Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass compared ICE’s immigration enforcement activities to the COVID-19 lockdown mandates that California imposed in 2020.
During a visit to small businesses in the city alongside Assemblymember Mark Gonzales (D), Bass commented that the empty area was reminiscent of COVID.
“It’s the uncertainty that continues that has an absolute economic impact. But it is pretty profound to walk up and down the streets and to see the empty streets, it reminded me of COVID,” Bass told The Los Angeles Times, noting that restaurant operators said “people aren’t ordering, and people probably aren’t ordering because they’re not working.”
Bass blamed the sight on recent immigration raids, which the outlet claimed “instilled terror” in communities.
The mayor urged residents to support Boyle Heights restaurants in a social media post, writing, “Owners are seeing slower foot traffic because of fear of reckless raids. Let’s show up, support them, and send a message: LA stands with you.”
Speaking to CNN’s Dana Bash over the weekend, Bass blamed the recent protests and tensions in the city on immigration enforcement operations, claiming, “If the raids hadn’t happened, then that protest would have remained a No Kings protest.” She further stated that the operations have had a “devastating effect and has been a body blow to our economy.”
“I don’t think the president understands that we have entire sectors of our economy that cannot function without immigrant labor,” she said.
President Donald Trump has called for the United States to “expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” calling the cities the “core of the Democrat Power Center.”
