Speaker 1: Already and this is the Daily This is the Dahlias.
Speaker 1: Oh now it makes sense.
Speaker 2: Good morning and welcome to the Daily Os. It's Thursday,
Speaker 2: the twelfth of June. I'm Zara Seidler, I'm Emma Gillespie.
Speaker 2: Protests on the streets of La have entered another day
Speaker 2: after the city's mayor announced a curfew and state of
Speaker 2: emergency yesterday. These protests began last Friday after the country's
Speaker 2: immigration enforcement body conducted a series of widespread raids. Since then,
Speaker 2: protesters have been gathering across the city to call for
Speaker 2: an end to the raids. In response to these protests,
Speaker 2: US President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard and Marines,
Speaker 2: a decision that has been hotly contested by the state's governor.
Speaker 2: In today's podcast, we'll explain everything you need to know
Speaker 2: about how the situation got to this point and the
Speaker 2: latest for those in La.
Speaker 3: Zara. So many of us had a long weekend. This
Speaker 3: weekend just passed and might have missed the origins of
Speaker 3: this story. It felt like, all of a sudden, there
Speaker 3: were these really intense headlines coming out of La violent scenes,
Speaker 3: reports of injuries. An Australian journalist making headlines caught in
Speaker 3: the cross fire or directly fired up by police on
Speaker 3: the ground. It feels like things are escalating with every
Speaker 3: passing day. But for people who might just be tuning in,
Speaker 3: where does it all begin?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a really good point, and because if you've
Speaker 2: seen the escalation and you don't know the source, it
Speaker 2: can be a bit confusing. So the story begins on
Speaker 2: Friday last week when Immigration and Customs Enforcement they're called ICE,
Speaker 2: and I'll just call them that for ease for the
Speaker 2: rest of the podcast, they conducted a series of widespread
Speaker 2: raids on businesses across the city of Los Angeles. ICE
Speaker 2: is the federal agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws and
Speaker 2: deporting people who were in the USA without legal permission,
Speaker 2: and I'm sure a lot of our listeners are familiar
Speaker 2: with them now. ICE has been carrying out raids over
Speaker 2: the past few months as part of President Donald Trump's
Speaker 2: broader immigration crackdown. So this idea of raids is not
Speaker 2: a new thing. It's certainly been quite a feature of
Speaker 2: this term of the Trump presidency. Just last month, the
Speaker 2: Trump administration set a target to arrest three thousand people
Speaker 2: a day over alleged immigration violations. It's a very very
Speaker 2: big number.
Speaker 1: That's enormous, it is.
Speaker 2: And so I say that just to set the scene
Speaker 2: that while these raids are not unfamiliar to those watching
Speaker 2: the Trump presidency, the ones that occurred in LA on
Speaker 2: Friday were seen, at least by those protesters who gathered afterwards,
Speaker 2: to be substantially wider in scope than the previous ice operations. So,
Speaker 2: for example, the Associated Press reported the people were arrested
Speaker 2: in a home depot parking lot, so a chainsaw outside
Speaker 2: a chain saw as part of these raids. And LA's
Speaker 2: mayor Karen Bass, who you're going to hear quite a
Speaker 2: lot about in this podcast, said in an interview, how
Speaker 2: did we get from gang members to home depot? She's
Speaker 2: referring there to the fact that originally these raids were
Speaker 2: targeting or at least as the Trump administration said, they
Speaker 2: were targeting gang members, but it has become far more
Speaker 2: widespread than that. According to officials, more than one hundred
Speaker 2: people were arrested on Friday alone in these immigration raids.
Speaker 3: Okay, so the kind of protest response that we've seen
Speaker 3: is really in response to the scope of these raids,
Speaker 3: rather than them existing in the first place. We've known
Speaker 3: for some time that Donald Trump is hardline on his
Speaker 3: immigration stance. He campaigned on it in the lead up
Speaker 3: to the November election. So this policy isn't necessarily surprising,
Speaker 3: but the number of raids that have been carried out
Speaker 3: is what is shocking people.
Speaker 2: I think that it's all of those things taken together.
Speaker 2: I think you're right that people have seen this happen before,
Speaker 2: but as we said, the nature of these feel different,
Speaker 2: and certainly the response that we've seen now happen in
Speaker 2: LA is far more significant than we've seen elsewhere in
Speaker 2: the country.
Speaker 3: So these raids started on Friday in LA Then the
Speaker 3: protesters start to gather in parts of the city.
Speaker 1: What happens from there.
Speaker 2: It's a pretty quick turnaround between people first finding out
Speaker 2: about those raids and protesters starting to gather. And the
Speaker 2: original site of the protest is the Metropolitan Detention Center
Speaker 2: in LA That's where some of the people who have
Speaker 2: been detained by ICE agents during those raids are being held.
Speaker 2: And so protesters start to arrive outside that center and
Speaker 2: begin to protest against ICE. Over the course of the weekend,
Speaker 2: the protests begin to grow in numbers. We've seen lots
Speaker 2: of pictures of demonstrators holding signs that read things like
Speaker 2: ice out of LA and education not deportation. I say
Speaker 2: that just to give you some sense of what it
Speaker 2: is these people are actually asking for and protesting against.
Speaker 2: One protester told local news over the weekend that the
Speaker 2: whole thing about going after immigrants and people who are undocumented,
Speaker 2: the most vulnerable of our populations, that is so wrong.
Speaker 2: So that is kind of the flavor I guess of
Speaker 2: where these protesters.
Speaker 1: Are community response exactly.
Speaker 2: And so these protests are originally described by police to
Speaker 2: be largely peaceful when they begin on Friday and then
Speaker 2: again into Saturday. However, by Sunday, police and protesters have
Speaker 2: begun clashing. The LA Police Department, the LAPD, said it
Speaker 2: made twenty eight arrests on Sunday after it says that
Speaker 2: protests escalated. It said that it responded to acts of violence,
Speaker 2: vandalism and looting, and then the LAPD's chief, Jim McDonald's
Speaker 2: claimed in a press conference that the unrest had become
Speaker 2: increasingly worse and more violent. And that's certainly I think
Speaker 2: where we start to see some of those images and
Speaker 2: videos coming out.
Speaker 1: Of La Okay.
Speaker 3: So what was or has been the response to this escalation.
Speaker 3: Police have described peaceful action that has turned violent. We've
Speaker 3: seen more and more coverage. It appears the protests have
Speaker 3: grown in size. What happens next?
Speaker 2: So the next big part of this story, And it's
Speaker 2: kind of confusing because there are two big stories happening
Speaker 2: at once. What's happening on the ground in La and
Speaker 2: then there's also this political story that is unforl Rin
Speaker 2: at the same time. But basically the next part of
Speaker 2: this story comes when US President Donald Trump signs an
Speaker 2: executive order deploying two thousand National Guard members to La Zara.
Speaker 3: Forgive my potential ignorance here. When we say national Guard,
Speaker 3: they sound very.
Speaker 1: Important, unofficial. What is the National Guard?
Speaker 2: The National Guard is a reserve military force, so it's
Speaker 2: typically made up of part time soldiers who can hold
Speaker 2: civilian jobs and often do hold civilian jobs, but then
Speaker 2: they're called to active duty in specific circumstance. Did not
Speaker 2: know that, yes, So in a statement, Trump said to
Speaker 2: the extent that protests or acts of isolence directly inhibit
Speaker 2: the execution of the laws. They constitute a form of
Speaker 2: rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States.
Speaker 2: And so that is the justification that Donald Trump has
Speaker 2: provided in a statement when he signed that executive order
Speaker 2: calling for the National Guard to be deployed, he was
Speaker 2: basically calling these protests a rebellion against the United States government.
Speaker 3: And I guess that kind of answers the question that
Speaker 3: I had in my mind about how did we go
Speaker 3: from local police the LAPD managing this response at a
Speaker 3: state level, there is a management and then that escalating
Speaker 3: to a federal response.
Speaker 2: Well, your question, I think is the question that Californian
Speaker 2: Governor Gavin Newsom also has, because this is where there
Speaker 2: has been a lot of political tension. So, just to
Speaker 2: set the scene, Gavin Newsom is a Democrat, He's the
Speaker 2: governor of California. He's largely seen as a potential next
Speaker 2: presidential candidate without aside for the second discussion, exactly, so
Speaker 2: he has typically been quite an outspoken opponent of Donald Trump.
Speaker 2: And so where this has come to a head is
Speaker 2: that typically state governors control their state's National Guard and
Speaker 2: they use them for emergencies like national disaster. Okay, so
Speaker 2: the president can activate them, but typically and historically this
Speaker 2: occurs with the governor's consent, right, and so Trump is
Speaker 2: actually the first president since nineteen sixty five to deploy
Speaker 2: the National Guard without a governor's request.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So this is where the kind of political fallouts
Speaker 2: stems from when it comes to why Donald Trump has
Speaker 2: done this without asking for or discussing with the governor
Speaker 2: of the state. White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt said,
Speaker 2: in the wake of this violence, California's feckless Democrat leaders
Speaker 2: have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens.
Speaker 1: We'll be back with more of today's deep dive right
Speaker 1: after this. So a lot going on there.
Speaker 3: As you've described, the National Guard kind of historically has
Speaker 3: been used in a political senses to recover or respond
Speaker 3: to emergency threats, and that could be natural disasters, and
Speaker 3: typically we see presidents working with state governors to coordinate
Speaker 3: that response. But now we've had these really strong words
Speaker 3: from the White House condemning California's handling of the situation.
Speaker 3: The situation and that's led us to this political division
Speaker 3: as well as this on the ground action. I can't
Speaker 3: imagine Gavin Newsom, the governor of California, is particularly pleased
Speaker 3: with the sentiment coming out of the White House.
Speaker 2: We hear from him, so he has actually made moves
Speaker 2: to sue Donald Trump on the deployment of troops. He
Speaker 2: called Trump's move an unmistakable step towards authoritarianism, and he
Speaker 2: said that he had filed this lawsuit to end the
Speaker 2: illegal and unnecessary takeover of the National Guard, which has
Speaker 2: needlessly escalated chaos and violence in the LA region. So
Speaker 2: basically he's saying, I'm filing this lawsuit for two reasons. One,
Speaker 2: Donald Trump deployed the National Guard without the consent or
Speaker 2: the input of me, that the Californian governor, not me Zarasidler.
Speaker 2: And second that the decision by Donald Trump, he claims
Speaker 2: was unwarranted. That basically, sending in the National Guard, all
Speaker 2: three thousand of them, is escalating a situation that could
Speaker 2: have been handled by local authorities.
Speaker 3: What's the goal of launching a proceeding like that? If
Speaker 3: Goavin Newsom successfully sues Trump, is it basically asking for
Speaker 3: an admission of wrongdoing.
Speaker 2: Well, he's been trying to stop it from continuing, so
Speaker 2: he's tried to put a pause on allowing them in.
Speaker 2: But this all takes time, as we know.
Speaker 1: So how has Donald Trump then responded?
Speaker 2: Well, Trump's taken to social media to actually voice support
Speaker 2: for arresting Newsom. Over the weekend, Newsome again the Californian governor.
Speaker 2: He dared Tom Homan, who is the director of ICE,
Speaker 2: to arrest him, and then in response, Donald Trump saw
Speaker 2: those suits and said I would do it if I
Speaker 2: were Tom. So he's saying if he were in charge,
Speaker 2: he would arrest the governor. Fair to say that. Newsom
Speaker 2: didn't take to that one too well. He said on
Speaker 2: social media, the President of the United States just called
Speaker 2: for the arrest of a sitting governor. This is a
Speaker 2: day I hoped I would never see in America. I
Speaker 2: don't care if you're a Democrat or a Republican. This
Speaker 2: is a line we cannot cross as a nation.
Speaker 3: It's been so interesting, obviously, you know, from our perspective
Speaker 3: as outsiders here in Australia seeing this unfold, because I
Speaker 3: think part of Donald Trump's legacy has been his policy
Speaker 3: around state versus federal leadership, and I think he's been
Speaker 3: very clear on state responsibilities for certain aspects of health
Speaker 3: care and education. But now this is playing out in
Speaker 3: a very different way.
Speaker 2: So yeah, well, I mean, just to bring it home
Speaker 2: for an Australian audience. This is kind of the equivalent
Speaker 2: of Anthony Aberezi, a labor prime minister, being sued by
Speaker 2: a liberal premier in say David Chris a fully the
Speaker 2: Queensland premier yep, and in turn calling for his arrest.
Speaker 2: That is the I guess equivalent as much as we
Speaker 2: can do.
Speaker 1: And Aguin you put it like that, it sounds pretty bizarre.
Speaker 2: It is. It's certainly a really significant moment. But what's
Speaker 2: more than that, it's that this is all occurring as
Speaker 2: there is this state of emergency unfolding in La.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I wanted to ask you what is happening
Speaker 3: on the ground in La at the time of recording.
Speaker 3: What do we know about the situation right now?
Speaker 2: Well, I think the first thing to say is that
Speaker 2: it's not de escalating by any stretch of the imagination.
Speaker 2: That protesters are still taking to the streets, They are
Speaker 2: still calling on ice to stop their raids. We know,
Speaker 2: of course that the National Guard has since arrived after
Speaker 2: being summoned by President Trump, as have Marines who were
Speaker 2: also ordered into the city. Now the source of the
Speaker 2: protests kind of finishing as we ended this podcast. So
Speaker 2: those immigration raids they've actually also continued throughout this period,
Speaker 2: so it hasn't been like Friday was the end point
Speaker 2: and since then there have been none. They've continued throughout
Speaker 2: this period. CBS News, which is an American outlet, reports
Speaker 2: that they've seen figures that say that ICE recorded more
Speaker 2: than twelve hundred arrests across the US over the weekend.
Speaker 2: In terms of on the ground in LA, yesterday, LA's
Speaker 2: mayor announced a curfew and she declared a national state
Speaker 2: of emergency. She said that was to stop the vandalism
Speaker 2: and to stop the looting. So that will be in place,
Speaker 2: that curfew from eight pm until six am in part
Speaker 2: of downtown LA. And we'll have to wait and see
Speaker 2: if that has any effect on the protests. But it
Speaker 2: does feel like this is only growing. The anger and
Speaker 2: the hostility, certainly on both sides, appears to be growing.
Speaker 2: And I think i'll just end off with what Donald
Speaker 2: Trump has said most recently. He said that La was
Speaker 2: being invaded and conquered by a foreign army. He said
Speaker 2: that yesterday.
Speaker 3: Wow, very very strong language there. But I think it's
Speaker 3: also interesting to touch on, you know, downtown LA. We're
Speaker 3: talking about a densely populated area of a major global city.
Speaker 3: And this is a story that has garnered international attention
Speaker 3: for many reasons, but of course for us here in
Speaker 3: Australia it's dominated headlines as well because we've seen these
Speaker 3: journalists on the ground in la reporting for Australian broadcasters.
Speaker 3: So Lauren Tamasi from Channel nine, Lauren Day, a correspondent
Speaker 3: for the ABC. Both of those journalists have reported being
Speaker 3: targeted injured by police. We saw the rubber bullet that
Speaker 3: was fired at the Channel nine reporter. The ABC journal
Speaker 3: was caught up in tear gas that police dispersed across
Speaker 3: a crowd. An ABC cameraman was shot in the chest
Speaker 3: with a rubber bullet and that's just what we've heard
Speaker 3: from the Aussies on the ground. There are reporters out
Speaker 3: of the UK and the who have cited similar run
Speaker 3: ins with police, and.
Speaker 2: Just on that, we do know the LAPD is currently
Speaker 2: investigating how that Channel nine journalist was shot at, yeah,
Speaker 2: because the vision does show that it was an officer
Speaker 2: who did point the gun at her. So an investigation
Speaker 2: is underway into what happened there.
Speaker 3: Exactly, and that incident has been criticized and condemned by
Speaker 3: the Prime.
Speaker 1: Minister Foreign Minister Pennywong.
Speaker 3: But clearly this is just another element of a very
Speaker 3: escalating and evolving story. But in terms of global interest,
Speaker 3: in terms of national interest here in Australia, you know
Speaker 3: it's not going away. I'm sure there'll be more to
Speaker 3: talk about in the days to come, and as always
Speaker 3: he'll keep you updated. Thank you so much for listening
Speaker 3: to today's episode. We will be back a little later
Speaker 3: on in the day with the evening news headlines, but
Speaker 3: until then, have a fantastic day.
Speaker 1: My name is Lily Madden and I'm a proud Arunda
Speaker 1: bunjelung Caalcutin woman from Gadigal Country.
Speaker 2: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
Speaker 2: the lands of the Gadigal people and pays respect to
Speaker 2: all Aboriginal and Torrestrate island and nations.
Speaker 1: We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries,
Speaker 1: both past and present.