They Trying to Break Us. But LA is Building a Strong New Movement.
What They Didn’t Expect: A City That Loves Too Loud to Stay Silent
If you read our earlier piece this month, you already know what started this. A sudden, savage ICE assault on our streets. Disappearances in broad daylight. A city turned battleground. That was just the opening act.
Since then, the crackdown has only deepened. And the resistance? It’s only grown louder.
Now, armed troops occupy our streets. Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers have been deployed, with 2,100 stationed right here in the heart of Los Angeles. Another 700 active-duty Marines joined them, locked and loaded. Not for war overseas, but for political suppression at home.
All told, this militarization against American citizens is costing us $134 million. Not to protect us, but to remind us who they think holds the power.
But here’s the thing: they wouldn’t spend that kind of money if they weren’t afraid. Afraid of our solidarity. Afraid of our organizing. Afraid of the community we’ve built and the power we’re reclaiming.
ICE raids continue in neighborhoods like Bell and Maywood, where families live with one eye on the street and the other on their children’s futures. Koreatown has gone quiet. Not for lack of life, but from fear. Vendors are vanishing. Citizens are being detained. Undocumented people are being dehumanized on a daily basis. Economies once rooted in resilience are being strangled. But don’t mistake silence for surrender.
Just beneath the surface, this city is vibrating. With love. With resistance. With a defiant refusal to disappear.
Senator Alex Padilla was tackled for demanding answers. He rose up and took that fight to the Senate floor. Mayor Karen Bass and Governor Newsom sued the federal government. Legal challenges are mounting. Courtrooms are heating up. And the people? We’ve already drawn the line.
They came at us with smoke bombs and armored trucks. We answered with rallies, prayer circles, livestreams, and mariachis on the sidewalk. Folklórico dancers stomped defiance into the pavement. Families passed around maps to sanctuary homes. Mutual aid flowed like lifeblood. Activists trained residents and businesses in their rights. TikTok told the truth. This isn’t just a protest. It’s a movement reborn.
And it’s led by us. By the 47 percent of this city who are Latino. By the immigrants and children of immigrants who built this place, teach its kids, drive its buses, grow its trees, and cook its meals. We’re not fringe. We are the foundation.
They thought they’d make an example out of Los Angeles. Thought we’d look away and abandon our neighbors. But we stood up. We stood together. We became the example. And when the history books ask what Los Angeles did in the face of fascism, they’ll tell stories of civil disobedience, community power, joyful defiance, and righteous trouble.
Because this fight is no longer about policy. It’s about survival. Dignity. Humanity. And anyone still pretending otherwise has chosen blindness.
Those who say “they should’ve done it the right way” while folks are ripped from court houses, mere steps from a judge, are two steps from justifying Anne Frank’s arrest. Some people have abandoned their humanity. But we haven’t. We won’t. We will not cede the moral ground to sadists. We lead with love. And we lead with clarity.
Here’s the truth: Los Angeles is under military occupation by our own President. Not because we’re violent, but because we’re powerful. Not because we’re criminals, but because we’re organized, multiracial, multilingual, and unyielding in our diversity.
They came with armored cars and flash bangs. We came with tambourines and joy. They came with Marines. We came with microphones and livestreams. They came to shut us down. We came to rise.
This isn’t just Los Angeles’ fight. This is America’s test.
So join the neighborhood ICE-watching patrols. Support the bond funds. Donate to the many go-fund-me’s for legal support. Keep your cameras ready. Keep your neighbors close (and actually check on them). And above all, do not look away.
Because history is watching. And we are writing the next chapter.
Los Angeles stands. Fierce. United. And beautifully, irreversibly unafraid.