"I want a trial," said Lander, the city's comptroller and an ally of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. He spoke after emerging from a federal courtroom in Manhattan, where he'd waited to hear what action authorities would take over his Sept. 18 protest alongside several lawmakers. He vowed to keep protesting the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and said a trial would "bring to light" what federal authorities are doing.
Things escalated in June, when Trump sent troops to L.A.: Trump said he was responding to "out-of-control" immigration protests when he seized control of the California National Guard from Gov. Gavin Newsom and deployed Guard members - and eventually 700 U.S. Marines - to the nation's second largest city. State and local officials disputed that the protests were beyond their control and quickly sued, asking a court to remove the troops from the streets.
A man admitted Wednesday that he lit a Molotov cocktail and threw it toward Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies during protests against immigration crackdowns over the summer. Emiliano Garduno Galvez, 23, who authorities said is a citizen of Mexico in the country illegally, pleaded guilty in federal court to possessing an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder tied to his actions the evening of June 7 in Paramount.
On Wednesday night, the California state supreme court declined an emergency request by Republican lawmakers, which sought to block the Democratic plan to temporarily get rid of the maps drawn by a voter-approved independent redistricting commission. Now the California legislature will vote today on three bills that would allow for a November special election to redraw the state's congressional boundaries creating five new Democratic House seats in the process.
Misinformation surrounding immigration protests in Los Angeles is rampant, distorting public perception and overshadowing the complexity of the actual events taking place.
The police response to immigration protests has intensified, with violence escalating amid tensions between law enforcement agencies and demonstrators, challenging their non-enforcement policies.