LA’s top federal prosecutor calls for obstructing immigrant hotlines

A local political leader has encouraged the general public to call immigrant and rapid response hotlines with the goal to impede their immigrant-rights work.

 The First Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Bill Essayli, took to social media to ask the public to saturate the phone lines of local organizations that track federal agents in L.A. 

During the weekend, Essayli responded to a post by U.S. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles), where he was advising the community to report ICE activity to the L.A. Rapid Response Network (LARRN) after federal agents carried out a raid in the L.A. Fashion District last week.

“A friendly reminder that the public has a First Amendment right to call the number below and provide inaccurate information,” Essayli said on X, referring to the LARN phone number. “It is unlawful to impede federal agents, but there is no prohibition on impeding radical organizations working to harbor criminal illegal immigrants.”

The LARRN is a coalition of immigrant rights groups, unions and volunteers who have been monitoring, documenting and responding to ICE raids that have hit different neighborhoods in L.A. They also provide immediate support and legal aid and connect affected families with legal and economic resources. 

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), one of the organizations that is a part of LARRN denounced the L.A. top federal prosecutor's message, saying Essayli should be ashamed of himself. 

“The hotlines are the lifeline that keeps the most vulnerable from disappearing anonymously or facing their questions, doubts and needs alone,” Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA, said. “In the current environment, where our neighbors are being brutalized and uprooted because of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown, CHIRLA’s hotline seeks to offer an organized and safe outlet for the community to seek support, information and guidance after a loved one has been racially profiled, detained, stopped or arrested by ICE agents.”

Salas also said that their hotline is not a new resource specifically created to target federal agents. She said the organization's hotline began operating 31 years ago, making it older than the ICE agency, which was established in 2003, following the 2002 Homeland Security Act, as part of the Department of Homeland Security. 

“These hotlines represent a lifeline to community members in need of information, guidance, referrals, knowing your rights and in the case of the current immigration enforcement crackdown, legal immigration, emotional and financial support for emergencies such as rental or food insecurity,” she said. 

Essayli, the son of Lebanese immigrants and an alumnus of  California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, has openly defended the Donald Trump administration anti– immigration rhetoric at various times. 

He was in full support of and behind Operation Guardian Angel, which countered California’s sanctuary state policy and issued federal arrest warrants for undocumented immigrants with prior felony convictions who were already in local jails. 

The operation, which began on May 10, 2025, forced local authorities like LAPD, to transfer undocumented people in jail to federal ICE custody. It resulted in various arrests throughout L.A., Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.

"Even the worst criminal aliens in state custody are frequently released into the community because California’s sanctuary state policies block cooperation with federal law enforcement," Essayli said in 2025. "These laws effectively render federal immigration detainers meaningless. The days of giving criminal illegal aliens a free pass are over."

Essayli has also persecuted local leaders in L.A. 

Last year he filed conspiracy charges against the resident of the California Service Employees International Union, David Huerta. In June 2025, Huerta was arrested and charged with interfering with law enforcement duringanti-ICE protests in L.A. 

Civil and immigrant rights groups widely condemned the charges as retaliatory, claiming that Huerta was arrested during a peaceful action. 

He was released later in the month on a $50,000 bond, with his charges later being reduced to a misdemeanor and later dismissed without prejudice in late 2025.

Under Essayli, his office has also filed specious conspiracy charges against Alejandro Orellana of Centro CSO, who was arrested by the FBI in the summer for distributing face shields to protect protesters from LAPD’s rubber bullets.

In a post on X, Essayli said agents arrested those involved in organizing and supporting civil disorder in LA. 

Charges against Orellana were also dismissed, but if convicted, he would have a maximum sentence of 10 years in federal prison. 

Today local organizations that are part of the LARRN say they will continue to focus on their work to help the immigrant community. 

“Anyone trying to promote chaos and disinformation—especially major figures—should be ashamed of themself,” Salas said.