Los Angeles mayor lifts downtown curfew she imposed during protests against immigration raids

California Highway Patrol officers arrest two men after a dispersal order during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
By MICHAEL R. BLOOD
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday that was first imposed in response to clashes with police and vandalism amid protests against President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown in the city.
The curfew imposed June 10 provided 'successful crime prevention and suppression efforts" and protected stores, restaurants, businesses and residents from people engaging in vandalism, Bass, a Democrat, said.
On Monday, she trimmed back the hours after fewer arrests during evening demonstrations, noting a reduction in violence and vandalism in downtown that followed the protests.
When the curfew was imposed, Bass said the city 'reached a tipping point' after 23 businesses were broken into and robbed, which was blamed on agitators looking to cause trouble.
The curfew covered a relatively tiny slice of the sprawling city — a 1-square-mile (2.5 square kilometer) section of downtown that includes the area where protests have occurred.
Last week, Trump ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the second-largest U.S. city following protests over his stepped-up enforcement of immigration laws.
On Sunday, Trump directed federal immigration officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after large protests erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against his administration's immigration policies.
© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

The Mainichi

29 minutes ago

• The Mainichi

Editorial: Directionless G7 must find its footing after Trump-dominated Canada summit

In an effort to portray unity at all costs, the Group of Seven (G7) advanced industrial nations has failed to deliver a clear message or offer any effective solutions to halt global instability. Standing frozen at this 50th-anniversary milestone, the group's inability to provide meaningful prescriptions highlights its waning influence. The G7 summit took place in Canada, focusing primarily on conflicts in Europe and the Middle East and maintaining the free trade system. Yet it concluded without proposing significant new measures to support Ukraine, nor did it advance meaningful dialogue about the crucial need for free trade. Although a joint statement addressed the Middle East situation, its contents were deeply skewed -- defending Israel, which recently launched attacks on Iran, while harshly criticizing Iran itself. A failure by the G7 to present viable solutions to crises such as war and economic uncertainty demonstrates that it has not lived up to its responsibilities as a key guardian of the international order. U.S. President Donald Trump's preferences strongly shaped the agenda and outcome documents, yet Trump himself departed early, rendering hollow any facade of unity that had been orchestrated. Despite the G7 being originally envisioned as a forum for coordination among Japan, the U.S. and Europe, Trump relentlessly pursued only his "America First" objectives. This behavior must be called out as self-serving. However, the other nations were afraid of the talks collapsing entirely, and thus chose instead to obediently follow Trump's lead. This, too, was problematic; a vigorous exchange of views would have better clarified key issues. Japan also shares partial responsibility for this failure. Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba presented information on Chinese and North Korean military activities as "Asia's representative." Although he reportedly expressed "concern under international law" regarding Israel's actions, the firm stance he displayed before the summit faded away. Such behavior risks appearing to endorse Western double standards, effectively giving Israel preferential treatment while emphatically condemning Russia for its aggression against Ukraine. Historically, Japan has built trust with Palestine and Iran through sustained humanitarian assistance and investment. This reputation, carefully established over many years, could now face damage. The inward-looking stance demonstrated by the G7 this year has likely caused disappointment among the emerging and developing nations collectively known as the Global South, which are already pressured by major-power politics. If the G7 continues to tacitly accommodate states such as Russia and Israel, which are attempting to alter the status quo through force, suspicion will only deepen. Moreover, global confidence in the rules-based international order may suffer lasting harm. The G7 urgently needs to clarify and correct its own approach. Rather than continuously relying on U.S. leadership, Japan, Europe and Canada should instead proactively work toward stabilizing and safeguarding global order.

Yomiuri Shimbun

2 hours ago

• Yomiuri Shimbun

Trump Says He May Change His Mind about Firing Fed Chair Powell

WASHINGTON, June 20 (Reuters) – U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday again floated the idea of firing Jerome Powell, the Federal Reserve chair he has long attacked over interest rates he wants lowered. 'I don't know why the Board doesn't override (Powell),' Trump wrote in a lengthy post on Truth Social criticizing Fed policy. 'Maybe, just maybe, I'll have to change my mind about firing him? But regardless, his Term ends shortly.' Trump added: 'I fully understand that my strong criticism of him makes it more difficult for him to do what he should be doing, lowering Rates, but I've tried it all different ways.' Fed chairs have long been seen as insulated from presidential dismissal for reasons other than malfeasance or misconduct, but Trump has threatened to test that legal premise with frequent threats to fire Powell. Trump nearly as frequently reverses course on those threats. 'I'm not going to fire him,' he said at the White House on June 12. The Fed held rates steady on Wednesday in the 4.25%-4.50% range and forecast slower growth as well as higher unemployment and inflation by year's end. Fed Governor Chris Waller, who has been floated as a possible Trump pick to be Powell's successor, said on Friday that with inflation coming down and the labor market showing signs of weakening, rate cuts should be considered as soon as July. But even Waller joined Wednesday's unanimous Fed decision to leave rates on hold, signaling no inclination by any of Powell's six fellow Board members, or of the five voting regional Fed bank presidents, to 'override' him. Fed decisions are typically reached through consensus, and more than a couple of dissents would be rare. Elected partly on voters' belief that he could contain high inflation, the Republican U.S. president has imposed tariff hikes in office. Powell, echoing an academic consensus, has said some of those tariff hikes will be paid for in higher consumer prices. Powell's term ends in May 2026, and Trump is expected to nominate a successor in the coming months. A Supreme Court ruling in May eased concerns that Trump could fire Powell as the justices called the Fed 'a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.'

Japan Today

2 hours ago

• Japan Today

Vance blames California Democrats for violent immigration protests and calls Sen Alex Padilla 'Jose'

Vice President JD Vance speaks during a visit to the Wilshire Federal Building Friday, June 20, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) By MICHAEL R BLOOD Vice President JD Vance on Friday accused California Gov Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging violent immigration protests as he used his appearance in Los Angeles to rebut criticism from state and local officials that the Trump administration fueled the unrest by sending in federal officers. Vance also referred to U.S. Sen Alex Padilla, the state's first Latino senator, as 'Jose Padilla,' a week after the Democrat was forcibly taken to the ground by officers and handcuffed after speaking out during a Los Angeles news conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on immigration raids. 'I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question,' Vance said, in an apparent reference to the altercation at Noem's event. 'I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn't a theater. And that's all it is.' 'They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, 'Look, me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,'' Vance added. A spokesperson for Padilla, Tess Oswald, noted in a social media post that Padilla and Vance were formerly colleagues in the Senate and said that Vance should know better. 'He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots,' Oswald said. Vance's visit to Los Angeles to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center came as demonstrations calmed down in the city and a curfew was lifted this week. That followed over a week of sometimes-violent clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting that followed immigration raids across Southern California. Trump's dispatching of his top emissary to Los Angeles at a time of turmoil surrounding the Israel-Iran war and the U.S.'s future role in it signals the political importance Trump places on his hard-line immigration policies. Vance echoed the president's harsh rhetoric toward California Democrats as he sought to blame them for the protests in the city. 'Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city, have basically said that this is open season on federal law enforcement,' Vance said after he toured federal immigration enforcement offices. 'What happened here was a tragedy,' Vance added. 'You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful. And it is why the president has responded so forcefully.' Newsom's spokesperson Izzy Gardon said in a statement, 'The Vice President's claim is categorically false. The governor has consistently condemned violence and has made his stance clear.' Speaking at City Hall, Bass said Vance was 'spewing lies and utter nonsense.' She said hundreds of millions of dollars were wasted by the federal government on a 'stunt.' 'How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,' Bass said. In a statement on X, Newsom responded to Vance's reference to 'Jose Padilla,' saying the comment was no accident. Jose Padilla also is the name of a convicted al-Qaida terrorism plotter during President George W. Bush's administration, who was sentenced to two decades in prison. Padilla was arrested in 2002 at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport during the tense months after the 9/11 attacks and accused of the 'dirty bomb' mission. It later emerged through U.S. interrogation of other al-Qaida suspects that the 'mission' was only a sketchy idea, and those claims never surfaced in the South Florida terrorism case. Responding to the outrage, Taylor Van Kirk, a spokesperson for Vance, said of the vice president: 'He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law.' Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country to fulfill Trump's promise of mass deportations. Todd Lyons, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has defended his tactics against criticism that authorities are being too heavy-handed. The friction in Los Angeles began June 6, when federal agents conducted a series of immigration sweeps in the region that have continued since. Amid the protests and over the objections of state and local officials, Trump ordered the deployment of roughly 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to the second-largest U.S. city, home to 3.8 million people. Trump has said that without the military's involvement, Los Angeles 'would be a crime scene like we haven't seen in years.' Newsom has depicted the military intervention as the onset of a much broader effort by Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy. Earlier Friday, Newsom urged Vance to visit victims of the deadly January wildfires while in Southern California and talk with Trump, who earlier this week suggested his feud with the governor might influence his consideration of $40 billion in federal wildfire aid for California. 'I hope we get that back on track,' Newsom wrote on X. 'We are counting on you, Mr. Vice President.' Vance did not mention either request during his appearance on Friday. Associated Press writers Julie Watson and Jaimie Ding in Los Angeles and Tran Nguyen in Sacramento contributed to this report. © Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.