SUBJECT: Demand for Public Condemnation of ICE Raids and Mass Surveillance
TO: councilmember.park@lacity.org, star.parsamyan@lacity.org, jacob.burman@lacity.org
Dear Councilmember Park,
I am writing to express grave concern and disappointment regarding your silence in the face of recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids across Los Angeles, including in Council District 11. In particular, on Sunday June 8th we witnessed people being seized from their workplaces across our council district. These actions cannot be characterized as legitimate law enforcement, but the deployment of unconstitutional tactics, including warrantless seizures, racial profiling, and de facto renditions that violate fundamental due process protections.
As an attorney and elected official sworn to uphold the law, your refusal to publicly condemn these raids is indefensible. Worse still, your record suggests active alignment with the same law enforcement infrastructure that enables these raids.
You opposed LA City Council’s recent decision to officially declare itself a sanctuary city, which represents the bare minimum legislation to protect vulnerable residents from precisely this type of state-sponsored racial terror. Instead of supporting such critical protections, you have advanced policies that expand mass surveillance, including your recent advocacy for Real-Time Crime Centers. These surveillance hubs do not promote community safety; they accelerate the criminalization of marginalized communities and feed into federal databases that ICE routinely accesses.
Furthermore, while LAPD claims not to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, the reality on the ground shows otherwise. The department has a documented history of coordination with ICE through data sharing and joint operations. Your political and financial ties to the police establishment are well known. At a moment when civil liberties are under national threat and immigration enforcement is being weaponized as a tool of racial repression, your alignment with these interests is deeply troubling.
This is not merely a policy disagreement. It is a question of whether you will stand on the side of constitutional rights and human dignity, or continue to serve as a passive enabler of the growing authoritarianism of the Trump regime.
I urge you to immediately and unequivocally condemn the ICE raids occurring in our city. I also urge you to support robust legal defense for immigrant residents, ensure zero LAPD cooperation with ICE, and reverse your support for surveillance infrastructure that targets our most vulnerable neighbors. I also urge your office to provide immediate material assistance to immigrant families in our district who are terrified to leave their homes and desperately need food and support.
Silence in moments like these is not neutral. It is complicity.
Sincerely,
