A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
For more on the protests and the response of elected officials, we reached out to Democratic Congresswoman Nanette Barragan, who represents California's 44th congressional district. That includes the city of Paramount just south of Los Angeles, where protests against immigration enforcement actions flared up over the weekend. Congresswoman, what have you heard from your constituents about how these protests were handled and how things unfolded?
NANETTE BARRAGAN: Well, we're hearing that there's a lot of fear in the community, whether they're next, whether ICE is going to come for them. And so that, you know, is something we're getting lots of calls about. We heard calls yesterday in San Pedro that there were sights of the National Guard. But, frankly, people are outraged about ICE being in our community. They think it's completely unnecessary that the National Guard is there.
I completely agree with the governor that this is cause - it's there to inflame the situation and to make things worse. And it's exactly what has happened. I also want to point out that, you know, I agree that today actually, there's three things happening in Los Angeles. We need people to remain peaceful. Those causing damage to the city and assaulting officers are not welcome.
We, you know, continue to condemn any violence. So today, when they go out, please keep that in mind. This is a movement against immigration enforcement. And in particular, it's about protesting mass deportations and what they're doing. There's no targeted effort here to find criminals, like they said they were going to do. They're sweeping up friends and neighbors and people who are just trying to find jobs at these work sites outside of Home Depot.
MARTÍNEZ: You mentioned the National Guard. President Trump's proclamation says that the National Guard troops will play a supporting role by protecting ICE officers rather than have these National Guard troops perform law enforcement work. So in these kinds of situations, when things tend to get tense, why wouldn't local police welcome those kinds of reinforcements?
BARRAGAN: Well, local police, they can make sure that the public is safe and they can protect federal officers. That's the whole point of - there's no necessary - there's no need to call in the National Guard. Actually, they did that in Paramount when they came to Paramount on Saturday morning. It was the sheriffs who got things under control, not the National Guard. In downtown LA that night, it was the LAPD who got things under control - it was not the National Guard. You bring up the National Guard, you rise tensions, people come out. And this is what you're starting to see happen. It's exactly what the president wanted.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah, the National Guard has only been deployed to protect federal buildings, so they wouldn't have been in Paramount. So what would be the problem with just having them do that, have their duties confined to those things?
BARRAGAN: Well, people feel, again, that it's unnecessary. They feel this is the administration taking over, and it is. This is the sign of a dictator who takes over a National Guard against the governor's will, against all elected officials' will. The presence of the National Guard in itself is sending that message. We're here to take you over. We're here to, you know - this is to empower the president, to flex his muscle.
So people have seen that. And we've heard some reports of people being, you know - attacking and throwing things at National Guard. It's for that reason. Now, again, any violence is unacceptable, completely unacceptable. But they're not needed. And so it's only inflaming the situation. And that's the whole point is people want ICE and they want the National Guard out of our communities. There is a way to do enforcement. It's targeted enforcement. It's been done over and over again and hasn't resulted in this. This is really a distraction.
MARTÍNEZ: You said that you were told that California should expect 30 days of ICE enforcement. Are you thinking that we might see 27 more days of what we've seen over the last three days?
BARRAGAN: Well, from what the federal officials have said, it's going to continue. And I could see why because right now, the president, all of his policies, are failing. The economy's tanking, he's about to take health care away from millions of people, prices are going up. And so this is a way to deflect and go right back to a signature issue. Let's go back to immigration, and let's go after California. We saw that happening starting when he was going to defund California and stop giving us federal money. Now he's taking it to the immigration front. So this is his game plan, and we can't let people fall into it. We have to make sure not to take the bait, not to do the violence.
MARTÍNEZ: That's Democratic Congresswoman Nanette Barragan. Thank you very much.
BARRAGAN: Thank you.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR invited Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, for an interview. They did not respond. We also reached out to Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin. She was not available this morning, but we will hear from her on MORNING EDITION later this week. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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