Speaker 1: I want to say a few words about the events
Speaker 1: of the last few days. This past weekend, federal agents
Speaker 1: conducted large scale workplace raids in and around Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: Those raids continue as I speak. California is no stranger
Speaker 1: to immigration enforcement, but instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants
Speaker 1: with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders,
Speaker 1: the strategy both parties have long supported this administration is
Speaker 1: pushing mass deportations indiscriminately, targeting hard working immigrant families, regardless
Speaker 1: of their roots or risk. What's happening right now is
Speaker 1: very different than anything we've seen before. On Saturday morning,
Speaker 1: when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near
Speaker 1: a home depot parking lot, they began grabbing people, a
Speaker 1: deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb. A similar theme
Speaker 1: played out when a clothing company was raided downtown. In
Speaker 1: other actions, a US citizen nine mon un pregnant was arrested,
Speaker 1: a four year old girl taken, families, separated, friends quite
Speaker 1: literally disappearing. In response, every day, Angelino's came out to
Speaker 1: exercise their constitutional right to free speech and assembly to
Speaker 1: protest their government's actions. In turn, the State of California
Speaker 1: and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our
Speaker 1: police officers to help keep the peace, and with some exceptions,
Speaker 1: they were successful. Like many states, California is no stranger
Speaker 1: to this sort of unrest. We manage it regularly and
Speaker 1: with our own law enforcement. But this again was different.
Speaker 1: What then ensued was a use of tear gas, flash
Speaker 1: bang grenades, rubber bullets, federal agents detaining people in undermining
Speaker 1: their due process rights. Donald Trump, without consulting California law
Speaker 1: enforcement leaders, commandeered two thousand of our state's National Guard
Speaker 1: members to deploy on our streets illegally and for no reason.
Speaker 1: This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed
Speaker 1: a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers, and even
Speaker 1: our National Guard at risk. That's when the downward spiral began.
Speaker 1: He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by
Speaker 1: fanning the flames even harder, and the president he did
Speaker 1: it on purpose. As the news spread throughout La, anxiety
Speaker 1: for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again. By night,
Speaker 1: several dozen law breakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property,
Speaker 1: they tried to assault police officers. Many of you have
Speaker 1: seen the video clips of cars burning on cable news.
Speaker 1: If you incite violence, I want to be clear about this,
Speaker 1: if you incite violence or destroy our communities, you're going
Speaker 1: to be held to account. That kind of criminal behavior
Speaker 1: will not be tolerated full stop. Already, more than two
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty people have been arrested, and we're reviewing
Speaker 1: tapes to build additional cases, and people will be prosecuted
Speaker 1: to the fullest extent of the law. Again, thanks to
Speaker 1: our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelinos who
Speaker 1: protested peacefully, the situation was winding down and was concentrated
Speaker 1: in just a few square blocks downtown. With that, that's
Speaker 1: not what Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation, He
Speaker 1: chose more force, He chose theatrics over public safety. He
Speaker 1: federalized another two thousand Guard members. He deployed more than
Speaker 1: seven hundred active US Marines. These are the men and
Speaker 1: women trained for foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. We
Speaker 1: honor their service, we honor their bravery, but we do
Speaker 1: not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces.
Speaker 1: Not in La not in California, not anywhere We're seeing
Speaker 1: unmarked cars, unmarked cars in school parking, lots kids afraid
Speaker 1: of attending their own graduation. Trump is pulling a military
Speaker 1: dragnet all across Los Angeles. Well beyond is stated intent
Speaker 1: to just go after violent and serious criminals, his agents
Speaker 1: are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers, and seamstresses. That's just weakness,
Speaker 1: weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump's government isn't protecting our communities.
Speaker 1: They're traumatizing our communities, and that seems to be the
Speaker 1: entire point. California will keep fighting. We'll keep fighting on
Speaker 1: behalf of our people, all of our people, including in
Speaker 1: the courts. Just yesterday, we filed a legal challenge to
Speaker 1: Donald Trump's reckless deployment of American troops to a major
Speaker 1: American city. Today, we sought an emergency court order to
Speaker 1: stop the use of the American military to engage in
Speaker 1: law enforce activities across Los Angeles. If some of us
Speaker 1: could be snatched off the streets without a warrant based
Speaker 1: only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us
Speaker 1: are safe. Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are
Speaker 1: least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there.
Speaker 1: Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it
Speaker 1: allows them to take more power and exert even more control.
Speaker 1: And by the way, Trump, he's not opposed to lawlessness
Speaker 1: in violence as long as it serves him. What more
Speaker 1: evidence do we need than January sixth, ask everyone take
Speaker 1: time reflect on this perilous moment. A president who wants
Speaker 1: to be bound by no law or constitution perpetuating a
Speaker 1: unified assault on American traditions. This is a president who,
Speaker 1: in just over one hundred and forty days has fired
Speaker 1: government watchdogs that could hold him accountable, accountable for corruption
Speaker 1: and fraud. He's declared a war, a war on culture,
Speaker 1: on history, on science, on knowledge itself. Databases quite literally
Speaker 1: are vanishing. He's delegitimizing news organizations, and he's assaulting the
Speaker 1: First Amendment and the threat of defunding them at threat.
Speaker 1: He's dictating what universities themselves can teach. He's targeting law
Speaker 1: firms and the judicial brands that are the foundations of
Speaker 1: an orderly in civil society. He's calling for a sitting
Speaker 1: governor to be arrested for no other reason than to
Speaker 1: in his own words, for getting elected, and we all
Speaker 1: know this Saturday, he's ordering our American heroes, the United
Speaker 1: States military, and forcing them to put on a vulgar
Speaker 1: display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators
Speaker 1: have done in the past. Look, this isn't just about
Speaker 1: protests here in Los Angeles. When Donald Trump sought blanket
Speaker 1: authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order
Speaker 1: apply to every state in this nation. This is about
Speaker 1: all of us. This is about you. California may be first,
Speaker 1: but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next.
Speaker 1: Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes.
Speaker 1: This moment we have feared has arrived. He's taking a
Speaker 1: wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our founding father's historic project,
Speaker 1: three co equal branches of independent government. They are no
Speaker 1: longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found.
Speaker 1: Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility. The rule of
Speaker 1: law has increasingly been given way to the rule of
Speaker 1: don The founding fathers, they didn't lived and died to
Speaker 1: see this kind of moment. It's time for all of
Speaker 1: us to stand up. Justice brandeis he said it best.
Speaker 1: In a democracy, the most important office with all due respect,
Speaker 1: mister President is not the presidency, and it's certainly not governor.
Speaker 1: The most important office is office of citizen. At this moment,
Speaker 1: at this moment, we all need to stand up and
Speaker 1: be held to account a higher level of accountability. If
Speaker 1: you exercise your First Amendment rights, please please do it peacefully.
Speaker 1: I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress
Speaker 1: and fear, but I want you to know that you
Speaker 1: are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What
Speaker 1: Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence to
Speaker 1: be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.