Who Organized the LA Anti-ICE Protests That Escalated Into Riots?

When anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitators took to the streets in the Los Angeles area over the weekend attacking officers, setting cars on fire, and looting, they drew attention to the left-leaning activist groups that may have helped instigate the riots.

Three major organizations have come under increased scrutiny: the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and the Service Employees International Union. One of these groups, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles, has received millions in government funding.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles forms part of the LA Rapid Response Network, a group of organizations in Southern California that aim to monitor and counter ICE activity. The coalition has denied playing any role in the protests and the riots, but it helped organize protests before the weekend, and it has called protesters to action on behalf of David Huerta, president of the SEIU’s California chapter.

Authorities arrested Huerta Friday morning.

“Federal agents were executing a lawful judicial warrant at [an] LA worksite this morning when David Huerta deliberately obstructed their access by blocking their vehicle,” Bill Essayli, the U.S. attorney for the central district of California, posted on X. “He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday.”

“Let me be clear: I don’t care who you are—if you impede federal agents, you will be arrested and prosecuted,” Essayli added. “No one has the right to assault, obstruct, or interfere with federal authorities carrying out their duties.”

SEIU California said Huerta had been “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.”

On Saturday night, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles sent out an “Action Alert,” calling on supporters to join a protest Monday and “stand in solidarity with SEIU California leader David Huerta, unjustly beaten and detained for defending immigrant rights.”

Protesters carried signs printed by the Party for Socialism and Liberation, a Marxist political party.

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles

The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights held a rally last week to denounce ICE arresting illegal aliens across the city, but the group’s spokesman told the New York Post it had no role in the violent riots.

The spokesman said the group “organized a press event on Thursday” to protest the ICE raids and had “been sending legal observers to immigration courts and detention centers on Friday, Saturday, and [Sunday] as part of the LA Rapid Response Network.”

The group had “not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles other than the press conference and rally cited above,” the spokesman added.

According to IRS records, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles received $34 million in government grants between July 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services awarded the group three grants during the Biden administration, adding up to $754,068.07, for “citizenship education and training.” USCIS canceled the latest grant in March, after $349,064 of the $450,000 had been spent.

The group did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment about its role in the protests and riots.

SEIU California

SEIU California claimed Huerta, the union president who got arrested Friday, had been observing and documenting law enforcement activity. Yet the president’s own statement after the fact suggests a more aggressive role.

“What happened is not about me; this is about something much bigger,” he said in a statement Friday evening. “This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hardworking people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals.”

The SEIU did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment by publication time.

Party for Socialism and Liberation

The Party for Socialism and Liberation printed signs for the protests that escalated into riots. As The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez has noted, the organization has also actively coordinated protests on college campuses, particularly against Israel as it responded militarily to the Hamas terrorist attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

The Network Contagion Research Institute traced the connections between the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the Chinese Communist Party. The Party for Socialism and Liberation forms part of the “Singham Network,” linked by “close financial, interpersonal, and ideological ties to Neville Roy Singham and his wife Jodie Evans, a power couple within the global far-left movement with close ties to the CCP,” the institute claimed.

Thoughtworks, Singham’s company, did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

Elias Rodriguez, the alleged murderer of two Israeli embassy staff in Washington, D.C., had a previous association with one of the Party for Socialism and Liberation’s chapters.

The party’s website had previously quoted Rodriguez.

“We reject any attempt to associate the PSL with the D.C. shooting,” the party said in a post on X. “Elias Rodriguez is not a member of the PSL. He had a brief association with one branch of the PSL that ended in 2017. We know of no contact with him in over seven years. We have nothing to do with this shooting and do not support it.”

The party did not respond to The Daily Signal’s request for comment.

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