Latest news with #Latinos
USA Today
41 minutes ago
- Politics
- USA Today
Los Angeles Dodgers say they denied ICE access to Dodger Stadium parking lots
ICE agents drove to Dodger Stadium's parking entrances in an apparent effort to use the vast lots as a staging area, but did not gain entry to the venerable Los Angeles ballpark, the Dodgers said in a statement Thursday. Shortly after 10 a.m. PDT, a caravan of vans and other vehicles appeared at multiple parking lot entry points, according to social media posts. An overhead view of the caravan, captured by Fox 11 Los Angeles, indicated the presence of Department of Homeland Security officers. In the ensuing hours, a small group of protestors arrived at Gate E, chanting at ICE officers outside the stadium gates. Eventually, Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived. 'This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization,' the Dodgers said in a statement. 'Tonight's game will be played as scheduled.' A message with ICE's media relations office was not immediately returned. Expert MLB daily picks: Unique MLB betting insights only at USA TODAY The Dodgers are scheduled to play the San Diego Padres at 7:10 PDT, with a celebrity softball game hosted by All-Star Mookie Betts preceding the game at 5:30. A crowd of more than 50,000 is expected for the game. The apparently unscheduled ICE arrival is the latest twist in a saga pitting President Donald Trump's desire to deport large amounts of undocumented persons against cities aiming to salvage due process for its residents. Los Angeles is one of the cities specifically targeted by Trump, with nearly two weeks of aggressive raids in the Southland, sparking widespread protests and aggressive reaction from both LAPD and Los Angeles County Sheriffs. Dodgers players remained largely mum on the issue, until veteran utilityman Kiké Hernández released a statement on Instagram pledging support for Latinos profiled, arrested and disappeared under ICE. Manager Dave Roberts professed not having enough information to weigh in on the issue, though the franchise came under more scrutiny for its lack of support after R&B singer Nezza sang the national anthem in Spanish at Dodger Stadium, and posted videos and correspondence showing it was against the Dodgers' wishes. That led to a Dodgers spokesperson telling reporters Wednesday that they would announce 'plans for assistance to immigrant communities impacted by the recent events in Los Angeles.' Barely 12 hours later, ICE vehicles showed up at the stadium gates. The Dodgers' fan base is heavily Latino, and in the past week right-wing influencers have entered the fray, with one noting that it would be 'amazing' if ICE agents staged a raid at Dodger Stadium. The USA TODAY app gets you to the heart of the news — fast. Download for award-winning coverage, crosswords, audio storytelling, the eNewspaper and more.
NBC News
an hour ago
- Politics
- NBC News
Focus groups: Latino Trump voters diverge on deportations but largely still back the president
Some divides are emerging among swing-state Latinos who voted for President Donald Trump when it comes to his approach to mass deportations, according to new focus group conversations with some of these voters, who nevertheless remain broadly supportive of the president. Most of the Latino Trump voters who participated in recent focus groups observed by NBC News as part of the 2025 Deciders series, produced by Syracuse University and the research firms Engagious and Sago, said they approve of Trump's handling of illegal immigration. And most approved of his actions broadly as president. These voters were key to Trump's win in 2024, when he improved significantly among Latino voters compared to his previous campaigns. The president lost Latinos by 5 points last year, after losing the group by 33 points in 2020, according to the NBC News exit poll. Other estimates of the 2024 vote have indicated the broad shift, too, though some have not shown quite as much movement. The people in these focus groups said they voted for Trump because of concerns about the economy, including inflation, and about immigration. And most of them were still behind the president (all but four also voted for Trump in 2020). 'He's keeping his promises and he's doing what he said he was going to do,' David L., a 60 year-old Georgia voter who grew up in Mexico, said of Trump. But there were cracks, albeit small ones, in support for some of Trump's specific policies. Two voters who supported Joe Biden in 2020 and flipped to Trump in 2024 said they would not vote for Trump if given the chance to redo their vote, choosing instead to back a third-party candidate. One of those voters, Ruby L., 59, of Georgia, said she disapproved of Trump's presidency so far because of potential cuts to programs like Medicaid and because of his approach to deporting undocumented immigrants. 'He was going to deport people that were criminals and have backgrounds,' said Ruby, who was born in Colombia. 'But I see that he's deporting people that work hard and have been in this country. I think he should find a way to help them stay and get a citizenship or something.' Deportation divides Ruby's concerns about widespread deportations underscored some divisions among these voters, even as they broadly supported Trump's actions on immigration. Three of the Trump voters disapproved of his handling of illegal immigration broadly, while 10 approved. That may not reflect Latino Trump voters' broad views, because, unlike a poll, which uses statistical methods to demonstrate how a larger population feels, focus groups dig deeper into how individual panelists view key questions facing the country. 'Most of these swing-state, Hispanic American Trump voters firmly endorse the president's focus on illegal immigration, though they want more thoughtful prioritization regarding who gets deported sooner versus later,' said Rich Thau, president of Engagious, who moderated the sessions. Several voters supported deportations of undocumented immigrants regardless of whether they have committed crimes. 'Well, what do you expect? If you came here illegally, you've done something illegal. Expect the consequences,' said Justin O., 38, of Nevada, who was born in the United States and is of Mexican descent. 'If we're not going to enforce laws, why bother even having them?' said Zachary N., 40, of Michigan, who is also of Mexican descent. Maria P., a 40-year-old Nevada voter of Puerto Rican descent, said Trump's focus on deportations is no different from that of previous presidents, including Democrats Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. 'They all did it, but now it's just the first time everyone's discussing it,' Maria said. Connie A., a 59-year-old Arizona voter of Mexican descent, questioned why an undocumented immigrant who has been in the country for decades had not attempted to apply for a green card or for citizenship. 'There's not a direct path,' countered Mariana L., a 27-year-old North Carolina resident who was born in Venezuela and was one of several participants who noted the path to becoming a legal resident, even for those who want to, can be difficult. Mariana was among the voters who did not approve of Trump's handling of illegal immigration, pointing to his move to revoke certain legal protections for immigrants from her home country. 'Changing those statuses is kind of unfair for the people that built their lives here,' she said. Mariana and some other voters also said the administration should prioritize deporting undocumented immigrants who committed crimes. 'I guess they're focusing on both those who have committed crimes and those who haven't,' said Jennifer L., a 44-year-old Michigan voter of Mexican descent. She approved of Trump's overall performance as president but disapproved of his handling of illegal immigration. 'There's some that are going back because they should, but then there are also some immigrants that are going that really, maybe they haven't committed a crime,' she later added. 'He said he was going to focus on the criminals and stuff like that. And then there's people that are not criminals that are also going,' said Oscar B., a 52-year-old Pennsylvania voter, adding that the Trump administration should take a more 'tailored approach.' Oscar, who was born in Venezuela, also noted that he has seen posts on a local Facebook page for Latinos in his area that warn about Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids. 'People on there, they make posts where they talk about ICE being in the city and not to go out of your house,' Oscar said. Ruby of Georgia also said she has seen 'a lot of fear' in her community. 'They're afraid to go out and [they say], 'Don't go out if you're a citizen, don't go out without your citizenship certificate or whatever because you never know,'' Ruby said. 'So they're creating that source of fear around the area. Other voters, like Maria from Nevada, appeared to wrestle with different approaches to deporting undocumented immigrants who have been in the country for years "giving back to society," she said. 'It is the law,' she later added, 'but sometimes the law makes it nearly impossible for a lot of them to actually become citizens at the end of the day. And that's what we have to realize, also. So that's why I'm torn.' 'We see in their responses how conflicted some of these voters are when it comes deporting longtime undocumented residents who have become de facto Americans, have families, pay taxes, live peacefully and contribute to society," said Margaret Talev, director of Syracuse University's Institute for Democracy, Journalism and Citizenship, which leads the focus group project in partnership with Engagious/Sago. "Yet overwhelmingly they're still supporting President Trump, showing the resilience of their loyalty and just how motivated they are in opposing illegal immigration,' Talev said. Los Angeles response While there were some divisions over the Trump administration's deportations, the Trump voters who participated in the focus groups broadly backed Trump's response to protests against ICE raids in Los Angeles. Ten of the 13 participants approved of the president's decision to deploy California National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines, with several voters describing the protests as violent and destructive. 'Normally it might be kind of out of the ordinary, being that it was so early into the demonstrations. But I think given the [Black Lives Matter] riots and everything our country went through a few years ago, and it being in California where [Gov. Gavin] Newsom will pretty much not put his foot down at all, I think that he had to get ahead of it, otherwise we would be seeing even more of it,' said Rozlyn C., a 44-year-old Georgia voter of Cuban descent. 'These idiots are trying to tear down their city,' said Irma C., a 58-year-old Arizona voter of Mexican descent. The few who disapproved of Trump's actions described them as 'too much too soon' or out of bounds. 'There is a chain of command that has to be followed. A governor needs to request — we can't just go in there, the state needs to request. Now, he's just completely gone against that,' Justin of Nevada said, referring to Trump. 'The U.S. military should never be used against its own citizens ever. Period. Ever,' Justin later added. Mostly positive on economy Several of these voters said they supported Trump because they believed he could best address the economy and high prices, and for the most part they like what they've seen of Trump so far on those issues. Eight voters said they feel less anxious about the economy compared to when Trump took office in January. Just two said they were more anxious. 'The reduced anxiety eight of them feel about the economy after just five months reflects not only their experiences as consumers, but also their faith in President Trump as businessman-turned-leader,' said Thau, the focus group moderator. 'As a small-business owner, my costs went up under Biden,' said William A., a 60 year-old Georgia voter of Puerto Rican descent, suggesting Biden's policies raised the price of oil, which impacted 'everything else.' In his view, Trump's policies are 'raising our fuel production and lowering fuel costs.' Mariana, the North Carolina voter who was born in Venezuela, said she backed Trump and the Republican Party because of her concerns about the economy. She said she's seen local grocery prices go down since Trump took office. 'I think that the inflation, economy's what they know and Trump being a businessman is just what he does and has been doing for a living,' she said. But Jennifer, the Michigan voter, said high prices on goods such as eggs, dairy, meat and produce have persisted, and she did not believe that Trump was making addressing inflation a priority. 'I thought it would be a top priority instead of renaming the Gulf of Mexico the 'Gulf of America' instead,' Jennifer said. 'But hopefully it does happen. But definitely, in Michigan here it has not — prices here have gone up and have stayed up. A majority of voters also said they supported Trump's actions on trade and tariffs, with the rest saying they do not know enough about the issue to weigh in. Georgia's Rozlyn C. said she disagreed with the president's decision to impose tariffs on some countries with which the U.S. did not have a trade deficit. But she is still broadly supportive of the president. 'I think he has a grand master plan that most of us probably don't understand,' Rozlyn said. 'But I have faith that he, a hundred percent, has the best interest of our country at heart.'
Los Angeles Times
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Letters to the Editor: As concerns arise around ICE and racial profiling, ‘Could it happen to me?'
To the editor: The article about racial profiling fears regarding the Trump administration's immigration enforcement set me to thinking ('Fears of racial profiling rise as Border Patrol conducts 'roving patrols,' detains U.S. citizens,' June 15). Could it happen to me? I'd characterize myself generally as recognizable as Latino. I assure myself that I was born here in a family that has been in California for 125 years. Yet, we hear of Latinos who are U.S. citizens getting detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. I further assure myself that I'm a Stanford law graduate living in an upscale community, and have been a practicing business litigation attorney for 48 years. No matter; if my friend, Sen. Alex Padilla, can be manhandled by law enforcement officials, who am I to think I would be exempt? But I'll be damned if I'll go around carrying my passport 'just in case.' It galls me most of all that I, a Vietnam-era vet, could be subject to having my citizenship questioned simply on the basis of physical appearance under policies promulgated by President Trump and his political advisor, Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller — neither of whom ever served in uniform, and neither of whom would even be in this country but for the historical American tradition of chain migration. To cut to the chase, what is a sound basis for determining whether someone on the street might be foreign born without authorization to be in this country? I don't have the answer, but both moral and secular law dictate that it should not be their skin tone or physical appearance. Agustin Medina, South Pasadena .. To the editor: 'Growing concerns of racial profiling,' you think? It really doesn't take much to come to this conclusion. ICE, along with other federal agencies, has been rampaging through neighborhoods in our city where our Latino co-workers and neighbors live and grabbing people off the street, with seemingly no reason other than the color of their skin. This certainly isn't happening in Woodland Hills, where the majority of immigrants are white. And, as this is happening, the president of the United States is calling for 'remigration,' which is a term used by the far-right in Europe calling for ethnic cleansing of nonwhite people through forced or 'voluntary' deportation. This is also against the backdrop of Trump offering asylum to white South Africans. There is no evidence that they face any persecution in the country where, despite the victory of the African National Congress in the '90s, the economy still disproportionately favors white people. Let's call it what it is. This is not about catching and deporting 'violent criminals.' It is about white supremacy, or making America white privileged again. Leslie Simon and Marc Bender, Woodland Hills .. To the editor: It is clearly illegal, not to mention immoral, to stop people and ask for proof of citizenship based on the color of their skin. If ICE wants to catch people who are not supposed to be here, they need to do it neutrally. I suggest they set up checkpoints like the ones used on New Year's Eve to deter drinking and driving. They need to stop every car and ask every person, no matter their age or appearance, for proof of citizenship. And that means birth certificate or passport — driver's licenses don't count. Anyone without the proper documentation would be taken into custody until someone can come down and produce the proper paperwork. And this needs to be done everywhere, including, say, Huntington Beach. After a few days of this, let's see how popular ICE is with the MAGA crowd. Craig Zerouni, Los Angeles
The Hill
a day ago
- Politics
- The Hill
NYC mayoral race tightens: Polling
The Democratic primary for the New York City mayor's race has tightened further in the latest Marist Poll, with former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo ahead but with a narrower lead. The poll released Wednesday showed Cuomo winning in the city's ranked-choice voting system in the seventh round, 55 percent to 45 percent, over state Assembly member Zohran Mamdani in second. That's still a somewhat comfortable margin for Cuomo but closer than the 60 percent to 40 percent margin in the last round that Marist's poll from last month showed. Ranked choice allows voters to select up to five candidates in order of the preference of support. The candidate with the fewest top preference votes is eliminated, and their votes are redistributed according to their supporters' next preference. The process continues until a candidate receives a majority. In the first round, Cuomo is ahead with 43 percent, followed by Mamdani with 31 percent. City Comptroller Brad Lander, who made headlines Tuesday after his arrest by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, came in third with 8 percent, while New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams received 7 percent and former Comptroller Scott Stringer received 4 percent. The other candidates received 2 percent or less. The poll was conducted before Lander was detained as he was trying to guide an immigrant through court and released shortly after. While Cuomo has the lead, an overview of the poll from Marist notes some voters' support remains up for grabs for the top contenders, with 11 percent undecided in the first round and 11 percent not choosing Cuomo or Mamdani at any point on their ballot. The results support other polls that show Mamdani closing the gap behind Cuomo, who has been the front-runner in the race for months. The margin of Cuomo's lead has depended on the poll, but he's kept the lead by at least several points in public, independent polling of the race. The Marist poll showed Cuomo is strongest in the Bronx, with 49 percent support, and Queens and Staten Island, where he receives 44 percent. He rose in Manhattan from 32 percent last month to 41 percent now, while Mamdani is strongest in Brooklyn, where he receives 36 percent, up 11 points. Mamdani has also made gains among Latinos, doubling his support from last month from 20 percent to 41 percent. He leads Cuomo among that group. While Mamdani has made gains and notched key endorsements, including from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a win over Cuomo would be considered a significant upset. Mamdani is formally receiving an endorsement from 2021 mayoral candidate Maya Wiley, who came in third and ran as a progressive, on Wednesday. Pollsters also found an increasing number of voters are following the race closely ahead of the primary next week. Three quarters of respondents said they're following it closely or very closely, an increase from two thirds last month. The poll was conducted among 1,350 likely Democratic primary voters from June 9 to 12. The margin of error is 4.3 percentage points.
Los Angeles Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Los Angeles Times
Firsthand footage of ICE raids is both witness and resistance
It has been five years since May 25, 2020, when George Floyd gasped for air beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer on the corner of 38th Street and Chicago Avenue. Five years since 17-year-old Darnella Frazier stood on the curb outside Cup Foods, raised her phone, and bore witness to nine minutes and 29 seconds that would galvanize a global movement against racial inequality. Frazier's video didn't just show what happened. It insisted the world stop and see. Today, that legacy lives on in the hands of a different community, facing different threats but wielding the same tools. Across the United States, Latino organizers are lifting their phones not to go viral but to go on record. They are livestreaming Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, filming family separations, documenting protests outside detention centers. Their footage is not content. It is evidence. It is warning. It is resistance. Here in Los Angeles, where I teach journalism, several images have seared themselves into public memory. One viral video shows a shackled father stepping into a white, unmarked van — his daughter sobbing behind the camera, pleading with him not to sign any official documents. He turns, gestures for her to calm down, then blows her a kiss. Across town, LAPD officers on horseback charged at peaceful protesters. In Spokane, Wash., residents formed a spontaneous human chain around their undocumented neighbors mid-raid, their bodies and cameras forming a barricade of defiance. In San Diego, white allies yelled 'Shame!' as they chased a car of uniformed National Guard troops out of their neighborhood. The impact of smartphone witnessing has been both immediate and unmistakable — visceral at street level, seismic in statehouses. On the ground, the videos have fueled the 'No Kings' movement, which organized protests in all 50 states last weekend. Legislators are responding too — with sparks flying in the halls of the Capitol. As President Trump ramps up immigration enforcement, Democratic-led states are digging in, tightening state laws that limit cooperation with federal agents. Local TV news coverage has incorporated witnesses' smartphone video, helping it reach a wider audience. What's unfolding now is not new — it is newly visible. Latino organizers are drawing from a playbook sharpened in 2020, one rooted in a longer lineage of Black media survival strategies forged during slavery and Jim Crow. In 2020, I wrote about how Black Americans have used various media formats to fight for racial and economic equality — from slave narratives to smartphones. I argued that Frederick Douglass and Ida B. Wells were doing the same work as Darnella Frazier: using journalism as a tool for witnessing and activism. In 2025, Latinos who are filming the state in moments of overreach — archiving injustice in real time — are adapting, extending and carrying forward Black witnesses' work. Moreover, Latinos are using smartphones for digital cartography much as Black people mapped freedom during the eras of slavery and Jim Crow. The People Over Papers map, for example, reflects an older lineage: the resistance tactics of Black Maroons — enslaved Africans who fled to swamps and borderlands, forming secret networks to evade capture and warn others. These early communities shared intelligence, tracked patrols and mapped out covert paths to safety. People Over Papers channels that same logic — only now the hideouts are ICE-free zones, mutual aid hubs and sanctuary spaces. The map is crowdsourced. The borders are digital. The danger is still very real. Likewise, the Stop ICE Raids Alerts Network revives a civil-rights-era blueprint. During the 1960s, activists used Wide Area Telephone Service lines and radio to share protest routes, police activity and safety updates. Black DJs often masked dispatches as traffic or weather reports — 'congestion on the south side' meant police roadblocks, 'storm warnings' signaled incoming violence. Today, that infrastructure lives again through WhatsApp chains, encrypted group texts and story posts. The platforms have changed. The mission has not. Layered across both systems is the DNA of 'The Negro Motorist Green Book,' the guide that once helped Black travelers navigate Jim Crow America by identifying safe towns, gas stations and lodging. People Over Papers and Stop ICE Raids are digital descendants of that legacy: survival through shared knowledge, protection through mapped resistance. The Latino community's use of smartphones in this moment is not for spectacle. It's for self-defense. In cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and El Paso, what begins as a whisper — 'ICE is in the neighborhood' — now races through Telegram, WhatsApp and Instagram. A knock becomes a livestream. A raid becomes a receipt. A video becomes a shield. For undocumented families, the risk is real. To film is to expose oneself. To go live is to become a target. But many do it anyway. Because silence can be fatal. Because invisibility protects no one. Because if the story is not captured, it can be denied. Five years after Floyd's final breath, the burden of proof still falls heaviest on the most vulnerable. America demands footage before outrage. Tape before reform. Visual confirmation before compassion. And still, justice is never guaranteed. But 2020 taught us that smartphones, in the right hands, can fracture the status quo. In 2025, that lesson is echoing again, this time through the lens of Latino mobile journalists. Their footage is unflinching. Urgent. Righteous. It connects the dots: between ICE raids and over-policing, between a border cage and a city jail, between a knee on a neck and a door kicked in at dawn. These are not isolated events. They are chapters in the same story of government repression. And because the cameras are still rolling — and people are still recording — those stories are being told anew. Five years ago, we were forced to see the unbearable. Now, we are being shown the undeniable. Allissa V. Richardson, an associate professor of journalism and communication at USC, is the author of 'Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism.' This article was produced in partnership with the Conversation.
