{"id":498543,"date":"2026-10-16T22:22:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498543\/"},"modified":"2026-10-16T22:22:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-16T22:22:10","slug":"surge-in-ice-raids-is-aimed-at-discouraging-voter-turnout-immigration-advocates-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/498543\/","title":{"rendered":"Surge in ICE raids is aimed at discouraging voter turnout, immigration advocates say"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Amid reports of a surge in federal immigration raids<\/a>, Los Angeles leaders and immigration advocates said Friday that the efforts appear aimed at discouraging turnout in the midterm elections, and urged voters not to be intimidated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe timing of these actions, just weeks before the midterm elections, is no accident,\u201d said Jeannette Zanipatin, policy director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. \u201cThese tactics seek to silence immigrant communities, suppress civic participation and divide our neighborhoods.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Angelica <\/p>\n

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. <\/p>\n

(Gary Coronado \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

CHIRLA\u2019s executive director, Angelica Salas, blamed the Republican Trump administration for seeking to discourage voting and said her organizations and others will send legal observers to the polls across the state as part of the Can\u2019t Stop California campaign. <\/p>\n

\u201cAs threats of intimidation from the Trump administration continue just 18 days before the election date, do not let anyone convince you that your voice does not matter,\u201d Salas said at a news conference in downtown Los Angeles. \u201cWe\u2019re protecting our people. We\u2019re also protecting our people\u2019s ability to participate in the elections. California organizes itself. That is why we are a progressive, pro-immigrant state.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Trump administration\u2019s Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n

Sending armed federal agents to election sites is illegal, and the Department of Homeland Security previously said it would not send agents to the polls, saying the rhetoric to the contrary is \u201cfearmongering,\u201d according to the Associated Press<\/a>. In May, President Trump said<\/a> he would \u201cdo anything necessary to make sure we have honest elections\u201d when asked about sending immigration agents to voting sites.<\/p>\n

In California, mail-in ballots have already been sent out and can be returned before Election Day on Nov. 3, but immigration advocates have raised concerns that increased immigration raid activity could intimidate people from showing up at the polls. She added that they saw more people detained by immigration officials this summer compared with last year.<\/p>\n

The reported increased immigration raids now come at a time when the federal government has targeted the state\u2019s election process. On Thursday, the Justice Department sued California over claims of voter fraud<\/a>, and accused the state of counting ballots from \u201clikely noncitizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the news conference, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was committed to protecting immigrants, and accused Trump of using raids as a distraction from his unpopular position on the war in Iran and skyrocketing gas prices.<\/p>\n

\" <\/p>\n

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass at Friday\u2019s news conference. <\/p>\n

(Gary Coronado \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an election just weeks away, Trump is trying to distract you from his record. Prices are rising because of his reckless tariffs, and gas prices are through the roof because of this war,\u201d Bass said. \u201cHe\u2019s flailing and putting immigrant communities at risk to change the subject, and we\u2019ve seen it before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bass encouraged voters to submit their ballots by mail to avoid in-person voting if they were afraid. She said she was working to increase protections, including using the Los Angeles Police Department to document federal enforcement activity.<\/p>\n

Councilmember Imelda Padilla said her district, which includes the northeast San Fernando Valley, has been hit the hardest.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is video all over showcasing the madness, chaos, the unprofessionalism of what this is doing to our communities,\u201d Padilla said. <\/p>\n

She encouraged residents to take care of their neighbors during increased raid activity by offering rides to those afraid to drive or use public transit, delivering groceries or walking their neighbors\u2019 children to school.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid reports of a surge in federal immigration raids, Los Angeles leaders and immigration advocates said Friday that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":498544,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-498543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/498544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}