(NewsNation) — Protests in Los Angeles against recent ICE raids in Southern California have entered a fifth day.
The Trump administration recently deployed thousands of National Guard troops and 700 U.S. Marines to L.A. in order to quell the protests and assist law enforcement. Mayor Karen Bass has spoken out against the agents being in the city, saying it has created unrest.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told NewsNation’s Elizabeth Vargas that sending the ICE agents was necessary because they are arresting dangerous criminals and that the department “will not be deterred from doing their jobs.”
According to The Washington Post, immigration officials within the Trump administration have reportedly issued arrest quotas for agents totaling 3,000 a day.
Geraldo Rivera, NewsNation’s correspondent-at-large, said the recent raids are “deeply offensive,” as he believes that the dangerous criminals the administration says they are targeting are not being caught as frequently and that ICE and DHS need to come up with a better way of making sure they’re arrested.
“There is no doubt that the DHS-Trump axis has bitten off more than it can chew,” Rivera said. “It has promised quotas that are deeply disturbing, and have very little to do with the problem they are seeking to solve with regulating the immigration problem in this country.”