Democratic Rep. Norma Torres of California said that the Trump administration needed to accede to demands from rioters to withdraw United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from the Los Angeles area in order to “restore order” in the city during a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC.
President Donald Trump ordered 700 Marines to back up the National Guard deployment Monday as the riots following a raid by ICE at a Los Angeles-area Home Depot continued into their fifth day. Torres claimed the agency’s presence in the area “panicked” her constituents and led to the violence, during which rioters waved Mexican flags.
“The reaction, Christina, from my constituents is one of complete scare. These are scare tactics. They are panicked,” Torres told “Chris Jansing Reports” guest host Christina Ruffini. They are worried about their families. They are worried about the children going to school, their spouses not coming home. In many cases, people aren’t reporting crimes that are occurring to them, whether they are witnesses or victims, because they are too afraid to engage with any law enforcement agency.”
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“This is — this is the chaos that the president created when he sent an unchecked group of ICE officers, agents, to a community to profile and do these raids that they have not had a warrant,” Torres added. “They are not asking for specific names. They are simply going after people because of the way they look. And this must stop. The president must call back these ICE agents. They must retreat in order for the locals to be given the opportunity to restore order, because that is what we are demanding right now.”
Torres previously demanded that ICE “get the fuck out LA” in a post on TikTok when the riots became more violent Saturday. Video posted to social media Saturday showed an individual, who the FBI identified as Elpido Reyna in a Monday night post on X, throwing rocks at the windshields of vehicles containing ICE agents
The FBI is offering a $50,000 reward for information leading to Reyna’s arrest on charges of assault on a federal officer. Fox News reporter Bill Melugin posted video showing the perspective from inside one of the vehicles being hit with rocks Saturday, and also posted additional video and photos of the aftermath of the incident, including video showing a windshield with significant damage after a rioter threw a rock at it and also a photo of an injury suffered by one federal law enforcement officer due to the attack.
Prior to the riots, Torres was among Democrats who demanded Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an adjudicated MS-13 member, be brought back to the United States, declaring that she viewed illegal immigrants as her constituents. Abrego Garcia did return to the United States in order to face charges in federal court for human trafficking Friday.
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