Karen Bass says LA has 'rapid response network' to disrupt ICE arrests

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a recent interview with MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow that her city has a "rapid response network" to respond to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in the area.

"When they were doing the random snatching or kidnappings of people off of our streets, when people gathered, they backed away on many occasions," Bass said. "And so in Los Angeles, we have a rapid response network where everybody is alerted. If you see masked men getting out of unmarked cars, let everybody in the area know."

Los Angeles was the center of riots against immigration enforcement earlier in the summer, with thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines deployed to the area to quell violence. Rioters were seen setting fire to autonomous taxi cars, looting, and attacking law enforcement.

Bass claimed in July that "the 'riots' that were reported never happened," adding, "We did have a couple of incidents of vandalism and looting, but the way it was portrayed nationally was like the whole city was up in flames, the comparison to 1992. It was completely 100 percent inappropriate," referencing the Rodney King riots.

Some activists are using the phone app ICEBlock, which was featured in a CNN report. The app allows people to alert others of ICE sightings in their area. In early July, the Trump administration said that it had been considering a case against the outlet for the report, "because what they’re doing is actively encouraging people to avoid law enforcement activities, operations, and we’re going to actually go after them and prosecute with the partnership of Pam [Bondi] if we can, because what they are doing we believe is illegal," said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem at the time.

This comes as the DHS revealed that ICE agents are facing an 830 percent increase in assaults between January 21 to July 14 compared with the same period in 2024.