(LOS ANGELES) — When Los Angeles Police Department officers went racing toward a potential kidnapping call downtown this week, callers indicated a true kidnapping was underway, according to police.
Police say the caller stated that several individuals were involved, but did not identify themselves.
Officers and an LAPD supervisor say they arrived on scene to find an agitated crowd as federal agents were taking part in an immigration enforcement arrest, which have been increasingly common in Los Angeles as the Trump administration has surged resources to the city in recent weeks.
The arrests prompted days of protests earlier this month, which saw both peaceful marches and violent clashes with law enforcement.
The alleged kidnapping, which happened Tuesday morning, has similarities to an incident earlier in June when federal agents, driving cars that appeared to be civilian vehicles, crashed into a car while making an immigration arrest, prompting calls to the LAPD of a hit-and-run accident. The agents left, with their apparent target in handcuffs, after the encounter and before police arrived.
LAPD traffic officers responded and investigated the case as a hit and run, not initially knowing it had been a federal immigration arrest.
The LAPD says federal agents do not notify the police department of planned enforcement activity in advance. The department is in the dark on when or where operations will unfold or what methods federal agents will use.
They say this is partly because the department has been prohibited from immigration enforcement in a policy that goes back to 1979. And now, California law prohibits police agencies from working with federal immigration agents.
During recent federal immigration operations, agents involved almost completely cover their faces with masks or other coverings to protect their identities. They also typically wear street clothing and professional sports team hats along with tactical vests that often don’t clearly identify which agency they are with, besides the words “Police” or “Federal Agent.” They don’t display any serial number, badge number or name to identify themselves.
The lack of transparency by federal agents has California lawmakers proposing legislation that would require most federal, state and local law enforcement operating in the state to wear uniforms of some kind, clearly show a badge, identifiable information and their faces would have to be uncovered.
“Law enforcement officers are public servants, and people should be able to see their faces, see who they are, know who they are,” said state Sen. Scott Wiener, D-Calif., when introducing the bill. “Otherwise, there is no transparency and no accountability.”
Wiener and the co-authors of his legislation are calling it the “No Secret Police Act.”
Lawmakers say the masks intimidate and the lack of any police uniforms and gear can make it unclear if the federal agents are even real law enforcement or are imposters posing as police to commit crimes or take advantage of the situation.
“What we have been seeing in the last few weeks are law enforcement — some local, some federal — who are wearing masks to completely hide their faces while they are carrying out deportation and other enforcement activities,” said Assembly Public Safety Committee Chair Jesse Arreguin, D-Oakland.
The legislation would, however, allow SWAT team members to cover their faces along with law enforcement who need to cover uniforms for wildfire gear and medical-grade masks over their faces if there is an airborne threat like smoke, a chemical agent or a virus.
In Tuesday’s potential kidnapping call, the LAPD says they found a woman partially handcuffed who moved toward officers and stood next to an LAPD patrol SUV. Police say that is when a federal agent approached and apprehended her. The LAPD says it was not involved in her detention or arrest. But officers moved onlookers out of the roadway and, like this month’s protests, were tasked with clearing the street and maintaining order and public safety.
But community activists allege local police allowed the “kidnapping” to go forward. “Guess who were protecting the kidnappers who were kidnapping our people? LAPD officers. They completely protected the ICE operation that kidnapped our people,” Ron Gochez, founder of the Los Angeles chapter of Union del Barrio, which has been reporting ICE sightings in real time on social media, told ABC News’ Los Angeles station KABC.
But the LAPD said it did not take part in the federal operation and will “not participate in or assist with civil immigration enforcement,” according to a police statement. Rather, the LAPD said its officers remained on scene to “de-escalate tensions, move pedestrians out of the roadway, and allow emergency vehicles safe passage.”
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