LA’s AAPI community calls for stop to ICE raids

As immigration raids in America’s second-largest city stoke fear even among legal residents, Asian Americans citywide are calling for an immediate halt.

Since early June, when the Trump administration escalated Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in America’s second-largest city, thousands of National Guard members and 700 Marines have been deployed to round up at least 1,600 people throughout LA County.

These arrests have extended beyond undocumented immigrants to include permanent residents and even citizens, with many social media videos and eyewitness reports of agents refusing to identify themselves, wearing masks and using unmarked vehicles to arrest individuals.

Consequently, many Asian American and Pacific Islanders (AAPIs) in LA are hesitant to engage in daily activities — including residency court hearings, work, hospitals, religious services and social gatherings — out of concern for forced removal from their homes. 

AAPI Equity Alliance, a coalition of over 50 community-based organizations serving the over 1.6 million AAPI residents in LA County — 16% of the country’s total population — joined with local organizations and leaders to convene a meeting at the community center Terasaki Budokan in Little Tokyo on June 26 to inform LA’s AAPI community about the current immigration enforcement landscape.

Community leaders also called for an immediate halt to ICE raids regionwide.

At the event, Manjusha Kulkarni, executive director of AAPI Equity Alliance, said, “It’s so important that we stand with our Latino brothers and sisters to say that ICE must cease its operations and leave Los Angeles.”

ICE operations “are going after families … This is not the way to handle immigration issues,” she continued, warning, “This is not normal. Denying people due process … This is what authoritarianism looks like, and we must do everything we can to stop it.” 

As of June 15, ICE held 56,397 immigrants in detention nationwide, with 71.7% of those detained having no criminal record.

State Assemblymember Mike Fong, D-Alhambra, who also chairs the state Asian & Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, described the climate of fear created when federal agents, sometimes without identification or badges, “push community members to the ground and put them in cars without license plates.”

“We must stand together to protect the U.S. Constitution, regardless of our immigration status,” he added. “This behavior does not make America great. Stop the raids.”

Connie Joe, CEO of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, added, “Our community members are also facing language access barriers. There are more than 50 languages spoken within the AAPI community, and I can guarantee you those federal enforcement agents do not speak our languages.”

“We do not need federal agents here to protect our city. We can protect our city,” she continued. “What we need protection from is from you: Federal agents who are terrorizing our communities, separating our communities, taking us.”

John Kim, president and CEO of Catalyst California, said, “As Asian American Pacific Islanders, we are very familiar with what it means to be invisible in America until we’re not.”

“We know what it means to blend into the background, to not raise the flags, to quietly go about our day to provide for our families,” he continued. “We know what it means to be ignored as contributors to this society, as members of families and communities, to be ignored as whole human beings until we’re not.”

Beyond the raids, ICE has also detained and arrested hundreds of people appearing in immigration court at the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles. 

As many as 200 of these individuals were reportedly then held in basement cells within the building, lacking basic amenities like blankets and beds, and provided with limited food and water.

 “The raids that we’ve seen across Los Angeles are not just disruptive, they’re cruel and they’re unconstitutional. People who have been detained have not been given legal counsel,” said LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman. 

“The fear is greater and even more palpable as immigrants, lawful residents and even U.S. citizens are practically being hunted down in a scorched-earth campaign performed by a militarized force of the federal government,” said Chanchanit Martorell, executive director of the Thai Community Development Center. 

“Little Tokyo remembers what happens when governments act from fear, not justice. We won’t be silent, and we won’t let history repeat itself,” said Peter Gee, co-executive director of Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC), recalling the detention just blocks away of tens of thousands of Japanese families to be interned after World War II.

LA City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado recounted a recent incident where her father, a naturalized citizen, witnessed federal agents wearing masks and no badges, chase down, kneel on and arrest without a warrant a car wash employee. 

This experience left her father so fearful that he now carries his citizenship documents daily and hesitates to drive long distances, she explained: “Make no mistake, this isn’t just a Latino issue. This is an AAPI issue, and this is an LA issue. Our undocumented neighbors are not strangers, they’re coworkers, classmates, neighbors, family members and friends.”