Latest news with #1stAmendment
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Protesters are chasing federal agents out of L.A. County hotels: ‘A small victory'
At Pasadena's AC Hotel earlier this month, dozens of protesters gathered in an effort to confront federal agents who had arrived in town amid demonstrations against the Trump administration's mass deportation effort. Pasadena Mayor Victor Gordo was among those present on June 7 as demonstrators holding signs with 'ICE out of Pasadena' and other messages chased federal vehicles out of the luxury hotel's parking garage, cheering and recording it all on their cellphones. The mayor said the protest forced the agents to leave the place they were using for local accommodations during their L.A. operations, which involved protecting federal buildings downtown. 'Word got out that there were Homeland Security vehicles parked at the hotel,' Gordo told The Times. 'People wanted to express their 1st Amendment rights and they did so in a lawful, nonviolent and respectful manner.' After hours of noisy rallying, the hotel staff asked the feds to pack up their things and go, according to Gordo. By sunset, uniformed agents from the Federal Protective Service, part of the Department of Homeland Security, were seen walking out of the hotel with their bags stacked on a luggage cart in a video of the incident that went viral online. Their vehicles were escorted out of the garage by local police as protesters trailed behind. Hotels have emerged as hot spots for confrontations between community members and immigration agents. Federal agencies, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, sometimes rent blocks of rooms in places where agents are dispatched for major operations. The showdown in Pasadena was one of several recent instances of protesters coming together at hotels across the Los Angeles region to put pressure on their proprietors to offer no quarter to federal personnel during the Trump administration's crackdown. The businesses, which rely on immigrant workers for cleaning and maintenance, have been cast into an awkward position — one that requires balancing politics with protecting their employees. From Whittier to Hawaiian Gardens to Brea, concerned citizens have repeatedly taken to social media and whisper networks to share locations where they have spotted who they believe are federal agents. And people have followed up on such information by staging protests outside hotels in communities including Long Beach, Downey and Glendale. Employees at the AC Hotel Pasadena referred inquiries to a spokeswoman, who did not immediately provide a comment. It was back to business as usual Tuesday afternoon at the Marriott property, which opened earlier this year. A man on a plush couch worked on his laptop, a woman sipped a beer at the bar and staff milled about. Gordo said he had confirmed that there are no longer any Homeland Security agents staying at the property. The Homeland Security press office did not immediately provide comment, and agencies under the department's umbrella, including ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, did not respond to inquires. Protesters have been arrested this month for allegedly interfering with federal officers, and federal agencies have expressed concerns about the repercussions of people 'doxxing' agents by sharing their locations and other personal information online. 'People are out there taking photos of the names, their faces and posting them online with death threats to their family and themselves,' Reuters reported acting ICE chief Todd Lyons said last week. The crowd-sourced effort to spread information about where federal agents are holed up plays out mostly online. In some instances, the unverified reports come from people who work at the hotels. Other times, hotel guests or area residents see suspected agents outside or in the lobby, or walk through parking lots in search of federal vehicles. During the first days after the L.A. enforcement effort began, it was fairly easy to tell where agents were staying by looking for vehicles with agency logos. But it appears that they have caught on to the surveillance tactics of those who would like to see them go home. On Monday, a Times reporter visited 13 hotels in three Southland counties — from Westchester to Garden Grove to Ontario — where federal immigration agents recently had been rumored to be staying, according to social media posts and alerts on apps and websites dedicated to tracking ICE activity. No vehicles in any of the hotels' parking lots bore clear visual indications that they were federal agents' cars, vans or trucks. At five hotels, employees approached by The Times declined to comment. At three, employees agreed to speak but declined to give their names, citing corporate policies. Two of them said in brief interviews that they were not sure whether agents were staying on the premises. A third, who works at a chain hotel in Anaheim, said he had seen who he believed were ICE agents at the property last week, but they were no longer staying there. 'They didn't bother anyone,' said the man, who declined to provide his name out of fear of reprisal from his employer or immigration authorities. 'There were maybe, like, a dozen of them. It was a little concerning.' Workers such as him have been subjected to political whiplash in recent days. Last week, President Trump wrote on Truth Social that 'Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them.' That same day, a senior ICE official sent guidance to regional ICE officials directing them to avoid raiding farms, hotels and restaurants and instead emphasize other targets. The development gave hotel employees hope that they were out of the crosshairs. But the Trump administration quickly reversed course, saying this week that there is now no reprieve for hotel workers and others who Trump had praised just days earlier. Andrew Mark, a pastor at Pasadena Covenant Church, also addressed the crowd at the June 7 rally outside the AC Hotel. He said in an interview that he was impressed — but not surprised — that the community came together and forced change. 'There's a deep pride in Pasadena. So I think that for agents to be staying in a hotel here, you feel … a sense that we don't want this to be a place where they can stage and go out and target people,' he said. 'The fact that they were based in a hotel in our community was unsettling.' On Tuesday, Manuel Vicente sat behind his makeshift desk in a soundproof room at the Pasadena Community Job Center, which helps connect day laborers with employment opportunities. As director of Radio Jornalera, he creates audio and video content to help migrant workers, including content that informs them of the rights they have during encounters with immigration enforcement agents. Vicente said he believes the successful protest at the AC Hotel Pasadena is an example of a saying he likes to quote, 'Pueblo salva el pueblo,' or 'Only the people save the people.' 'When they were kicked out of the hotel, everybody was excited,' he said. 'It was a small victory, but our efforts made a difference. We need to be together to protect our community, to protect our workers.'
Los Angeles Times
2 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
What does Juneteenth have in common with today's immigration raids?
Law is the one thing restraining an American president who regularly exceeds his authority. More than 300 lawsuits against the second Trump administration have led to at least partial relief in a number of domains, including unlawful deportations and purges of federal workers. Those victories are fragile, however, in part because they are subject to review by an often unsympathetic Supreme Court, but also for a deeper reason: They involve too few of us. The court rulings are the work of a small number of lawyers and judges and are largely opaque to most Americans. In this moment, we must do away with the common assumption that law is best left to lawyers. If we want to sustain the rule of law, we need to participate in it. The difference between law and legal empowerment is akin to the difference between the Emancipation Proclamation and Juneteenth. Although President Lincoln's proclamation theoretically went into effect on Jan. 1, 1863, it was not until 2½ years later, when Union troops arrived in Texas, that 250,000 people who were enslaved there could assert their freedom. We remember the proclamation as the first federal legal instrument to reject slavery. We remember Juneteenth for something even more important: the moment when the people whose freedom was at stake were aware of their rights and able to act on them. To protect democracy in the U.S. today, we need mass legal empowerment. In some places, it's already begun. Federal workers are learning the details of administrative law so they can respond to arbitrary and unlawful orders. Volunteers working with Organized Communities Against Deportations are helping immigrants to understand their rights and defend one another. In 27 neighborhoods across Chicago, volunteers show up within 10 minutes of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid. When people invoke their rights — for instance, insisting that agents present a valid judicial warrant before entering a private space — ICE agents have sometimes backed away. You don't need to read statutes, regulations or court decisions, which are often written in impenetrable legalese. Credible civil society organizations and some government agencies have simplified important laws. To understand the scope of the 1st Amendment, you can turn to plain language explanations from a group called Freedom Forum. A foreign student writing for a university newspaper has the same free-press rights as any other student journalist, for example, and the government cannot use federal funding to regulate the speech of nongovernmental organizations. To take climate action in spite of the government's political stance, you can begin by accessing clean energy tax credits in state and federal law. The climate laws we have will become more effective and more durable if more people understand and use them. The key is not to do it alone. The law protects our rights as individuals, but learning and using law on your own can be intimidating, especially under a government that is hostile toward basic rights. Legal empowerment works when we come together. With time, legal empowerment can address the root causes of authoritarianism. Political scientists including Cas Mudde and Pippa Norris describe a vicious cycle: Distrust in institutions leads to sympathy for authoritarian politicians, authoritarian politicians undermine institutions, and distrust deepens. When we use law to tackle problems we face, we reduce the distance between our institutions and ourselves. My colleagues and I recently analyzed interviews with 95 'justice seekers' across Kenya, India and Myanmar — people who used law to address violations of their rights. Of those interviewed, 90% had developed greater confidence in engaging government institutions; 92% said they were either willing to help or had already helped others facing similar problems. In all three countries, people who faced similar challenges came together to demand improvements in rules and systems. In Kenya, Muslims who had navigated a decades-old discriminatory ID system fought for equal treatment for all. In February 2025, after years of community meetings, marches and parliamentary hearings, President William Ruto abolished discriminatory vetting. When we do achieve positive changes in law or policy, we shouldn't assume those changes will implement themselves. Today, Muslims in Kenya are applying for IDs and tracking their experience to make sure the government follows through on the president's decree. This is the legal empowerment cycle: the journey from knowing and using law to shaping it and back again. By taking part in the legal empowerment cycle, we can build institutions that deserve our trust. I don't want to understate the problems with our current legal system or the current administration. Law is overly complicated, unaffordable and, in this moment, often disregarded by those who should be upholding it. But all of that can change. As Juneteenth reminds us, law belongs to the people. If we know it, we can use it. If we use it, we can fix it. Vivek Maru is founder and chief executive of Namati, a nonprofit organization that convenes the Grassroots Justice Network, which is open to people everywhere.
Miami Herald
3 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Trump endorses Paramount merger with David Ellison's Skydance
President Trump has endorsed David Ellison's takeover of Paramount Global - an $8-billion merger that has been complicated by his $20-billion lawsuit over CBS' "60 Minutes." On Wednesday, Trump was asked about the hold-up in the federal review of Skydance's takeover of the storied entertainment company. The question came as reporters clustered around the president on the White House lawn to watch the installation of a flagpole. The Paramount-Skydance deal has been pending at the Federal Communications Commission since late last fall. Trump said he hoped the deal goes through. "Ellison is great. He'll do a great job with it," Trump said. Then he appeared to connect the merger-review delay to his lawsuit against CBS and its parent Paramount over last fall's "60 Minutes" interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has maintained since last October that the Harris interview was edited to burnish her chances in the November election. CBS has denied the allegations, saying the edits were routine. The raw footage showed Harris was accurately quoted, but Trump's team said he suffered "mental anguish" from the broadcast. "They interviewed Kamala. Her answer was horrendous," Trump said Wednesday. "I would say election-threatening. ... Her answer was election-threatening it was so incompetent." 1st Amendment experts have called Trump's case frivolous, but Paramount wants to avoid waging an extensive legal fight. Paramount's leaders have pursued a settlement to help clear a path for the company's sale to Skydance - a deal that needs the approval of the FCC. The mediation process to resolve the lawsuit, filed in a Texas court, has become protracted. "They're working on a settlement," Trump said Wednesday. He mentioned that two high-level CBS executives - the head of CBS News and the executive producer of "60 Minutes" - had abruptly departed as the merger review dragged on. "They're all getting fired," he said. Late last week, Trump's legal team filed court documents asking for a deadline extension in the discovery process, disclosing the two sides were working to reach a resolution. Earlier this month, Ellison met Trump briefly while the two men were sitting ringside at a UFC fight in New Jersey, according to video footage shared online. Skydance declined to discuss Ellison's interaction with Trump. It marked the second time this year that Ellison chatted with the president at a UFC match. The first was in April. It's been nearly a year since Paramount's controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and fellow Paramount directors approved the two-phased $8-billion deal that will hand the company to the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who is a Trump supporter. The deal will also see the Ellison family buy the Redstone investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc. Santa Monica-based Skydance intends to consolidate the company that boasts the Melrose Avenue Paramount film studio, Paramount+ streaming service, CBS and cable channels including Comedy Central, Showtime and BET. Skydance operations and personnel will be folded into Paramount. The deal faces one final regulatory hurdle: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's consent to transfer 29 CBS television station licenses to the Ellisons from the Redstones. This week, the Senate approved Trump's second Republican appointment to the panel, Olivia Trusty. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Huntington Beach mayor again makes disparaging remark on hot microphone
Huntington Beach Mayor Pat Burns made a disparaging remark on a hot microphone Tuesday night, at the same meeting where the City Council said it would not repeat public comment restrictions that the American Civil Liberties Union alleged violated the Brown Act and speakers' 1st Amendment rights. Burns' remark was made after Wendy Rincon and her daughter Sydney made public comments. After groaning and calling for the next speaker following Sydney Rincon, the microphone picked up Burns muttering what sounded like 'Another f—ing cow' under his breath, although the last word could have been 'coward.' Burns did not respond to Daily Pilot requests for comment. About a year ago, he called then-minority council members Natalie Moser, Dan Kalmick and Rhonda Bolton 'pieces of s**t' after they walked off the dais in protest of an item that Burns had brought forward seeking to affirm the council's commitment to the U.S. Constitution, specifically the 1st and 2nd Amendments. Burns' comment Tuesday was not immediately heard by meeting attendees in the theater at the Central Library where the meeting was taking place, but it could be heard by people who were watching the livestream of the meeting online. 'You can hear it on the city's recording,' said Wendy Rincon, who was standing behind her daughter during her comments. 'He can't run from it ... Whether he's saying it about my daughter or the lady who spoke after her, it's kind of subjective. No matter what, he shouldn't be saying it, period. But considering that my cease and desist letter was on the agenda, I don't think it's a stretch to assume he was talking about my daughter and me by default.' The cease-and-desist letter referenced came from Jonathan Markovitz, a free expression and access to government staff attorney for the ACLU, on behalf of Rincon. It claimed that Burns violated the Brown Act, the U.S. Constitution and the state Constitution with his actions during the council's May 6 meeting. In the letter, Markovitz argued that the mayor should not be warning members of the public that they can't make crude gestures or use foul language when providing public comment. Additionally, he should not stop public speakers from addressing individual council members by name. Burns did both at the May 6 meeting, prompting clarification from Huntington Beach City Atty. Mike Vigliotta. '[Speakers] should just address the council, but to the extent they need to mention names, they can,' Vigliotta told Burns. Huntington Beach's code of ethics, adopted in 2016, states that all city elected or appointed officials should treat their fellow city officials, staff, commission members and the public 'with patience, courtesy, civility and respect, even when we disagree on what is best for the community and its citizens.' Sydney Rincon, 22, said she has also spoken at council meetings before. Her comments included noting that the 1st Amendment and 2nd Amendment give rights, including freedom of speech and freedom of press. She also commented on Burns wearing an American flag shirt to the meeting, stating that it violated the United States code regarding respect for the flag. 'It does not surprise me that he would respond so maliciously,' said Sydney Rincon, a recent graduate of San Francisco State with bachelor's degrees in cinema and political science, in an interview on Wednesday. 'I think what's important to recognize is that nowhere within my speech that I gave on Tuesday night did I address a personal opinion or a grievance of the council. I merely acknowledged the Constitution and our standing flag code. Even in that commentary, he spoke maliciously of me as a constituent and as a voter in this city.' The council voted unanimously 6-0-1, with Councilman Andrew Gruel absent, that while it was not admitting that Brown Act violations occurred, it would cease, desist from and not repeat the challenged past action. There was no discussion of the agenda item. Burns, Mayor Pro Tem Casey McKeon, Gracey Van Der Mark and now-state Senator Tony Strickland were voted into office in 2022. After Butch Twining, Don Kennedy and Chad Williams were elected last fall, they formed a self-proclaimed all-MAGA council. Wendy Rincon has long been critical of them. She gave the council the middle finger during her public comments at the March 4 meeting and said 'F— you,' critical of Burns limiting the time for public speakers to a single minute. 'After two years of being called a groomer, a pedophile, an indoctrinator, I had reached my limit,' she said following Tuesday night's meeting. 'You know how contentious the library [debate] has been ... and I lost my temper. I stand by it. It's not something that I would normally do, but I think that they kept ratcheting up the hate and the anger. It's like, what do they expect?' She said Wednesday she was considering filing a lawsuit against the city, and had sent an email to Markowitz seeking feedback. 'In this day and age, men just don't get to say that sort of thing,' she said of Burns' remark. 'I don't think that Pat has received that memo yet.'
Los Angeles Times
3 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Trump endorses Paramount merger with David Ellison's Skydance
President Trump has endorsed David Ellison's takeover of Paramount Global — an $8-billion merger that has been complicated by his $20-billion lawsuit over CBS' '60 Minutes.' On Wednesday, Trump was asked about the hold-up in the federal review of Skydance's takeover of the storied entertainment company. The question came as reporters clustered around the president on the White House lawn to watch the installation of a flagpole. The Paramount-Skydance deal has been pending at the Federal Communications Commission since late last fall. Trump said he hoped the deal goes through. 'Ellison is great. He'll do a great job with it,' Trump said. Then he appeared to connect the merger-review delay to his lawsuit against CBS and its parent Paramount over last fall's '60 Minutes' interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump has maintained since last October that the Harris interview was edited to burnish her chances in the November election. CBS has denied the allegations, saying the edits were routine. The raw footage showed Harris was accurately quoted, but Trump's team said he suffered 'mental anguish' from the broadcast. 'They interviewed Kamala. Her answer was horrendous,' Trump said Wednesday. 'I would say it was election-threatening. I would say election-threatening because it was so incompetent.' 1st Amendment experts have called Trump's case frivolous, but Paramount wants to avoid waging an extensive legal fight. Paramount's leaders have pursued a settlement to help clear a path for the company's sale to Skydance — a deal that needs the approval of the FCC. The mediation process to resolve the lawsuit, filed in a Texas court, has become protracted. 'They are working on a settlement,' Trump said Wednesday. He mentioned that two high-level CBS executives — the head of CBS News and the executive producer of '60 Minutes' — had abruptly departed as the merger review dragged on. 'They're all getting fired,' he said. Late last week, Trump's legal team filed court documents asking for a deadline extension in the discovery process, disclosing the two sides were working to reach a resolution. Earlier this month, Ellison met Trump briefly while the two men were sitting ringside at a UFC fight in New Jersey, according to video footage shared online. Skydance declined to discuss Ellison's interaction with Trump. It marked the second time this year that Ellison chatted with the president at a UFC match. The first was in April. It's been nearly a year since Paramount's controlling shareholder Shari Redstone and fellow Paramount directors approved the two-phased $8-billion deal that will hand the company to the son of tech billionaire Larry Ellison, who is a Trump supporter. The deal will also see the Ellison family buy the Redstone investment vehicle, National Amusements Inc. Santa Monica-based Skydance intends to consolidate the company that boasts the Melrose Avenue Paramount film studio, Paramount+ streaming service, CBS and cable channels including Comedy Central, Showtime and BET. Skydance operations and personnel will be folded into Paramount. The deal faces one final regulatory hurdle: FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's consent to transfer 29 CBS television station licenses to the Ellisons from the Redstones. This week, the Senate approved Trump's second Republican appointment to the panel, Olivia Trusty.
