Community leaders and residents told a congressional hearing in Los Angeles that ICE raids carried out by Donald Trump’s administration in Southern California inflicted serious harm on the region’s immigrants and, in some cases, swept up even U.S. citizens.
Andrea Veles, a U.S. citizen detained by immigration officers over the summer, recounted how masked individuals stopped her on her way to work. She said she was accused of assaulting an officer and held for two days in a federal detention facility where, she claimed, inmates had to pay for a cup to receive water. Her attorney said the charges were ultimately dropped for lack of evidence.
Democrats convened a hours-long session in Los Angeles to hear testimony about the consequences of Donald Trump’s sweeping deportation policy and to review reports of civil rights violations by federal agents and the “unlawful” detention of U.S. citizens.
“Every person in our country has the right to due process, regardless of immigration status. It is essential that the Oversight Committee document and hold accountable those who ignore the Constitution, violate civil rights and sow fear among families and communities,” California Democratic congressman Robert Garcia said in a statement to the press.
According to figures released by the White House earlier this month, federal authorities have detained more than 150 000 undocumented immigrants and deported nearly 140 000 people since Trump took office.
His administration made Southern California a central target of its hard-line mass deportation campaign. Federal agents appeared at car washes, in Home Depot stores, near schools and workplaces, leaving local residents living in fear as parks and churches emptied out. Officials accuse the federal government of “egregious racial profiling” and civil rights violations.
“Right now we are living in an American nightmare,” said Jasmine Crockett, a Democratic representative from Texas.
The effects of the raids continue to reverberate across communities in Southern California.
At the hearing, Veles admitted: “I still live with this trauma every single day.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called the situation “an attack by our own federal government” and an affront to cities and residents nationwide. She stressed: “We will hold every federal agency accountable and relentlessly defend the rights of every resident of Los Angeles and of the entire country. Reports that Angelenos, including U.S. citizens, were forcibly detained, subjected to physical violence and deprived of their freedom without cause are not just outrageous—they are unacceptable.”
On Monday, November 24, Garcia announced the creation of a new oversight platform that will document “verified instances of potential violations and abuses” during immigration enforcement operations.
In a responding statement, Trisha McLaughlin, a deputy assistant secretary at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, accused Bass and Garcia of “spreading new false allegations against DHS law enforcement personnel.”
She noted: “These attacks have led to our officers facing an increase of more than 1,150 percent in assaults—they are being shot at, pelted with rocks and Molotov cocktails, and vehicles are being used as weapons,” adding that Democrats should be thanking them for removing criminals from the city.