Op-Ed: L.A. Mayor Complains About Raids

Mayor Villaraigosa of Los Angeles seems to want his city left alone in regards to the recent immigration raids made by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials.

The Fed's ICE agents presented Los Angeles with a troop surge of it's own last year and continuing into this year. In San Fernando, which is in Northwestern Los Angeles county, ICE agents arrested more than 130 undocumented workers (IA's) in February of this year. Another 60 undocumented workers were arrested this month at South Bay area warehouses. The irony of the City Council considering Jamiel's Law as recently as last week while seeking protection for undocumented workers this week seems to escape the Mayor. Jamiel's law is in response to the slaying of Jamiel Shaw by an undocumented immigrant in Los Angeles on March 2 2008. Mayor Villaraigosa is urging ICE officials to back off on their plans to continue the raids in Southern California including Los Angeles. The mayor cites

"severe and long-lasting effects"

to the economy of Los Angeles in a letter to ICE officials if the raids continue. That, despite the population of over 17 million in the Greater Los Angeles metropolitan area. Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Laura Keehner though has been quoted as saying

the department believes its priorities are correct. "We believe that we are prioritizing appropriately," Keehner said. "This is not random. The types of arrests that are made are well thought out."

At this time ICE has no plans to shelve the raids against employers who are hiring undocumented workers, and the City of Los Angeles will be taking it's message of a hands off policy against well established employers to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in person next week during an annual business trip to Washington D.C. Proponents from both sides of the argument, Pro Immigrant Rights and Anti-Immigration advocates have weighed in recently on the ICE raids. Each side producing supportive documentation and plenty of rhetoric to bolster their agendas. As yet though, no real solution appears to be on the horizon for California.