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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass repeatedly dodged answering directly on whether all illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city should be allowed to stay.
In an interview with ABC’s “This Week,” Bass further criticized President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize 4,000 National Guard troops and deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles amid anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots and protests. The Democratic mayor was questioned by ABC host Martha Raddatz on who she thinks should be deported – whether that should be just people convicted of crimes – given Los Angeles has about a million “undocumented workers.”
“What should happen to those people?” Raddatz asked.
“Let me just say that, because we are a city of immigrants, we have entire sectors of our economy that are dependent on immigrant labor. We have to get the fire areas rebuilt. We’re not going to get our city rebuilt without immigrant labor,” Bass claimed. “And it’s not just the deportations, it’s the fear that sets in when raids occur, when people are snatched off the street. And I know you are aware that even people who are here legally, even people who are U.S. citizens, have been detained.”
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“So they should not be deported?” Raddatz pressed.
Bass responded, “I don’t think so. I think they should stay.”
The ABC host interjected, noting that the mayor was discussing “a million undocumented people.”
“No, let me just tell you, what I think we need is comprehensive immigration reform. I served in Congress for 12 years,” Bass said.
Raddatz again interrupted the mayor, noting that Bass, as a congresswoman, did not ensure the passage of such immigration reform.
“And why didn’t we get it? I mean, after I left, there was an immigration reform bill that had bipartisan support,” Bass said, attempting to blame Trump. “This was during the campaign. The president decided he didn’t want to have it happen because he didn’t want immigration reform to happen, where he didn’t take credit for it.”
Noting the surge in border crossings under former President Joe Biden, Raddatz recalled asking a Border Patrol agent whether he felt badly for illegal immigrants.
His response, Raddatz said, was yes, but “they’re cutting in line in front of those people who want to do it legally in the right way.”
“Let me just tell you that the people that make that trek, many of whom walk from Central America and even South America up to our border, risk their lives. I don’t believe that all of these people are sitting at home dreaming of coming to Los Angeles,” Bass said in response. “They’re coming here out of desperation.”
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Raddatz noted that “hundreds of thousands” of people illegally crossed the border under the Biden administration. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) figures, however, recorded about 10.8 million border encounters and roughly two million more known “got-a-ways” during Biden’s term. Trump, meanwhile, has reported record-low border crossings since he began his second term.
When asked if there’s “anything good” she thinks the Trump administration has done in these six months at the border, Bass said, “Well, I will keep praise on the administration for the first six months in Los Angeles with the fires. If you ask me, is there anything that they have done good in terms of immigration, I don’t know. I don’t think so. I think that the viewpoint has been punitive, has been, let’s make it as miserable as possible so that these people don’t come.”
Bass said she has not recently had conversations with the Trump administration regarding immigration despite the National Guard presence in the city.
“I have put in a request and I hope to. I will always be open to a conversation,” the mayor said. “I want to work with the administration to solve this problem. We have the World Cup in 11 short months here. We have Olympics and Paralympics coming in three short years. I know that these games are very important to the president and I look forward to working with him, and we have an extreme difference on this issue, but there’s many issues for us to work on, and I will continue trying to outreach to the administration and hope that at some point they’ll be responsive.”
The mayor also responded to how she hopes the next six months to two years will be for immigrants in Los Angeles, taking a dig at what she deemed the Trump administration’s “reign of terror.”
The Pentagon last week announced it was pulling 2,000 National Guard troops from Los Angeles, citing how the “lawlessness” seen in early June anti-ICE riots has subsided.
“Well, I am just hoping that this reign of terror ends. I’m hoping that the military leaves because they were never needed here to begin with,” Bass said. “I hope that we can get back to normal.”
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