Several community members, local watchdog groups, and government representatives reported an uptick in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in both Long Beach and San Pedro on Thursday, Nov. 20.
In Long Beach, Órale — a nonprofit dedicated to advocating for immigrants’ rights and justice, which has served as a rapid response organization for those impacted by ICE raids since they began in June — confirmed that ICE conducted operations at at least six different locations around the city on Thursday.
At least nine people were detained in ICE in Long Beach on Thursday, according to Órale and Los Angeles County Sup. Janice Hahn’s office. One of those people was a gardener for Polly’s Pies on Atlantic Avenue, according to both Mayor Rex Richardson and the Bixby Knolls Business Foundation, though little is known about the identities of the 8 other individuals at this time.
ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security could not be reached for comment on Nov. 20.
ICE agents, according to a video posted by Richardson on social media, chased down and attacked the gardener into the restaurant, where guests were eating.
“An individual, a gardener — who has been a contractor here for many years — was chased down and brutalized here in this restaurant in front of guests,” Richardson said. “It’s a sad day in America when you can’t simply go to work and a resident can’t go to breakfast in their community. This was a traumatic incident and it was dehumanizing and it’s absolutely unacceptable in this community.”
The Bixby Knolls Community Foundation and Bixby Knolls Business Improvement Association also issued a joint statement about the incident on Thursday, which said that some Long Beach Police Department officers happened to be dining inside Polly’s Pies when ICE attacked the gardener.
“Employees and LBPD tried to diffuse the situation,” the statement said. “Moments like these are deeply painful for our community, and even more devastating for the people directly affected.”
Aside from Polly’s Pies, ICE also conducted raids at multiple other confirmed locations across Long Beach, according to Órale, including the Farmers & Merchants Bank on Bellflower Boulevard; the intersections of PCH and Gaviota Avenue and PCH and Walnut Avenue; Cherry Donuts on Cherry Avenue; and The Light of the World Church on Junipero Avenue.
“We can confirm that ICE has been present throughout Long Beach today and can confirm that abductions happened at these locations,” Órale wrote in a Thursday social media post.
ICE was also seen talking to parents outside Lafayette Elementary School on Thursday, according to Hahn’s office. Hahn represents the Fourth District, which includes Long Beach, San Pedro, Torrance, and many other parts of the South Bay.
“We’ve seen incidents of ICE all over the community today and this is unacceptable,” Richardson said. “We need ICE out of Long Beach, ICE does not belong here, and these acts of dehumanizing chaos and brutality on our community needs to stop.”
Hahn, meanwhile, said in a Thursday statement that she plans to unveil an ordinance on Friday, Nov. 21, which would prohibit all law enforcement, including ICE, from concealing their identities in response to ongoing concerns about how ICE agents have conducted themselves.
ICE began ramping up its operations in Los Angeles County in early June, arresting people at Home Depots, car washes and other places around the region, from Paramount to Pasadena. The increased activity — which has also spread to other major population centers nationwide, such as Chicago — has happened at the behest of President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration has repeatedly defended the operations, saying they are necessary to make the nation safe, characterizing the people ICE arrests as dangerous criminals.
But immigration advocates and officials across Los Angeles County have decried such characterizations, saying ICE is detaining hard-working members of the community — and, in some cases, U.S. citizens.
ICE’s increased presence in the region also resulted in weeks of protests, while community groups have sought to patrol neighborhoods to warn people when federal agents are present. And elected officials have taken steps to protect immigrant communities.
The Board of Supervisors, in October, voted to declare a state of emergency for LA County as a result of ICE arresting breadwinners during raids, leaving families unable to pay rent, buy food and clothing for their children, and causing many to stay home and not report to work because of fear.
“ICE is continuing to terrorize our communities and they hit Long Beach hard today,” Hahn said Thursday. “They are not communicating with local law enforcement, and we know they are not targeting violent criminals. They are targeting people based on the color of their skin, or their accent, or the place that they work. They are violating our residents’ rights every day they remain on our streets. They are creating chaos and spreading fear in our immigrant community, and they need to leave. This is how an authoritarian’s secret police operate — not legitimate law enforcement in a democracy.”
Hahn noted her appreciation and support for the community members who have served as crucial rapid responders and watchdogs during ICE’s ongoing assault on local communities.
“I continue to be impressed by the peaceful community members who have organized themselves,” Hahn said, “and are doing everything they can to report on ICE’s presence in our neighborhoods and share the stories of the many people who have been ripped away from their families.”
Across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, local watchdogs and elected officials reported that ICE activity had increased in San Pedro and the Harbor not only on Thursday — but since the start of the week.
“This week, beginning Monday (Nov. 17), we saw a significant uptick in the number of raids, arrests and interactions by ICE agents with residents in our community,” McOsker said in a video posted online Wednesday, Nov. 19. “And that is alarming.”
Harbor Area Peace Patrol, a watchdog group that catalogs and responds to ICE raids in the area, said in a statement that ICE had detained people at Neptune Avenue and PCH; Anaheim Street and McDonald Avenue in Wilmington; at Cal Marine Fish Company on Terminal Island; and at Vermont and Rosecrans Avenues on Thursday alone.
San Pedro and the surrounding areas have been targeted by ICE for months. In early October, for example, ICE detained three people on walks at a local park, where they also threatened to arrest staff members from the Los Angeles County Department of Parks and Recreation for trying to intervene.
ICE has also been using the U.S. Coast Guard Base on Terminal Island for staging purposes for months.
The Peace Patrol said that once ICE was sighted in San Pedro and the Harbor Area on Thursday, community members were able to get the word out quickly by taking photos, reporting sightings to rapid response hotlines, and warning their neighbors.
“This is the true goal of the organizations like Harbor Area Peace Patrols: to empower each other and ourselves to defend our neighborhoods,” the group’s statement said. “The federal government has brought nothing but chaos and fear to our communities. They may have money and weapons, but Los Angeles has the power of the people, and the power of the people don’t stop.”
McOsker, who filmed his video outside the U.S. Coast Guard base on Terminal Island that ICE deploys from each day, said that his office had also noticed additional community response to the agency’s ongoing operations in the area over this week — which he encouraged.
“That community support for our residents is great community safety. The Harbor Area Peace Patrol does its thing; other members of the community doing the same thing of just observing, safely,” McOsker said, “and exercising their constitutional right to record and (provide) a little bit of public safety to the folks who are getting raided upon, or arrested, or detained by ICE agents.”
McOsker added that he supports community members in their efforts to safely step up for their neighbors in any way they can — especially as the holidays approach.
“I will encourage that as we head into the holiday season, especially. It’s a time when joy, peace, and family should be celebrated,” McOsker added, “and I’m going to ask the community family to come out and wrap themselves around each other, and make sure we are protecting folks by recording and observing. Everybody can do something.”
Staff writer Christina Merino contributed to this report.