A FILIPINO was among those arrested in the large-scale crackdown on immigrants by US federal authorities in Los Angeles, California, the Philippine Consulate in Los Angeles said yesterday.
Consul General Adelio Angelito Cruz said the 55-year-old Filipino was among those apprehended by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Cruz did not name the Filipino but the US Department of Homeland Security identified him as Rolando Veneracion Enriquez.
“He was arrested in the operation conducted by ICE. He was arrested inside his house by an ICE official and a parole officer,” Cruz told television station GMA-7.
Cruz said the Filipino, whom he said is an immigrant, was earlier sentenced for theft and sexual assault.
Cruz said the consulate is providing legal assistance to Enriquez, adding that they are expecting that he will be deported to Manila.
Cruz also said they were able to reach his family immediately and secure his ICE registration number, adding the consulate “knows where he is.”
The Homeland Security said Enriquez’s “criminal history includes burglary in Ontario, CA with a sentence of four years in prison, sexual penetration with a foreign object with force and assault with intent to commit rape in Pomona, CA with a sentence of 37 years in prison.
It said Enriquez was “administratively arrested” on Saturday.
Cruz said the sweeping US immigration raids also netted 10 other immigrants – mostly from Mexico and Central America – whose criminal records ranged from murder to possession of weapons.
The raids have ignited rallies in Los Angeles, as hundreds of residents and immigrant rights activists protested the arrests. Democratic leaders meanwhile raised concerns over a national crisis.
Meanwhile, Malacañang on Tuesday urged Filipinos abroad to always follow the laws wherever they are even as President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered concerned authorities to ensure that assistance is provided to Filipinos who would be affected by raids done by the ICE.
The Philippine consulate likewise advised Filipinos in Los Angeles to avoid “crowd build-ups that may lead to disturbances,” and to exercise caution and vigilance when going out.
The consulate said they can be reached at telephone number 323 528 1528 for any assistance.
There are around 500,000 Filipinos and Filipino-Americans in Los Angeles, including its metropolitan area.
US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard to stop the massive protests, which California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass have opposed.
Some 700 Marines based in Southern California were expected to reach Los Angeles Monday night or Tuesday morning, officials said, as part of a federal strategy to quell street demonstrations opposing the immigration raids, which are a part of a signature effort of Trump’s second term.
Although their mission to protect federal personnel and property is temporary – filling the gaps until a full contingent of 4,000 National Guard troops can reach Los Angeles – the deployment is an extraordinary use of military force in support of a police operation, and it comes over the objection of state and local leaders who did not request help.
Meanwhile, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem pledged to carry out even more operations to round up suspected immigration violators, extending a crackdown that provoked the protests.
Trump officials have branded the protests as lawless and blamed state and local Democrats for permitting upheaval and protecting undocumented immigrants with sanctuary cities.
The military and federal enforcement operations have further polarized America’s two major political parties as Trump, a Republican, threatened to arrest Newsom, a Democrat, for resisting the federal crackdown.
California sued the Trump administration to block deployment of the National Guard and the Marines on Monday, arguing that it violates federal law and state sovereignty.
The top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Jack Reed, said he was “gravely troubled” by Trump’s deployment of active-duty Marines.
“The president is forcibly overriding the authority of the governor and mayor and using the military as a political weapon. This unprecedented move threatens to turn a tense situation into a national crisis,” Reed said.
“Since our nation’s founding, the American people have been perfectly clear: we do not want the military conducting law enforcement on U.S. soil,” he said.
The announcement that Marines would be deployed was made on the fourth straight day of protests. Late on Monday police began to disperse hundreds of demonstrators who gathered outside a federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants have been held. Police said arrests were being made.
National Guard forces had formed a human barricade to keep people out of the building. Then a phalanx of police moved up the street, pushing people from the scene and firing “less lethal” munitions such as gas canisters. Police had used similar tactics since Friday.
Protests also sprang up in at least nine other U.S. cities on Monday, including New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco, according to local news outlets.
In Austin, Texas, police fired nonlethal munitions and detained several people as they clashed with a crowd of several hundred protesters. — With Jocelyn Reyes and Reuters
