Immigration Authorities Carry Out Enforcement Activity Across Los Angeles Amid Crowds Of Protesters

Federal immigration authorities carried out enforcement activities in Los Angeles on Friday.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Federal immigration authorities arrested 44 people Friday across Los Angeles, prompting clashes outside at least one location as law enforcement threw flash bangs to try to disperse a crowd that had gathered to protest the detentions.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents executed search warrants at three locations, said Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe, a spokesperson for Homeland Security Investigations. But immigration advocates said they were aware of arrests at seven locations, including two Home Depots, a warehouse in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, said Angelica Salas, executive director for the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA.

In the fashion district, agents served a search warrant at a business after they and a judge found there was probable cause the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy confirmed.

In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass said the activity was meant to “sow terror.”

Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended his tactics earlier this week against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. He has said ICE is averaging about 1,600 arrests per day and that the agency has arrested “dangerous criminals.”