🔥 La Militarización: When ICE Turns Home Depot Into a War Zone, Trump Deploys National Guard to Los Angeles as People Rise ✊🏽
The president bypasses Governor Newsom to militarize Los Angeles as protesters fight back with rocks and resistance
😽 Keepin’ It Simple Summary for Younger Readers
👧🏾✊🏾👦🏾
The Trump administration sent federal immigration agents to Los Angeles to arrest people at 🏡🛒 parking lots and 👗🏭 where they work. When community members tried to protect each other by blocking 🚔 and protesting, officers used 😷 and 💥💣 to disperse them.
The president then tried to send 🪖 to stop the protests, even though the California governor said no, creating a fight over who controls state military forces. Communities are organizing rapid response networks and 🤝 to defend each other, showing that when people work together, they can resist authoritarian tactics and protect their neighbors.
🗝️ Takeaways
🎯 ICE conducted "military-style" raids targeting 70-80 people at Home Depot parking lots and garment factories, with masked agents refusing to show warrants
⚡ Trump is attempting to federalize California's National Guard to suppress protests, creating a constitutional crisis as he bypasses state authority
🔥 SEIU President David Huerta was arrested and injured while protesting, marking an escalation from targeting immigrants to targeting organized labor
💪 Hundreds of protesters physically blocked ICE vehicles and confronted federal agents with tear gas, flash-bangs, and fireworks in street battles
🌊 The raids represent a broader attack on the entire working class, terrorizing anyone who might organize for better wages or working conditions
La Resistencia Rises: How Trump's ICE Raids Are Militarizing Our Communities
By Three Sonorans
From the borderlands of Southern Arizona
Here we are again, carnales. Day 138 of the second Trump presidency, and the pendejo in chief is making good on his promise to turn our barrios into war zones.
This weekend, and as we speak now, Los Angeles exploded into resistance as ICE launched what officials are calling "military-style raids" across the city, targeting our gente at Home Depot parking lots, garment factories, and anywhere working people dare to exist while brown.
But here's the part that should make your blood boil: Trump is now claiming he can deploy the National Guard to suppress the protests—bypassing Governor Newsom entirely.
¿En serio?
Last I checked, governors controlled their own state's National Guard, but apparently constitutional law is just another inconvenience for this administration.
When Home Depot Becomes a Battlefield
Picture this: It's Friday morning in Westlake, and the usual crowd of jornaleros gathers outside Home Depot, coffee steaming in Styrofoam cups, worn work boots shuffling on concrete.
These are our people—fathers sending money home to abuelitas in Michoacán, mothers working two jobs to pay rent in a city that's priced them out of dignity. They're holding cardboard signs advertising their skills: "Carpintero, Plomero, Trabajos de Casa."
Then the unmarked vans roll up.
Federal agents from ICE, DHS, FBI, and DEA conducted "immigration enforcement operations" across Los Angeles on Friday morning, hitting multiple locations including two Home Depot stores in the Westlake District, a doughnut shop, and clothing warehouses in the Fashion District.
But let's call it what it really was: What sets these raids apart from typical civil enforcement actions was their military-style execution.
Television news footage on Friday showed unmarked vehicles resembling military transport and vans loaded with uniformed federal agents streaming through Los Angeles streets.
Because nothing says "serving and protecting" like rolling up on day laborers with military vehicles.
Caleb Soto from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network told Al Jazeera that "between 70 and 80 people had been detained, but only three lawyers have been allowed access to the detention centre where they were being held". Even more damning, Soto reported that "members of the community had effectively been 'kidnapped' as officials, wearing masks had not shown warrants or any form of documentation when carrying out arrests".
Masked officials without warrants? Gee, where have we seen this playbook before? Oh right, every authoritarian regime in history.
The Immediate Resistance: When Our People Say ¡Ya Basta!
The resistance was immediate and beautiful. Word spread through social media and immigrant advocacy networks faster than wildfire in August.
Hundreds of protesters gathered outside the Edward R Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, where detainees were being processed. Demonstrators blocked entrances and exits to the building, chanted slogans and demanded the release of those arrested.
Some protesters hurled chunks of broken concrete toward officers, and police responded by firing volleys of tear gas and pepper spray. Police also fired "flash-bang" concussion rounds. Some protesters were seen throwing objects at vehicles, while others attempted to block vans from leaving.
And you know what? ¡Órale! Sometimes throwing rocks at fascists is exactly the appropriate response. Some spray-painted anti-ICE slogans on the building's exterior walls. Good. Make them clean it up. Make them see our rage every time they walk into their sterile federal buildings.
But the real heroism happened at the warehouses. At one point, authorities used pepper spray and flash-bang grenades to disperse the crowds as community members literally threw their bodies between ICE agents and their neighbors.
This is what mutual aid looks like when the chips are down—not charity, not pity, but compañerismo in action.
David Huerta: When They Come for the Union Leaders
Among those arrested was David Huerta, president of SEIU California, a detail that should terrify every working person in America. Huerta was reportedly injured during the arrest and received medical treatment at Los Angeles General Medical Center before being taken into custody.
From his hospital bed, Huerta released a statement that cuts to the heart of what's really happening: "What happened to me is not about me; This is about something much bigger. This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that's happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals".
Let's pause here for a moment. When they start arresting union leaders at immigration raids, they're not just coming for undocumented immigrants anymore. They're coming for organized labor itself. They're coming for anyone who dares to challenge the system that keeps workers desperate and wages low.
Saturday in Paramount: The Occupation Escalates
Saturday brought even more militarized violence to the suburb of Paramount.
Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks stood guard Saturday outside an industrial park in the city of Paramount, deploying tear gas as bystanders and protesters gathered on medians and across the street, jeering at authorities while recording the events on smartphones.
The images from Paramount look like a war zone: A firework explodes after being thrown at police during a standoff with protesters, tear gas fills the street as protesters confront Border Patrol personnel, a fire burns as a protester stands across the way from Border Patrol personnel in riot gear and gas masks.
Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna admitted that "several dozen deputies were sent to the city of Paramount after federal agents sought assistance because they came under 'attack'". "Attack"—as if people defending their neighbors from kidnappers constitutes an act of war.
The National Guard Power Grab: Constitutional Crisis in Real Time
Here's where things get really dangerous, hermanos. Governor Newsom announced that "the federal government is 'moving to take over' the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers".
He called the move "purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions", adding that "LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice".
Trump's border czar Tom Homan declared on Fox News: "We're going to bring the National Guard in tonight... We're going to continue doing our job. We're going to push back on these people".
He continued with barely concealed threats: "You can protest all you want. You got your First Amendment rights, but if you cross that line of impediment, or you put hands on officers or destroy property, you will be prosecuted. There's zero tolerance on crossing that line".
Oh, how generous, Tom. We can "protest all we want" as long as we don't actually interfere with your ethnic cleansing operations. Thanks for clarifying that our First Amendment rights extend exactly as far as being ineffective.
Wait, let me get this straight. The same administration that screams about "states' rights" when it comes to environmental regulations is now federalizing state National Guard units to suppress protests? The irony would be hilarious if it weren't so terrifying.
Historically, governors, as commanders-in-chief, have direct access to and the authority to utilize the Guard's federally assigned aircraft, vehicles, and other equipment for state purposes. However, Trump is attempting to circumvent this constitutional framework, transforming state forces into federal shock troops.
Legal experts warn that this represents a fundamental constitutional crisis. Since Guard personnel in Title 32 status have not been federalized, they are not part of the federal military and must instead be state officers operating under state authority.
The Brennan Center notes that "they cannot operate in another state without its consent, no matter who requested their presence or who is paying them".
Liberal Hand-Wringing vs. Fascist Power Grabs
Mayor Karen Bass issued the expected statement condemning the raids, calling them tactics that "sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city". She declared: "We will not stand for this".
To which Stephen Miller—that vampire who apparently never left the White House—responded with the quiet part out loud in their social media exchange: "you have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme".
Ay, Dios mío.
This is exactly the kind of liberal hand-wringing that got us here. "We condemn in the strongest terms" while ICE vans roll through our neighborhoods like death squads. Where are the sanctuary city policies with teeth? Where's the organized civil disobedience from city officials?
The Trump administration's response has been to double down on the violence. ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons released a statement calling the LA protests "appalling" and declaring: "As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement".
DHS released their own inflammatory statement claiming that "over 1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property". Because apparently defending your neighbors from kidnappers makes you a "rioter" now.
The Bigger Picture: Terrorizing the Entire Working Class
Let's be crystal clear about what's happening here, because the mainstream media won't tell you. These raids aren't about "public safety" or "removing criminals." LA Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against claims that ICE focuses on dangerous criminals: "It's never, ever, ever been the case. Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that".
This is about terrorizing the entire working class. When you raid the garment factories that clothe America, the restaurants that feed America, the construction sites that build America, you're sending a message to every worker: don't organize, don't protest, don't demand better wages or working conditions, because we can disappear you.
Councilmember Isabel Jurado noted the calculated cruelty in the timing: "What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?" during graduations and Pride Month. The cruelty is the point, compadres. They want to poison every celebration, every gathering, every moment when our communities come together in love and solidarity.
Governor Newsom called the raids "chaotic federal sweeps" designed to meet "an arbitrary arrest quota". He stated: "Donald Trump's chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America's economy".
How This Affects You, Right Now
¿You think this doesn't affect you because you're documented? ¿Because you're a citizen? ¿Because you live in a "safe" suburb? Think again.
When they militarize immigration enforcement, they militarize everything. The same tactics used against jornaleros outside Home Depot will be used against striking teachers, against water protectors, against anyone who challenges corporate power. The same legal precedents that allow federal agents to bypass local authority for immigration raids can be used to bypass local authority for environmental protests, labor strikes, or civil rights demonstrations.
If you're a renter, these raids drive up housing costs by terrorizing the workforce that builds and maintains housing. If you eat food, these raids drive up grocery prices by attacking the workers who pick, process, and prepare that food. If you work for wages, these raids undermine every worker by creating a permanent underclass too terrified to organize for better conditions.
And if you think your papers will protect you when fascism comes fully out of the closet, you haven't been paying attention to history.
Learning from Resistance: The Path Forward
Escúchame bien: Our people have been here before. During the Chicano Movement, during the sanctuary movement of the 1980s, during every wave of anti-immigrant hysteria, we've faced down federal agents and militarized police. We know how to organize, how to resist, how to protect each other.
The protesters in Los Angeles are showing us the way forward. They didn't just hold signs—they physically blocked ICE vehicles. They didn't just chant slogans—they created chaos that made the raids more difficult and expensive. They turned their bodies into barriers between ICE and their communities.
But we need more than street protests. We need estrategia. We need sanctuary cities with real teeth, not just symbolic resolutions. We need rapid response networks that can mobilize hundreds of people in minutes. We need legal observers, jail support, and mutual aid networks that can sustain long-term resistance.
Most importantly, we need to connect this struggle to every other front in the fight against authoritarianism. Environmental justice, immigrant rights, Indigenous sovereignty, labor organizing—these aren't separate struggles. They're the same struggle against the same forces that profit from our division and desperation.
A Note of Hope and the Path Forward
Hermanos y hermanas, I won't lie to you. These are dark times. Watching federal agents drag our tíos and tías away in unmarked vans, seeing tear gas in the streets where our children play—it's enough to break your heart and your spirit.
But here's what gives me hope: the immediate response. The way hundreds of people dropped everything to defend their neighbors. The way protesters kept showing up even after flash-bangs and tear gas. The way David Huerta, bloodied and arrested, still managed to articulate why this fight is bigger than any individual. The way communities refuse to be terrorized into silence.
We are not alone. From the borderlands of Arizona to the garment districts of Los Angeles, from the fields of California to the factories of the Midwest, working people are saying "¡Ya basta!" We are building the infrastructure of resistance that will outlast this administration and the next one.
The empire is crumbling, carnales, and they know it. That's why they're getting more desperate, more violent, more brazen. But every empire falls, and this one will too. The question is what we build in its place.
¡La lucha sigue!
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¿What Do You Think?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below. We need to learn from each other's strategies and experiences:
What's happening in your community? Are you seeing increased ICE activity? How are local organizations responding?
How do we build effective rapid response networks? What tools and tactics work best for mobilizing quickly when raids happen?
What would real sanctuary policies look like? How do we move beyond symbolic resolutions to policies that actually protect our communities?
How do we connect immigration justice to other struggles? What are the links between these raids and environmental racism, labor exploitation, and housing justice in your area?
Have a scoop or a story you want us to follow up on? Send us a message!
FWIW
Progressives Are Letting The World Know That Anarchy, Violence Against Law Enforcement, and Chaos Rule The Day https://shorturl.at/9m7y2
I just wrote this breakdown on the LA military deployment and how it follows the authoritarian playbook. It includes concrete steps we can take now.
🔗 https://lfitzhugh.substack.com/p/the-authoritarian-playbook-action-steps