conducting deportation raids.
“Your city is on your side, and rest assured here in Los Angeles, we will not be coordinating with ICE,” the mayor said.
The Los Angeles mayor also posted the same video on Twitter in Spanish.
Garcetti is not the first mayor of a major city to speak out against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration through scheduled deportation raids.
Democrat Baltimore Mayor Jack Young announced Friday that his city would not be the one to cooperate in the scheduled immigration raids over the past weekend.
Chicago’s Mayor Lori Lightfoot and New York City’s Mayor Bill de Blasio, have also pledged not to cooperate with federal ICE agents conducting the raids.
President Donald Trump confirmed Friday that a series of targeted deportation raids would take place starting Sunday, and would mostly be focused on criminals with “final deportation orders.”
The raids are expected to last several days in ten different cities— including Atlanta, Denver, Baltimore, Chicago, New York, Houston, Miami, New Orleans, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
But despite reports of mass arrests, there were only a handful of operations carried out in a few cities.
“We are doing targeted enforcement actions against specific individuals who have had their day in immigration court and have been ordered removed by an immigration judge,” Acting ICE Director Matt Albence told Fox News when asked for an update.
Jorge-Mario Cabrera told KTLA on Sunday that his advocacy group, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles, received 25 calls from families over the weekend, but none had been arrested, detained, or deported to his knowledge.
“We got four reports of ICE vans seen at intersections but none panned out,” Cabrera added.
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