Los Angeles Restaurants Step Up Amid the Ongoing Anti-ICE Protests

Since Friday, thousands of Los Angeles residents have taken to the streets to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) immigration sweeps throughout Southern California. On Saturday, June 7, President Donald Trump dispatched the National Guard to minimize protests without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom. As of June 10, the Pentagon deployed 700 Marines to protect federal agents and buildings. It's a contentious time for Los Angeles County as LA Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Newsom claim the Trump Administration has intentionally provoked the unrest. Through it all, fruit vendors and restaurants have been assisting not only protestors but also law enforcement.
The Los Angeles Times reports that a street food vendor who sells aguas frescas and bacon-wrapped hot dogs assisted protesters over the weekend. As protesters found themselves battling tear gas, vendors Cinthia Soriao, Edgar Hernandez, and Sesarin Hernandez poured milk into their eyes. The Los Angeles Times report also states that the vendors fed protesters, as did other hot dog vendors.
Across town at Compton's Pupuseria La Ceiba, workers aided deputies who were hit with tear gas. The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department emailed Newsweek the following statement: 'Without hesitation, the restaurant employees stepped in to assist the deputies, helping them decontaminate from the effects of the tear gas.'
Restaurants temporarily close during protests
Citing safety concerns during nearby protests, ICE roundups, and police activity, Mermaid bar closed its doors temporarily on Monday, June 9. Other Downtown restaurants followed suit, including Chinatown's Lasita and Redbird.
The Ranch House at Calamigos Guest Ranch reopens
After closing during the Palisades Fire, one of Malibu's restaurants reopened in early June. Calamigos Guest Ranch's on-site restaurant, the Ranch Club, is located 12 miles away from Pacific Palisades, which was devastated by January wildfires. Until late May, access to portions of Pacific Coast Highway was closed except to residents, construction and cleanup crews, and emergency responders, leaving Malibu somewhat isolated. The Ranch Club team took the time to revamp the restaurant's interior and adjust its menu. The family-owned restaurant is typically open to members only, but is now available to the public on specific nights. Reservations are available on Resy.
Din Tai Fung's new shaved ice
Those obsessed with Din Tai Fung can taste a new dessert starting in July: shaved snow with fresh mango. The condensed milk-based dessert has a fluffy consistency, gets drizzled with mango sauce, and is topped with fresh mango.
RYLA's ramen night anniversary
RYLA chef Ray Hayashi will celebrate his third year by hosting a Ramen Party on June 11 from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. He'll feature ramen chefs from Zoku and Mogu Mogu with special ramen bowls for the evening. It's safe to recommend making a reservation.

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Yahoo

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• Yahoo

Newlywed couple's honeymoon ends with her ICE detention, prospect of deportation

Taahir Shaikh needed headshots for his new job, so he set up an appointment with a photographer named Ward Sakeik. One appointment turned into three photo shoots, and the two just kept talking. Three years later, the newlywed couple was elated to go on their honeymoon. But after spending nine days in the U.S. Virgin Islands, the couple's trip ended with Sakeik, 22, being detained for what has become months in several U.S. immigration detention centers. Sakeik, whose family is from Gaza but is legally stateless, has lived in the U.S. since she was 8, when her family travelled to the U.S. on a tourist visa and applied for asylum, according to her husband. While she was issued a deportation order more than a decade ago, Sakeik was permitted to stay in the U.S. under what's known as an "order of supervision," in which she regularly checked in with federal immigration authorities and is permitted work authorization, according to her lawyer and husband. At the St. Thomas Airport, as the couple prepared to return home on Feb. 11, Sakeik was detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection -- and has been held in custody in the months since. Then, last week, the government attempted to deport Sakeik without informing her where she was being sent, according to Shaikh. Sakeik says an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told her she was being taken to the Israel border, he said. After she waited in the airport for two hours, she was sent back to Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado, Texas, where she had recently been transferred. She later found out this was just hours before Israel launched airstrikes on Iran, Shaikh said. Now, facing a still uncertain future, his wife's family is "fearful beyond imagination," Shaikh, a U.S. citizen, told ABC News. "She's in a procedural black hole because she's not even eligible for a bond," Shaikh said. "They're saying 'when you were eight years old, you already were given your due process in court.' She doesn't even remember what a courtroom looks like." Sakeik does not have citizenship in any country, according to her lawyer, Waled Elsaban, and her husband. She was born in Saudi Arabia, which does not assign citizenship at birth to anyone who is not born to Saudi citizens. Sakeik, whose family is from the Gaza Strip, has never been to the Palestinian enclave, and she was not able to obtain legal status or citizenship from there either, her lawyer said. MORE: Tufts University doctoral student out of ICE custody after judge orders her release The family came to the U.S. 14 years ago, when she was just 8 years old, Shaikh said. "Fourteen years ago, my wife has no agency in the decision. She has no idea what's happening. All she knows is that they had refugee status in Saudi Arabia, they weren't given any level of citizenship [and] their work authorization was being stripped from Saudi Arabia," Shaikh said. The family came to the U.S. on travel visas and sought asylum, Shaikh said. Years later, Sakeik's asylum case was denied and she and her family were issued deportation orders. Since Saudi Arabia, Israel and neighboring countries were unwilling to accept Sakeik and her family, they were permitted to stay in the U.S. under an "order of supervision" -- a classification that provided them work permits. They were also required to regularly check in with ICE, according to Shaikh and Elsaban. In the years since she was denied asylum, Sakeik and her family have explored several pathways to obtain visas or citizenship in the U.S., including Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and sponsorship, but they were unsuccessful, her husband said. "There's many stories very similar to my wife's case, where the local immigration courts have accepted it, and for whatever reason, whether it was the lawyer or the legal team at the time, whether it was just a matter of the judge that had their case on the docket, they were denied," Shaikh said. MORE: Israel-Iran live updates: Multiple B-2 stealth bombers head to Guam, sources say "My wife has tried every route to adjust her status. Now that she's finally at the finish line and she has a way to get lawful permanent residence, they stripped it from her," Shaikh said. The couple thought they had prepared for their honeymoon. Months before their wedding, under the Biden administration, the couple called an ICE processing center to ask if they could travel to the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Shaikh said they were told they could. At the Dallas Fort Worth Airport, the morning of their trip in February, they also asked a Transportation Security Administration representative and an airline representative and were assured they could travel to the islands with just their U.S. driver's licenses, he said. After being detained at the St. Thomas Airport on their return trip, Shaikh said Sakeik was kept handcuffed on the plane to Miami, where the flight had a layover. The couple was not given a reason for her detention and was initially told she would be released from custody in Miami. There, the couple was separated. Sakeik was kept in Miami for three weeks before being sent to a detention center in Texas. Sakeik later told her husband she was shackled by the hands and legs as she walked through the airport, he said. Last week, after more than three months in custody, federal authorities moved to deport Sakeik, according to Shaikh and her attorney. On the morning of June 12, Sakeik was awakened and told she was being deported, according to her husband. After many detainees were rounded up, she was taken to the Fort Worth Alliance Airport, her husband said. MORE: Mahmoud Khalil thanks supporters after release, vows to continue advocating for Palestinians When she asked for travel documents or to be told where she was being taken, an officer told her she was being taken to the Israeli border, according to Shaikh. After waiting at the airport for two hours, Sakeik, four other Palestinians and an Egyptian man were returned to detention facilities, according to Shaikh. "An ICE officer [the next] morning came and said, 'The only reason your plane didn't come is because Israel bombed Iran last night, and there was a safety protocol that no flights were going to be flown into Israel,'" Shaikh told ABC News. Neither Sakeik nor her attorney were given written notification of where she was being deported, her husband and attorney said. Her attorney sought a stay of removal that would keep her in the U.S. after the government moved to deport her last week, and on Monday he was told her removal "is not imminent," Elsaban told ABC News. DHS initially told ABC News Sakeik "left the U.S." when she traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands -- a U.S. territory. "The arrest of Ward Sakeik was not part of a targeted operation by ICE. She chose to leave the country and was then flagged by [Customs and Border Patrol] trying to reenter the U.S.," Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement to ABC News. When ABC News asked if the government's stance was that travel to the Virgin Islands, a U.S. territory, constitutes someone choosing to "leave the country," DHS provided an updated statement. "She chose to fly over international waters and outside the U.S. customs zone and was then flagged by CBP trying to reenter the continental U.S.," McLaughlin said in a second statement. DHS said that Sakeik is in the U.S. illegally. MORE: Judge rules DHS violated court order in deporting 8 migrants to South Sudan "She overstayed her visa and has had a final order by an immigration judge for over a decade," McLaughlin said in the statement. "President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring integrity to the visa program and ensuring it is not abused to allow aliens a permanent one-way ticket to remain in the U.S." McLaughlin said that Sakeik's appeal of the final order of removal was rejected by the Board of Immigration Appeals in 2014. "She has exhausted her due process rights and all of her claims for relief have been denied by the courts," the statement said. DHS did not comment on the order of supervision Sakeik and her attorney say makes her status in the U.S. legal. DHS also did not respond to ABC News' questions asking why Sakeik was detained when she had presented valid travel documents that she says TSA had told her would suffice ahead of her trip or why, according to Sakeik, she was told she would be sent to the Israeli border when she has never lived in the region and is not a national of any country. DHS also did not respond to whether it was violating a standing court order that bars the removal of migrants to third countries without a proper chance to challenge these removals. The Trump administration has ramped up efforts to deport migrants. Last month, a federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration's deportations of eight men -- who the administration alleged were convicted of violent crimes -- to South Sudan "unquestionably" violated an earlier order by not giving them adequate due process, including a "meaningful opportunity to object" to their removals to a country other than their own. Shaikh, who said he has visited his wife 18 times in the months that she's been held in detention, also submitted a green card application for Sakeik in February -- two days after she was detained. Her application is pending. Referring to his wife's family, Shaikh said, "They don't want to live like this. My wife has tried every route to adjust her status."

Yahoo

an hour ago

• Yahoo

Gold prices should hit $4,000 as U.S. deficits may overshadow the Israel-Iran conflict, BofA says

Wars and geopolitical conflicts typically aren't long-term growth drivers for gold prices, according to analysts at Bank of America, which sees the precious metal reaching $4,000 an ounce over the next year. Despite the Israel-Iran conflict heating up, the outlook for gold is likely to be swayed more by the U.S. budget deficit. Gold is often seen as a safe-haven asset during times of global turmoil, but wars and geopolitical conflicts typically aren't long-term growth drivers for gold prices, according to analysts at Bank of America. In fact, gold has actually dipped 2% in the week since Israel began its airstrikes on Iran. Meanwhile, tensions are ramping as reports Saturday said B-2 stealth bombers are headed over the Pacific. That's as President Donald Trump weighs involvement in the conflict, potentially with bombers dropping massive 'bunker busters' on heavily fortified Iranian nuclear sites. In a note on Friday, BofA analysts said they expect gold prices to reach $4,000 per ounce in the next year, representing an 18% jump from current levels. 'While the war between Israel and Iran can always escalate, conflicts are not usually a sustained bullish price driver,' they wrote. 'As such, the trajectory of the US budget negotiations will be critical, and if fiscal shortfalls don't decline, the fallout from that plus market volatility may end up attracting more buyers.' The Israel-Iran conflict has drawn attention away from Trump's tax-and-spending bill making its way through Congress. While the House and Senate versions have key differences that need to be reconciled before it can become law, the bill's fiscal impact is still expected to add trillions of dollars to U.S. deficits in the coming years. That's raised fears about the sustainability of U.S. debt and global demand for the flood of Treasury bonds that will be issued to finance all the red ink. And amid Trump's trade war, the U.S. dollar—traditionally viewed as a haven asset—has suffered as well, slumping against other top currencies and providing more upside to gold. Central banks around the world have dumped $48 billion in Treasuries since late March alone. At the same time, central banks keep buying gold, continuing a trend that began years earlier. A recent survey from the World Gold Council found that geopolitical instability and potential trade conflicts are chief reasons why central banks in emerging economies are shifting toward gold at a much faster rate than those in advanced economies. BofA estimated the central banks' gold holdings are now equivalent to just under 18% of outstanding U.S. public debt, up from 13% a decade ago. 'That tally should be a warning for US policymakers. Ongoing apprehension over trade and US fiscal deficits may well divert more central bank purchases away from US Treasuries to gold,' analysts warned. Meanwhile, the market still doesn't appear to be overexposed to gold. BofA estimated that investors have allocated just 3.5% of their portfolios to gold. And regardless of how Congress ends up rewriting the budget bill, analysts said deficits will remain elevated. 'Therefore, market concerns over fiscal sustainability are unlikely to fade no matter the result of Senate negotiations,' BofA predicted. 'Rates volatility and a weaker USD should then keep gold supported, especially if the US Treasury or the Fed are ultimately forced to step in and support markets.' This story was originally featured on

Newsweek

an hour ago

• Newsweek

State Dept Starts Exit Flights From Israel as Trump Mulls War Entry

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. The U.S. State Department has begun "assisted departure flights" for U.S. citizens and lawful residents out of Israel, according to a notice issued Saturday. The move comes as President Donald Trump is expected to meet with his National Security Council on Saturday evening to discuss the ongoing Israel-Iran conflict. Newsweek has reached out to the State Department for comment via email on Saturday. The U.S. embassy in Israel directed Newsweek to the State Department's media inquiry form. Why It Matters Over the past few days, the conflict between Israel and Iran has escalated dramatically, with Trump calling for the evacuation of Tehran, Iran's capital city home to over 9.5 million people. Israel initially struck Tehran and several other cities in "Operation Rising Lion," a campaign it said was meant to preempt a planned Iranian attack and disrupt Iran's nuclear capabilities. Iran, which has said its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, has since retaliated, though Israeli defense systems—bolstered by U.S. military technology—have intercepted about 99 percent of incoming missile fire, according to Israeli officials in Saturday morning in an X, formerly Twitter, post. Iran hit a hospital in southern Israel on Thursday, and local reports noted that buildings in Tel Aviv were on fire from Iranian missiles on Friday. The U.S. is Israel's closest ally, providing billions of dollars in military aid annually. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday that Trump is expected to make a decision about whether to directly support Israel in its attacks against Iran within the next two weeks. What To Know The State Department on Saturday issued a notice with information for U.S. citizens and lawful residents in Iran and Israel on how to leave the countries. It said, "The Department of State has begun assisted departure flights from Israel," but did not provide further details, including the number or origin of the flights. The State Department has not responded to Newsweek's request for comment as of Saturday afternoon. The government hasn't offered such flights since the beginning of the war between Hamas and Israel that started on October 7, 2023. Individuals seeking U.S. government assistance to depart, should complete the crisis intake form on the State Department's website. Duplicate requests may cause delays, so people are encouraged to file it once. "U.S. citizens seeking to depart Israel or the West Bank should take the first available option, even if it is not your first choice of destination," the notice stated. It addressed that there are third parties assisting people to leave Israel via land borders to Jordan and Egypt as well as by sea to Cyprus. "While we are not able to endorse any providers, we know some have been able to successfully help U.S. citizens. The U.S. Embassy is also aware that there are commercial opportunities to depart Israel by ship, and U.S. citizens should check local media if other commercial opportunities arise to depart as we may not be able to provide the information before such travel options sell out," the notice reads. U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee posted on his X, formerly Twitter, about the announcement and wrote, "'Operation Exodus' is helping US Citizens evacuate Israel. We can't part the Red Sea, but are parting the 'Red Tape' to help people who wish to leave!" He added that the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem "has arranged for masses to leave & our team is working around the clock to assist." The post continued: "Once on the list you will find out options to leave via cruise ship, commercial or charter flight or a few US Gov't operated flights. If given an option, TAKE IT. If you turn down evac offer, it will be offered to next person on list." In another X post on Saturday, Huckabee reaffirmed that the "assisted departure flights" have commenced and that individuals who would like to be considered need to fill out the online form first. Earlier this week, Trump shared reported text messages from Huckabee on his Truth Social account, calling the ambassador a "great person!" The messages read, "I believe you will hear from heaven and that voice is far more important than mine or ANYONE else's." The State Department notice also states that due to the closure of the Iranian airspace, U.S. citizens seeking to leave the country should "depart by land to Azerbaijan, Armenia, or Türkiye if they deem conditions are safe/if they can do so safely," the notice said, adding that "because of the limitations on consular support in Iran, we do not anticipate offering direct U.S. government assisted departure from Iran. U.S. citizens seeking departure should take advantage of existing means to leave Iran." U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are seen with Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in Jerusalem on May 26. U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and U.S. ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee are seen with Israel's Foreign Minister Gideon Sa'ar in Jerusalem on May 26. AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool What People Are Saying Governor Ron DeSantis, a Florida Republican, wrote Friday on X: "Welcome home to those rescued from the escalating Iranian attacks against Israel. The mission has been challenging, but Florida delivered solutions. Through the partnership of @FLSERT and @greybullrescue, we are proud to be the first to welcome these individuals home." Senator Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, said in a June 18 X post: "President Trump has handled the Israel-Iran conflict brilliantly thus far. Israel dominates the skies and has destroyed Iran's military and scientific leadership. They have also done great damage to Iran's nuclear infrastructure. However the one site left standing - the deep underground Fordow site - must be dealt with to achieve the common objective of making sure Iran's nuclear enrichment program ends..." President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social on June 16: "AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!! Steve Bannon, former chief strategist to Trump, said on his show, The War Room: "Come on, man. We have to have an adult conversation. We're not going to let the shills at Fox—the same exact crowd that said the same thing about the Iraq War—force the President of the United States into a corner. He needs a range of options." What Happens Next The conflict remains volatile, with Israel continuing its military campaign and Iran vowing not to back down. Reports also indicate American bombers and naval fleets are mobilizing in preparation for U.S. war efforts.