Bakersfield residents protest in response to Los Angeles immigration raids

As protests in Los Angeles continue, Bakersfield community members and organizers  gathered to speak out against the sweeping raids in L.A. and the harsh tactics being used to intimidate and control demonstrators.

The protest took place in front of the Superior Court of Kern County, where residents, organizers and activists chanted “El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido” as they waved their signs at incoming cars on the streets.

Leila Khalid, a member of the United Liberation Front for Palestine (ULFP), stated that the tactics currently being used across Los Angeles and Pasadena, and soon expected to reach Bakersfield, mirror those employed by Israeli forces against Palestinians.

“They call these tactics ‘field certified’ because they use these against the Palestinians over there. They use the weaponry, they test them out and then they bring it over here onto our soil.

That's what makes the struggle between all of us connected because we are all oppressed by the same thing,” Khlaid said.

On the third day of ongoing protests in Los Angeles, President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of at least 2,000 National Guard troops for a 60-day period, to be carried out at the “discretion of the Secretary of Defense,” according to his statement.

Monica Rivera, a member of the California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance and the ULFP, told CALÓ News that both organizations and communities have come together because of the tactics being implemented in LA. 

“We are deeply disappointed with the current government and their tactics used against civilians. The same tactics that we've been seeing used against Palestinians in Gaza are being brought over here to the United States to use against innocent migrant workers, men, women and children. We are here to show solidarity with our migrant community because we know what it is like to be persecuted,” Rivera said.

In Trump's memorandum, he also added that “the Secretary of Defense may employ any other members of the regular Armed Forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion.”

California Governor Gavin Newsom just announced today that he will sue the president for ‘illegally’ deploying the National Guard to the protests happening in LA.

In a post on social media platform X, Governor Gavin Newsom stated that the violence erupting in parts of Los Angeles during the three days of protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids and arrests, prompting the president to activate California National Guard units to protect federal property, is “exactly what Trump wanted.”

“This is something that our community is horrified over. We have so much pain seeing our communities being huddled around and treated so inhumanely,” Rivera said. “They use criminalizing language to go against our community members, and it's not something that anyone should stand for. They're hardworking people.”

Residents in Bakersfield fear they might be targeted next once again, as they were the first city targeted in January with a massive immigration operation raid called “Return to Sender.”

“We've seen and experienced the raids here ourselves in Bakersfield. We are deeply troubled by the way that this administration is handling things, and we're also concerned with the way that our city council members are handling things here as well,” Rivera said.