LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna said, despite recent crackdowns on immigration during President Donald Trump’s administration, his department’s policies on enforcement and assistance have not changed Friday.
Luna reinforced his position that immigration enforcement is not part of the sheriff’s department’s jurisdiction.
“I can assure people that we are not going to participate in (ICE) sweeps,” Luna said during an interview with ABC 7.
Additionally, Luna said the sheriff’s department does not have the resources to assist in ICE operations.
“For an immigration challenge, that is a civil immigration issue; it’s a federal law enforcement issue,” Luna said. “We in local law enforcement have our hands full. Most of our departments are short-staffed.
“We’re doing so many things to service our community, we simply don’t have the staffing to start assisting in immigration enforcement.”
Even though Luna said the sheriff’s department will not assist ICE and immigration enforcement, it is monitoring local responses to increased immigration activity.
Protests across Los Angeles County began this month in response to the new immigration policies initiated by Trump.
On Saturday, protesters, organized by the Freedom Socialist Party, the United Front Working Group, the Community Self-Defense Coalition and other organizations, marched in downtown near City Hall.
Since taking office on Jan. 20, Trump has acted on his campaign promise to increase deportations, with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducting raids in major cities.
Saturday’s protest followed Friday’s demonstration by high school students that turned violent and left a teenager with stab wounds.
The stabbing occurred about 1:35 p.m. Friday in the 200 block of Temple Street, near Gloria Molina Grand Park, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. Video from the scene showed a crowd of people tending to the bleeding victim on the ground, whose shirt was stripped off. He was reported to be 17 years old.
The victim was eventually rushed to a hospital, the LAPD’s Media Relations Division told City News Service on Saturday. A suspect, a male between 15 and 18 years old, was detained in connection with the stabbing, but police did not say whether that suspect was subsequently arrested.
Police declared the remaining protesters to be involved in an unlawful assembly and ordered the group to disperse, which they ultimately did. While the participants walked in various directions away from the park, a group later assembled on the Sixth Street Bridge, forcing a temporary closure of the span until the crowd moved on.
There have been demonstrations against Trump’s deportation policy daily in the downtown area since Feb. 2, some involving high school students.
The Los Angeles Times reported Feb. 7 that an ICE enforcement action is planned for Los Angeles is slated to take place before the end of February, with agents concentrating on immigrants who have pending orders of removal.
“We always encourage if people are going to protest, to exercise their First Amendment rights, to do it peacefully: no violence, no destruction of property,” Luna said.
