The FBI has identified a masked protester who is accused of assaulting a federal officer during heated demonstrations against federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles over the weekend.
“So, you can run, you can’t hide. We are coming after you federally. If you assault a police officer, if you rob a store, if you loot, if you spit on police officers, we’re coming after you.”
On June 7 at around 3:30 p.m., the protester allegedly threw rocks at law enforcement vehicles on Alondra Boulevard in Paramount, California, which injured one federal officer and damaged government vehicles.
According to acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, the protestors largely outnumbered officers, as more than 1,000 individuals surrounded a federal building, with some committing violent actions, while Los Angeles police took over two hours to respond, despite being called multiple times.
“What took place in Los Angeles yesterday was appalling. As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Lyons said in an emailed statement to NTD, a sister outlet of The Epoch Times.
“The brave men and women of ICE were in Los Angeles arresting criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug traffickers and those with a history of assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and smuggling,” he said.
Lyons said that violent rioters will be held accountable for harming federal officers as ICE continues to enforce the nation’s immigration laws.
“Sanctuary politicians would do well to remember that impeding our efforts only endangers their communities, law enforcement officers, and the detainees they claim to support,” he stated.
In a statement to NTD sent on June 7, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, “Rioters are assaulting ICE enforcement officers, slashing tires, defacing buildings and taxpayer funded property,” noting that 800 protestors had surrounded and at one point breached the first layer of a federal law enforcement building in Los Angeles.
“Mayor Bass must call on this violence to end. The violent rhetoric of politicians has gone too far. This violence against ICE must end.”
“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,“ she wrote. ”These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.”
“We will always protect the constitutional right for Angelenos to peacefully protest,” she wrote on June 8. “However, violence, destruction and vandalism will not be tolerated in our City and those responsible will be held fully accountable.”
Other city leaders, including 11 of the 15 members of the Los Angeles City Council, issued a joint statement calling the actions “an egregious escalation.”
Federal authorities have recently increased immigration arrests nationwide as part of President Donald Trump’s pledge to carry out mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants. Lyons said the agency averages about 1,600 arrests daily, targeting those identified as “dangerous criminals.”
