Free Republic

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass repeatedly dodged answering directly on whether all illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city should be allowed to stay. In an interview with ABC's "This Week," Bass further criticized President Donald Trump's decision to federalize 4,000 National Guard troops and deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles amid anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots and protests. The Democratic mayor was questioned by ABC host Martha Raddatz on who she thinks should be deported – whether that should be just people convicted of crimes – given Los Angeles has about a million "undocumented workers." "What should happen...

Los Angeles Democratic Mayor Karen Bass, a critic of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, is being mocked for pushing a story about an LA woman being kidnapped by ICE that ended up allegedly being an elaborate hoax. The Department of Homeland Security posted on its official X account on Friday, "Mayor, you pushed a HOAX. There is still time to delete this." This comes after Yuriana Julia Pelaez Calderon, a 41-year-old Mexican illegal alien living in Los Angeles, was charged with conspiracy and making false statements to federal officers, according to the DOJ. On July 1, Bass posted a link...

The City of Los Angeles has declared itself to be in a state of rebellion against federal law. See Mayor Karen Bass’s executive directive, which officially aligns the city on the side of lawbreakers–in many cases, violent lawbreakers–and against the rule of law.Violence against federal law enforcement officers has gotten out of hand. Most recently, in executing a raid on a marijuana farm in California, federal agents were attacked by a mob of 500 rioters and fired upon. They made 200 arrests and rescued ten children who were being exploited as laborers.Outraged at escalating violence against law enforcement, President Trump...

During an interview with FOXLA on Monday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that she didn’t know what the mission of federal agents in MacArthur Park was but wanted to get them to leave and “having it look like there are troops on the ground, that could create a crowd, and then we could have a lot of problems. So, instead of solving problems, they’re creating problems.” Bass began by saying, “I was horrified. What went through my mind was those occasions when I would travel overseas and see a city or a country under siege by their military in...

Federal agency reminds Bass of her controversial Ghana trip while Los Angeles wildfires raged.. Immigration and Customs Enforcement clapped back at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after she suggested that federal immigration authorities "go home." .... "I don’t know if there’s a deal to be made. Like I told you, the deal that needs to be made is for them to go home," the Democrat said. ICE directly responded, noting that they will continue their operations in the city and in the region. "ICE isn't going anywhere and will continue to do what Mayor Bass has utterly failed to do...

I knew it! Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass were lying when they said it would be “easy” for fire victims to get a permit to rebuild their homes. From March 1 through June 30, 2025, more than 5,000 fire victims have visited the government’s “one stop center,” and 948 of them have applied for a building permit. But only 44 of them have actually received a building permit.By Daniel Alman (aka Dan from Squirrel Hill)June 30, 2025The very first time that I heard California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass say that they were creating a “one...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said "the ICE raids are scaring immigrants from going to their jobs to earn the income they need to pay their rent. Everyone I talk to says that as long as ICE is here we need another rent moratorium to prevent these folks from being evicted." Kenia Alcocer, representative of the Los Angeles Tenants Union and an illegal alien herself, says "we know that many immigrants will not be able to pay their rent come July 1. Without a rent moratorium landlords will be able to kick us out of our homes. We had a...

Mayor Karen Bass took aim at JD Vance Friday for the comments he made during his visit to Los Angeles, accusing the vice president of "spewing lies" and disrespecting Sen. Alex Padilla. The heated exchange comes just hours after the vice president's own press conference, where he took jabs at both Mayor Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom, claiming their decisions and policies are "endangering" federal officials

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass compared the impact of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids to the coronavirus lockdowns that her party imposed on California, in that both kept people at home. Bass made the comparison over the weekend in visits to small businesses in a neighborhood that, the Los Angeles Times, depended on the “immigrant” economy (the Times never used the word “illegal). The Times reported: Bass visited a number of small businesses in Boyle Heights with Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez (D-Los Angeles), including Casa Fina, Distrito Catorce, Yeya’s and Birrieria De Don Boni, as well as the Estrada...

On Monday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Weeknight,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass responded to a question on whether the LAPD should tip off neighborhood leaders if they know ICE enforcement is coming by saying that “the problem is, is that they don’t. They don’t have any idea. And so, they cannot be helpful in that way. They are excluded. They’re just as in the dark as we are.” Co-host Alicia Menendez asked, “Mayor Bass, to your point about L.A. being an experiment, you had the president today saying that he wants to step up deportation efforts in many Democrat-run cities....

Video link via X

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said Sunday that ongoing unrest, which she blamed partly on President Donald Trump’s “federal escalation,” meant that Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers would no longer operate checkpoints to protect homes in the burn zone of the Palisades Fire. On Saturday, police checkpoints that had protected local properties from looting sine the January 7 fire, were removed, and Pacific Palisades was reopened to non-residents. The Westside Current, citing the Los Angeles Times, reported that LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell had said the “No Kings” protests that had been planned for Saturday — and which descended into...

Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass used Father’s Day not to honor the importance of fatherhood or the role of strong families, but to push a political message about illegal immigration. Instead of acknowledging the responsibility that comes with breaking U.S. law, Bass focused her message on sympathy for children whose fathers were deported for being in the country illegally. Her statement ignored the legal consequences of entering or remaining in the U.S. unlawfully and painted deportation as an unjust act rather than a necessary part of enforcing immigration law. “This morning, I’m thinking about the children in Los Angeles...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that President Donald Trump does not understand there were entire sectors of the U.S. economy “cannot function without immigrant labor.” Host Dana Bash said, “Officials say more than 20,000 demonstrators took to the streets in L.A. yesterday as part of the nationwide No Kings protests, which were largely peaceful. There was a pocket of unrest outside the federal building. How violent did things ge in reality last night in your town?”

Federal District Court Judge Charles Breyer's order instructing President Trump to turn control over the National Guard troops he assigned to protect federal property and the ICE agents working in Los Angeles to Gov. Newsom was stayed by a three judge panel of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. Newsom called the stay "a tragic miscarriage of justice. The city was entirely peaceful until ICE started the trouble by trying to arrest folks that I granted sanctuary. If it weren't for this provocation there would've been no need for protesters to start fires, assault police, and loot a shoe store...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is facing mounting backlash after a leaked report revealed she had ordered the LAPD to stand down during violent riots, leaving federal officers without critical backup as the situation spiraled out of control.. when DHS and FBI requested assistance because they were overwhelmed by rioters, LAPD sat idle waiting for direction. Instead of allowing the Incident Commander to act, Mayor Karen Bass bypassed established protocol ... By personally directing operations, Bass functioned as a de facto Incident Commander, in direct conflict with the City’s Emergency Operations Plan and National Incident Management System (NIMS) protocols. This...

Ms. Bass struggled amid criticism of her initial response to the Los Angeles fires in January. The opposition over President Trump’s immigration raids have offered her an opportunity. For the past three days, Mayor Karen Bass has been a high-profile figure across Los Angeles. She turned up at parking lots where federal officials had conducted immigration sweeps. She posted updates on social media seeking to reassure embattled immigrants that the city would fight for them. She held a news conference at City Hall to rally her constituents and assail President Trump for deploying the National Guard. “It’s the last thing...

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass denounced what she called a “chaotic escalation” Sunday by President Donald Trump, after he federalized 2,000 California National Guard troops to stop riots against immigration enforcement. Bass, who failed to maintain order on her city’s streets Friday and Saturday as masked rioters opposed to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) vandalized federal buildings and attacked federal officers, joined the state’s elected Democrats in attacking Trump’s efforts to restore order. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) also denounced Trump for his efforts to stop the riots.

California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could both face federal charges over their response to ICE raids in the city, President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan has warned. As violence tore apart sections of downtown LA, Compton and the suburb of Paramount, the administration has accused the Golden State Dems of fueling tensions, which exploded in riots on Saturday. “Someone is going to lose their life,” Homan warned, speaking to NBC News. He said that he has not ruled out asking the Department of Justice to prosecute the elected officials for allegedly having a role in...

Federal officials are sounding the alarm after violent mobs confronted ICE agents in Los Angeles, blaming what they call “reckless and dangerous” rhetoric from Democrat leaders for fueling the chaos. As agents attempted to carry out lawful immigration enforcement, they were met with hostility and aggression from protesters emboldened by the left’s ongoing campaign to demonize border enforcement. Over 7,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted ICE law enforcement officers heading into the weekend. They slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property. Multiple people were detained in LA by immigration agents following the violent protests. Demonstrators also...