- Americans have noisy bedtime protest outside ICE Agents’ hotel.
- “No sleep for ICE” protest aims to interfere with the sleep of Ice Agents’.
- Critics condemn federal immigration agents of wearing face masks.
After the evening fell on the outskirts of Los Angeles on Thursday, about 50 people clinged metal pots and blasted air horns outside a hotel in a noisy bedtime protest that targeted US immigration agents.
Rally “No Sleep for Ice” emphasized growing anger over immigration and customs enforcement (ICE), a once obscure agency that has become the focal point of President Donald Trump’s migratory crash.
“They terrorize our community all day. Why do they get a good night’s sleep?” said Nathanael Landaverde, 23, who knocked a dismantled frying pan at the protest.
Dramatic images have shown federal agents, often masked and sometimes armed with attack rifles, chasing migrants down and handcuffing them by courthouses, farms and on the streets.
Ice officials have also detained some US citizens for allegedly seizing arrests, including a mayoral candidate in New York this week.
The powerful approach has given rise to fear among immigrants and annoyed many Americans, especially in liberal cities like Los Angeles, where large -scale street protests broke out this month over ice attacks.
“If they do not sleep, they will not perform their job effectively. They get fewer people,” added Landavaverde as passing vehicles seemed to be with apparent support for the late evening rally.
It was not certain whether ICE agents stayed at the three-star hotel, but protest organizers claimed to have photo visions.
Dozens of people danced to a deafening cacophony as they waved signs with “no rest for ice cream” and “ice cream out of LA” towards the hotel, where some guests looked through the curtains.
A woman simply screamed into a megaphone. Another man wore ear muffler as he blasted distorted white noise through a speaker.
“They rip families apart and it’s terrible to see in my community. They can’t sleep if they want to do this,” said Juliet Austin (22), who played a little blue harmonica.
‘Secret Police’
Trump was largely selected for another period for his promise to deport thousands of migrants.
But along with their aggressive tactics, critics have condemned federal immigration agents to wearing face masks to hide their identity – a very unusual but legal practice in American law enforcement.
“At what time will we as a nation be with a secret police?” Walter Olson, a senior fellow at the Cato Institute Think Tank, wrote last month.
“For the Trump administration fits to transform masked attacks into standard practices into a broader effort to evade accountability for potentially illegal and constitutional actions,” he added.
In California, legislators have introduced the “no secret police law” that would limit federal agents from carrying masks.
Federal officials have rejected this criticism by claiming that agents carry masks to protect them from potential reprisals.
Meanwhile, ICE has often boasted of its activities and sent pictures of detained migrants on social media.
And it still still enjoys Trump’s support, which last weekend praised Ice Agents’ “incredible strength, determination and courage.”
Still, it seems unlikely that anger over ICE is unlikely as long as immigration arrangements continue, and protesters on Thursday were firmly by the fact that they would not return.
“I think it’s a modern Gestapo here in America,” said Austin, a dance teacher.
“This city is not the one that is messing with … We will not let it happen. We are not tired,” she added.
