Photo: BENJAMIN HANSON / AFP / Getty Images
LOS ANGELES (CNS) - The 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew covering a one-square- mile section of downtown Los Angeles will remain in place indefinitely, including Saturday amid what will likely be one of the largest of the so-called "No Kings" demonstrations.
The curfew affects a portion downtown between the Golden State (5) and Harbor (110) freeways, and from the Santa Monica (10) Freeway to where the Arroyo Seco (110) Parkway and Golden State Freeway merge. That area includes Skid Row, Chinatown, and the Arts and Fashion districts.
During a Friday news conference, Bass said there is no "termination date" for the curfew she imposed Tuesday in response to looting and vandalism during protests against federal immigration enforcement operations is "making a difference" in curtailing criminal activity, she said.
"We are hoping that if the cause of the turmoil ends, which is stopping the raids, then I can almost guarantee you that curfew will go away.", the Trump administration has abruptly shifted the focus of its mass deportation campaign, telling Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials to largely pause raids and arrests in the agricultural industry and at hotels and restaurants.
"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, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace," President Donald Trump said in a Thursday social media post. "In many cases the Criminals allowed into our Country by the VERY Stupid Biden Open Borders Policy are applying for those jobs. This is not good. We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!"
Those changes include stepping back from raids in the agricultural and hospitality industries, according to the New York Times, which cited an internal email and three U.S. officials with knowledge of the guidance from the White House.
Downtown Los Angeles has been the scene of near-daily demonstrations since immigration actions began in the Southland June 6, which has resulted in dozens of people being detained for alleged violations.
Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto announced Friday that her office has filed misdemeanor cases against 14 people in connection with the immigration protests in downtown Los Angeles.
The charges include assault, exhibiting a deadly weapon, brandishing a replica gun, resisting arrest, obstructing or delaying a peace officer or emergency medical technician, unlawful assembly, remaining after being warned to disperse and trespassing, according to court records.
Roughly 200 U.S. Marines moved into Los Angeles Friday to protect federal buildings amid the continuing protests over ongoing immigration raids.
Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman, commander of Task Force 51 -- the contingent of troops ordered into the city by Trump -- said Friday morning the deployment of Marines in the Los Angeles area will free up the National Guard, who have been primarily protecting federal property over the past week of unrest, to serve a more protective role for federal agents conducting enforcement operations in the field.
"I would like to emphasize that the soldiers will not participate in law enforcement activities," Sherman told reporters during a morning briefing. "Rather, they'll be focused on protecting federal law enforcement personnel."
Sherman said some National Guard troops have already been doing protective work for federal agents conducting immigration enforcement activities, but they have not engaged in any police-type work or made any arrests or detentions.
A contingent of 700 Marines began arriving around midday Friday at the federal building in West Los Angeles to begin their duties in the city.
The arrival of the Marines came one day after a federal judge in Northern California ordered Trump to return control of the California National Guard to Gov. Gavin Newsom. Trump federalized 2,000 National Guard troops last weekend as nightly protests ramped up in downtown Los Angeles in response to the immigration raids. Trump later added another 2,000 National Guard troops to the order.
Newsom and other local leaders vehemently objected to the troop deployment, arguing it was unnecessary, would heighten tensions, and potentially lead to more violent protests.
In Thursday's ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco wrote that Trump's actions federalizing National Guard troops -- who are normally under the control of the governor -- did not follow congressionally mandated procedure.
"His actions were illegal -- both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution," the judge wrote. "He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith."
Hours later, Breyer's ruling was stayed by a three-judge appellate panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in response to a Trump administration notice of appeal, temporarily keeping the National Guard troops under federal control pending another hearing on Tuesday.
Thursday's dramatic events came as tensions sparked by immigration enforcement and the resulting protests in the Los Angeles area remained heightened.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, 13 people were arrested Thursday night into Friday morning for curfew violations. Another 33 people were arrested overnight for failure to disperse, while one was arrested for allegedly resisting a police officer and one for aiming a laser pointer at a police helicopter. One person detained for a curfew violation was arrested for an outstanding robbery warrant, police said.
While most of the protests have been concentrated near the federal Metropolitan Detention Center downtown and the nearby federal building and City Hall, smaller, scattered protests were held this week at the DoubleTree Hotel in Whittier, the Westin Hotel in Pasadena and the Embassy Suites Hotel in Downey, where demonstrators believed federal ICE agents were staying.
Prior to the curfew, the nightly protests often devolved into violence, with some demonstrators hurling objects or fireworks at police, who often responded by firing non-lethal weapons or tear gas.
Los Angeles and other cities across the Southland and the country are expected to see large-scale "No Kings" protests Saturday held in conjunction with a U.S. military parade scheduled in Washington, D.C. The parade ostensibly will celebrate the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary, but it also falls on Trump's 79th birthday.
Law enforcement agencies across the region are on heightened alert due to the planned protests, including a large-scale gathering expected outside Los Angeles City Hall.