While public outcry grows over federal immigration enforcement, LAPD officials have touted their close collaboration with the FBI and Department of Homeland Security ahead of the World Cup and Olympics.<\/b>
\nAfter the recent shootings of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, some police chiefs have joined the mounting criticism of the Trump administration\u2019s immigration blitz.
One voice missing from the fray: LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell.
This week, the chief reiterated that the department has a close working relationship with federal law enforcement, and said he would not order his officers to enforce a new state law \u2014 currently being challenged as unconstitutional \u2014 that prohibits the use of face coverings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents.
Top police brass nationwide rarely criticize their federal partners, relying on collaboration to investigate gangs, extremist groups and other major criminals \u2014 while also counting on millions in funding from Washington each year.
McDonnell and the LAPD have found themselves in an especially tough position, longtime department observers say. The city has been roiled by immigration raids and protests, and local leaders, including Mayor Karen Bass, have blasted the White House. But with the World Cup and Olympics coming soon \u2014 events that will require coordination with the feds \u2014 the chief has been choosing his words carefully.
Over the past year, McDonnell has fallen back on the message that the LAPD has a long-standing policy of not getting involved in civil immigration enforcement. Unlike his counterparts in Minneapolis, Portland and Philadelphia, he has largely avoided public comment on the tactics used by federal agents, saving his strongest criticism for protesters accused of vandalism or violence.
In a radio interview last spring, the chief said that \u201cit\u2019s critical that in a city as big, a city that\u2019s as big a target for terrorism as Los Angeles, that we have a very close working relationship with federal, state and local partners.\u201d He boasted that the LAPD had \u201cbest relationship in the nation in that regard.\u201d
McDonnell stood beside FBI Director Kash Patel on an airport tarmac last week to announce the capture of a Canadian former Olympic snowboarder accused of trafficking tons of cocaine through Los Angeles. Then, at a news conference Thursday in which city officials touted historically low homicide totals, McDonnell said LAPD officials were as \u201cdisturbed\u201d as everyone else by events in other parts of the country, alluding to Pretti\u2019s shooting without mentioning him by name. He said the department would continue to work closely with federal agencies on non-immigration matters.
Explaining his stance on not enforcing the mask ban, McDonnell said he wouldn\u2019t risk asking his officers to approach \u201canother armed agency creating conflict for something that\u201d amounted to a misdemeanor offense.
\u201cIt\u2019s not a good policy decision and it wasn\u2019t well thought out in my opinion,\u201d he said.
Elsewhere, law enforcement leaders, civil rights advocates and other legal experts have decried how ICE agents and other federal officers have been flouting best practices when making street arrests, conducting crowd control and maintaining public safety amid mass protests.
After a shooting by agents of two people being sought for arrest in Portland, Ore., in mid-January, the city\u2019s chief of police gave a tearful news conference saying he had sought to understand Latino residents \u201cthrough your voices, your concern, your fear, your anger.\u201d
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal set off a social media firestorm after she referred to ICE agents as \u201cmade-up, fake, wannabe law enforcement.\u201d
In Minneapolis, where the Trump administration has deployed 3,000 federal agents, police Chief Brian O\u2019Hara reportedly warned his officers in private that they would lose their jobs if they failed to intervene when federal agents use force. And in a news conference this week, New Orleans\u2019 police superintendent questioned ICE\u2019s arrest of one of the agency\u2019s recruits.
The second-guessing has also spread to smaller cities like Helena, Mont., whose city\u2019s police chief pulled his officers out of a regional drug task force over its decision to collaborate with U.S. Border Patrol agents.
Over the weekend, the International Assn. of Chiefs of Police, the nation\u2019s largest and most influential police chief group, called on the White House to convene local, state and federal law enforcement partners for \u201cpolicy-level discussions aimed at identifying a constructive path forward.\u201d
McDonnell\u2019s backers argue that the role of chief is apolitical, though many of his predecessors became national voices that shaped public safety policy. Speaking out, the chief\u2019s supporters say, risks inviting backlash from the White House and could also affect the long pipeline of federal money the department relies on, for instance, to help fund de-escalation training for officers.
Assemblyman Mark Gonz\u00e1lez (D-Los Angeles) was among those who opposed McDonnell over his willingness to work with ICE while serving as Los Angeles County sheriff, but said he now considers him a \u201cgreat partner\u201d who has supported recent anti-crime legislation.
So he said was disappointed by McDonnell\u2019s unwillingness to call out racial profiling and excessive force by federal agents in Minneapolis and elsewhere.
\u201cWe have to trust in a chief who is able to say ICE engaging and detaining 5-year-old kids and detaining flower vendors is not what this system was set up to do,\u201d said Gonz\u00e1lez, the Assembly\u2019s majority whip. \u201cIt would help when you\u2019d have law enforcement back up a community that they serve.\u201d
Inside the LAPD, top officials have supported McDonnell\u2019s balancing act, suggesting that promises by officials in other cities to detain ICE agents rang hollow.
\u201cHave you seen them arrest any? No,\u201d said Deputy Chief Alan Hamilton.
LAPD officers serve on nearly three dozen task forces with federal officials, where they share information and resources to track down criminals, said Hamilton, the department\u2019s chief of detectives. Cooperating with federal partners is essential to tasks including combating \u201chuman trafficking on Figueroa\u201d and dismantling international theft rings, he said. As part of these investigations, both sides pool intelligence \u2014 arrangements that some privacy rights groups warn are now being exploited in the government\u2019s immigration crackdown.
Hamilton said that \u201cthere\u2019s nothing occurring right now that\u2019s going to affect our relationship with the federal government across the board.\u201d
Art Acevedo, a former chief in Houston and Miami, said that for any big-city chief, taking an official position on an issue as divisive as immigration can be complicated.
Being seen as coming out against President Trump comes with \u201csome political risks,\u201d he said.
But chiefs in immigrant-rich cities like Houston and L.A. must weigh that against the potentially irreparable damage to community trust from failing to condemn the recent raids, he said.
\u201cWhen you don\u2019t speak out, the old adage that silence is deafening is absolutely true. You end up losing the public and you end up putting your own people at risk,\u201d he said. \u201cThe truth is that when you are police chief you have a bully pulpit, and what you say or fail to say is important.\u201d
Those with experience on the federal side of the issue said it cuts both ways.
John Sandweg, the former director of ICE under President Obama, said that federal authorities need local cops and the public to feed them info and support operations, but the immigration agency\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d approach was putting such cooperation \u201cin jeopardy.\u201d
\u201cIdeally, in a perfect world, ICE is able to work within immigrant communities to identify the really bad actors,\u201d he said. \u201cBut when you have this zero tolerance, when the quantity of arrests matters far more than the quality of arrests, you eliminate any ability to have that cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n