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Massive immigration raids promised by Donald Trump are underway in major cities across the US – and one in Los Angeles descended into chaos.
Raids took place across the City of Angels, but counterprotests led to multiple arrests, allegedly without warrants.
Two Home Depot stores, a clothing shop called Ambient Apparel and other locations were raided by ICE agents.
The video showed police throwing smoke bombs and one officer tackling a protester. Hundreds gathered as tensions increased.
The violent scenes sparked outrage online, and the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights said 45 people were arrested without warrants.
Executive director Angelica Salas said: ‘Our community is under attack and is being terrorised. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop.
‘Immigration enforcement that is terrorising our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now.’
‘I am closely monitoring the Ice raids that are currently happening across Los Angeles, including at a Korean-American-owned store in my district,’ Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove said.
‘LA has long been a safe haven for immigrants. Trump claims he’s targeting criminals, but he’s really just tearing families apart and destabilising entire communities.’
Mayor Karen Bass said Los Angeles would ‘not stand’ for the violent scenes witnessed across the city.
Trump began his immigration crackdown shortly after re-entering office.
In January, more than 500 arrests were made in one day before the first flights out of the United States began.
The President issued an executive order, posted to the White House website, outlining Trump’s plan to prevent undocumented immigrants from ‘invading’ communities and costing state and local governments.
And a policy which previously restricted officers’ abilities to arrest undocumented immigrants at ‘sensitive’ locations, such as schools, churches and hospitals, was rolled back.
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