BONUS: LA ICE Raids, Protests and Immigration Justice feat. Hugo Soto-Martinez

Hello, everybody.

It's Will here.

I'm back again for a bonus episode.

I know it's been a busy week, but we didn't want to let too much time pass without focusing on the ongoing ICE raids that are taking place across the country right now, the ongoing assaults on immigrant communities by federal law enforcement.

I know I've been, you know, if you've probably been watching and protesting

from wherever you live, but we want to focus on Los Angeles today.

And joining me now is LA City Council Member Ugo Soto Martinez.

So Ugo, welcome back.

Thank you so much, Will.

Thank you for having me.

I know it's been a very busy day for you, but like just for our listeners, from your perspective, what exactly is happening with ICE in the LA area right now?

You know, it truly feels like a federal takeover of our city.

They're really trying to take away our sovereignty

as a city.

uh we have ice agents with other federal agencies uh literally going to different neighborhoods every single day we're getting uh hundreds of calls coming in to the rapid response network which is meant to sort of take in all the different reports of ice in the area they are abducting people in the middle of the street they are not identifying themselves they are arresting citizens they are going into businesses

They are not operating with any warrants.

They are just literally just grabbing people.

We don't know where they are.

We know they're in jail and in their custody, but we don't know where.

They're not being given access to their families or their attorneys.

And every day is just in a different area, right?

And for folks, you know, that are, have you been to Los Angeles?

It's a very spread out city.

And so we're having to respond sort of at all corners of the city.

But you know, people are fighting back, they're protesting.

We're doing as best as we can, but it does feel like we're being hit on all sides right now.

Can you give us any perspective on what went down at Dodger Stadium today between ICE and the LAPD?

You know, so this just this morning,

we heard that ICE was doing a staging out of basically one of the Dodger Stadium entryways, one of the gates.

You know, staging is where they show up and they go out into the neighborhood and bring people back and,

you know, incarcerate them.

And so they were there, you know, whether they had the permission to be there, I don't know.

But they left because people started

reporting them and people started showing up to protest.

Then we heard that they came back.

And

more protesters started coming.

And eventually, LAPD apparently was called.

But eventually

ICE left and the protests went away.

And we don't know where else they went, but they're certainly out there in our neighborhood trying to pick our people up.

I mean, we've been, you know, just here in New York, we've been seeing people get taken out of immigration court by masked

officers who don't identify themselves.

I mean,

like thousands of similar events are probably happening all over the country.

Los Angeles seems to be the focal point of the nation's attention right now.

So let me ask you, what are you hearing from your constituents and your community right now about what they're experiencing?

You know, my constituents

are feeling so much outrage of, you know,

their parents being disappeared, their loved ones, you know, being taken away from them.

There's a lot of fear and paralysis.

You know, if you walk around some of the ethnic enclaves of our city,

they look like ghost towns.

People are just afraid to go out.

People are canceling events, family gatherings, not going to their graduations.

So it's just a mixture of so many different emotions,

anger, frustration,

fear, you name it.

But

I think we're really trying to tap into the resilient nature or the resilient, the really the resiliency of the immigrant community.

We know we've gone through so much.

And so try and empower people

in the face of this really horrible threat that's happening right now.

Well, you say you feel like

the federal law enforcement is taking away the sovereignty of LA.

You're on the LA City Council.

What is the LA City?

How would you describe the LA City government's response to this, I don't know, like the incursion into Los Angeles by federal law enforcement?

You know, we're trying to continue to get the word out there that LA City

will not collaborate with ICE.

That is a city.

You know, we passed our sanctuary city policy a few months ago.

But, you know, there is a lot of, there's a lot of distrust.

You know, we saw LAPD,

you know,

this is going to sound crazy, but apparently the federal agents called 911 because they felt that they were in danger.

And LAPD responded to that,

you know, under the guise that they need to protect anybody that calls 911.

And so it...

they gave safe passage to ICE.

You know, they cleared the crowd and people, and ICE took our family members.

So,

you know, it's a lot going on.

We're really trying to lead with our values, but, you know, we're just asking everybody to keep their eyes on the prize, and that's keeping families together.

But, you know, there's been images where LAPD is not helping.

Uko, when you hear

the people who are

the engine driving this policy in the Trump administration and elsewhere in the federal government, they talk about undocumented immigration as an invasion.

And what we're seeing now, what you're describing, seems like a sort of an occupying force,

like you're taking root in an American city.

From your perspective, what do you think the goal is?

Like, what's the end game for the people who are like promoting this strategy of, you know, just, I don't know, like lawless press gangs roaming the street, rounding up people and taking them out of schools, parks, graduations, courts, et cetera?

I mean, like,

what's the end game here?

What is their goal?

You know, I think they are trying to achieve their white nationalist agenda, their white nationalist fascist agenda.

And, you know, we should be using the word, the term ethnic cleansing, right?

Like

they talk about this, right?

About brown people and multicultural cities

that these folks are invading.

I mean, it's just

to me, it is just like the most despicable parts of America.

you know, just rooted in racism, you know, that plantation capitalism mentality.

And so

that's what I think it is.

It is a white nationalist fascist agenda that they're trying to achieve.

And the way they achieve that is by getting rid of anyone that doesn't look like them.

In Los Angeles right now,

what can you tell us about how the community is responding to and stopping these ICE raids?

Like, let's say ICE shows up to a Home Depot parking lot.

How has the community been responding to that on the ground?

You know,

it's been a bit of a challenge challenge because

ICE and those other federal agencies are also sort of shifting their tactics, right?

In the first couple of days, what they were doing was doing this sort of grandiose operations where they would show up, but they quickly realized that if they did that, it took more time.

And so people responded to that.

There was a situation in downtown LA in the fashion district where, you know, people protesting surrounded the business.

And so ICE couldn't get out.

And that's the one where the ICE called LAPD.

That was an incredible display of solidarity and militancy.

But now what we're seeing is ICE is not doing these more long-term operations.

They're showing up to a place and they're gone in 30 minutes.

And something like that happened this morning

in my district.

It was at a Home Depot.

They were there at 7.30 and by 8 a.m.

they were gone and they took 20 people in the most violent possible way.

And so, yeah,

it's been hard to react now because they're just in and out so quickly.

I mean, like, going back to the agenda of the people who are fomenting this, I'm thinking of comments that were quoted in the media from Stephen Miller, the sort of Fuhrer of

this ongoing ethnic cleansing operation.

And it was about how he was berating the heads of ICE in DC for seeking to serve criminal warrants.

And he was saying, don't bother with the criminals.

Just let's go to Home Depot right now and round up 20 people, 20, 30 people.

Go to 7-Eleven right now.

You can find undocumented people there.

Just round them up.

I mean, doesn't this put the lie to this whole idea that this is about removing dangerous criminals from American society?

And that, like, as you said, that this is more about just the ethnic cleansing of America?

Oh, I completely agree, Will.

I think the mask has been taken off.

You know,

a lot of us were saying this is never about criminals.

This is about a white nationalist agenda.

It's about the ethnic, ethnic, what they, you know, they're trying to achieve ethnic cleansing of our communities.

And what they are doing is, is showing that.

They're going after people who are just looking for work.

They're going after street vendors who are just providing food for the community.

You know, they're showing up to,

you know, schools.

They showed up at a domestic violence shelter in the city.

I mean, that is like anybody is on their target right now.

And it's just, you know, this, it's just on full display, like completely.

The fascists are on full display right now.

Well, you know, like, a big part about that is just sort of fomenting a state of fear and doubt in the minds of everyone, be you undocumented or not, because I think quiet as it's kept, I don't think they actually like are able to successfully deport, let's say, 20 or 30 million people in this country.

But they're trying to send a message that this country is not welcome to a certain kind of person.

And I'm just wondering, like, in terms of the community responses, in terms of just the numbers of people who are showing up to like just blockade the removal of their neighbors from their community, like, do you see a sense of like, has that been a way to counteract this fear, like the numbers of people?

And like, what do you think that's been successful in terms of stopping these deportations, stopping these removals, just to stopping the physical removal of people by, like I said, as you mentioned, masked federal law enforcement that won't present a warrant or show a badge badge or even like identify themselves.

Yeah, you know, that's a great point.

You know, the number one defense that we've employed is that people just need to know their rights.

It sounds simple, but, you know, they still need probable cause to arrest someone.

And they're doing it in such a violent way right now that

they're not finding that.

And so if someone is apprehended, if they stay quiet, if they ask for the attorney, the ICE agents have to prove that there was a probable cause to arrest that person.

And we have heard of examples where people have been detained, did not speak, demanded their lawyer, and it turns out that they did not have probable cause.

And some of those people have been released.

And so we're really trying to get people to understand that they have that right in that moment.

And then obviously the second thing is responding to it.

You know,

the reports come into the hotline, we quickly mobilize.

and at the very least, we're able to minimize the damage that they can do because they don't want to be there when people start showing up.

And so they'll grab folks and leave.

But we know that if we didn't respond in a quick way, they would have had just complete free range to stay in that neighborhood for hours.

And so we're at least able to get them out of our neighborhoods as quickly as possible.

You know, I mentioned a second ago that

these disappearances are happening

in the context of law enforcement, people in law enforcement who are wearing masks, who don't have badges, who don't show warrants, and who won't identify themselves.

If you were just like for an average Angelino or a resident of any city, if you saw masked men in a van pull up on a street, grab someone, throw them in the car, don't identify themselves, don't even say they're law enforcement, what should be the appropriate reaction when you see something like that happening?

I mean, you know, and it is happening, you know, more and more times.

It's happening quite a bit.

You know, people, we have a rapid response hotline in the city, you know, that's being run by different orgs.

Like, we ask people to call that hotline, report it, because then we can mobilize our attorneys.

We can mobilize

a positive media narrative.

If they can record, that's great because it shows the evidence of them

violating people's rights.

And then it's just about trying to go on the offense, like, you know, uplifting the family stories, you know, how they're ripping people apart, how they're violating people's constitutional rights.

All that helps because we do have to win this

in the court of public opinion.

I mean, you mentioned families, and I think your own background here is relevant.

You grew up with undocumented parents.

So how does that shape how you're responding to this moment?

And what may people, what do you think people may not understand about what it's like to live in a

family with mixed immigration status where some family members are documented and some aren't?

Because a lot of times we're seeing children who are u.s citizens who are having their parents removed their caregivers removed like what what do people like maybe not understand about this the mixed immigration status in america yeah you know my parents came to this country uh undocumented uh you know and they they weren't afraid that when they took me to school that you know ice agents would would apprehend them yeah you know and they went to work they they knew they would come back uh come back home to their kids uh and in los angeles in particular you know when you go to the doctor it's probably an immigrant nurse or immigrant doctor that that is seeing you when you go to the restaurant and and you know order something it was probably cooked by an immigrant i mean the the nannies uh you know in the more wealthier areas like are immigrants the immigrants in los angeles touch every part of your life

They are part of the social fabric.

And

it's what makes Los Angeles beautiful.

And so there isn't a single person right now in this city, in my opinion, who is not being touched by this.

Somebody knows somebody whose life has been completely turned upside down as a result of these kidnappings.

Yeah, I mean, like the same could certainly be said of the history of New York City, like Los Angeles being sort of the unofficial, like Latino capital of America.

I mean, like,

it's no surprise

why you guys are finding yourselves in the crosshairs of this effort.

But I want to go back to something you said earlier about LA just passed a sanctuary city law.

Sanctuary city is a term that gets thrown around a lot on the right as like, you know,

it's always like identified as some awful, horrible thing, having a sanctuary city.

But what does it actually mean to be a sanctuary city?

And what would be the difference between and what's happening right now in Los Angeles if it weren't a sanctuary city?

Yeah, that's a great question.

You know, sanctuary city in Los Angeles, it means a few things.

Number one, the city of Los Angeles is not going to collaborate with ICE.

That they are not going to use our resources, our personnel,

anything, anything that's part of the city to further what they're doing.

So they're not going to have a partner with the city of Los Angeles, which is the case in many other jurisdictions.

And the reason

that's important is because

what they're trying to do is scale their ability to abduct people.

And so them not having access to our

workforce is a good thing because they want to be able to scale up their,

you know, the number of people that can go do the kidnappings.

And then second, that any city property should be considered a safe space.

The library will not allow ICE agents to come in unless they have a judicial warrant, which almost they never have.

Our buildings,

our sanctuaries, are safe spaces.

And so people can look to the city and be like, you know, I can be safe uh there there in the city and so those are the two you know most important things that that that we can do and people can have trust in the city and also you know we use our dollars to fund legal defense or other things you know food banks things that immigrants uh you know care about and we're very proud to do that um but that's what it means to me it's just like we are not going to be tools of this uh you know of this right-wing government I mean, like, well, how would you, how would you rate like the mayor, the LAPD, and the city government of LA?

Like, have they been living up to that standard?

You know, for the most part, for the most part, you know, I was not happy that I saw LAPD giving, you know, safe passage to ICE.

You know, they should be protecting the people of Los Angeles, not these goons coming in from the federal government.

And, you know, the protests have been.

It's just not a good response.

It's been a horrible response.

You know, shooting people with rubber bullets and

using tear gas and horses and batons, like then all of a sudden

the message comes out about that, right?

And we stop focusing on who we need to focus on.

We need to focus on the families being ripped apart.

We need to focus on the,

you know, the federal government trying to do a takeover of our city, you know, and their,

you know, sort of their white nationalist policy.

So, you know, I think there's a lot what

we can improve.

I have not been happy with a couple of things, but overall, you know, I've been inspired by the resiliency of our community.

Well, yeah, I mean, you mentioned the protests, which got a lot of media attention last week because, you know, like the

violence of cars getting set on fire.

Obviously, that inflames the media.

They love a story like that.

But like, you know, we also saw videos of the LAPD shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at peaceful protesters.

We saw, you know, journalists getting hit with quote unquote less than lethal rounds.

Like, how do you feel when you see that?

And is there anything being done to actually change the way the LAPD or your local police departments respond to

protests or civil unrest?

You know, I'm completely outraged by that, you know, and I've said this publicly.

The goal we should have right now is focusing on the families, keeping them together, fighting back against Trump and his policies.

And anybody and anybody who gets in between that should be held accountable.

And so when you have these scenes being played out on the air that show the brutality, you know, especially Saturdays was the worst example.

You know, we had like a very peaceful protest and then it just all of a sudden, you know, you start seeing tear gas and rubber bullets being fired.

Like those tactics are unacceptable in the city.

But moreover, that becomes a story.

The story becomes about what their actions are doing.

And all of a sudden, we're not talking about the families who in this moment are like the

you know, the victims of everything that's going on.

And we're not talking about how the federal government's trying to

take over our city.

And so everyone needs to be disciplined in this moment.

We have some big, big fish to fry, and we got to focus our energy

on those objectives.

Like, you know, you see stories in the national media of

entire neighborhoods that essentially have gone into hiding.

You see stories of citizens who are now carrying their passports with them on a day-to-day basis for fear of being stopped by, like I said, masked federal law enforcement agents and being asked to present their papers.

I mean, this is very grim stuff, but Ugo, could you just like try to like render for our listeners here, or maybe people who aren't in Los Angeles or who don't see

what's going on here, like a sense of like the fear in any community in Los Angeles right now, but particularly like immigrant and the Latino community right now.

Like,

what is the effect of this on people, even citizens of this country?

I mean, it's like if you go to some parts of our city, I mean, they look like ghost towns.

You know, the fashion district, which is a,

you know, it's like, it looks like something out of a movie, you know, there's like big bazaar.

It's completely empty.

And,

you know, and, you know, as I mentioned, like everyone knows someone who,

you know, who is an immigrant, who's undocumented.

And so, you know, their lives are being affected because the person they love's life is being affected.

And

you're right.

I like literally was talking to some of my friends and they're like, you know, I'm carrying my passport.

And I'm just like, like, even they're afraid just because we know what they're doing is,

you know, we think what they're doing is like they're racially profiling people.

And so even those folks are like afraid to like walk the street.

And now we're having to, you know, bring documentation that shows that they belong in this country.

It's, it's just, yeah, there's, there's, there's a lot.

There's a lot of things going on in the city.

There's a lot of fear going on.

Obviously, like, you know, all of these federal agents, be they DHS or ICE or Border Patrol, they've, like I said, they're essentially occupying Los Angeles right now.

But like, they have to stay somewhere.

Are they staying in Los Angeles County proper?

Like, are they out in the suburbs and hotels?

And is there anything that the city government of Los Angeles can do to, I don't know, be a little less hospitable to, you know, to the continued presence of

these people unless they want to, I don't know, show a badge or a warrant or something.

Yeah, you know, so they're staying at hotels,

you know, and people are protesting them.

There's an Instagram page, I forget the handle, but I think it's like no sleep for ice or something like that.

And so people are going out there protesting in the middle of the night.

I think it's a great direct action tactic.

We've heard of some of them just having to move because they're dealing with the disturbances

by the public.

And so I think those tactics are great.

I think

what we need right now is just like normal people doing something, you know, to get involved.

And this is like a great thing that we're doing.

You know, a lot of the focus has been on Los Angeles, LA County proper.

But obviously, like this, what we're talking about here has expanded very much into the suburbs of Los Angeles and sort of satellite cities like Santa Ana or places like, you know,

there was a raid at the Santa Fe swap meet.

Like, you know, these are these other communities, like satellite cities that are also, you know,

hubs of like Latino cultural life and activity.

But like the issue here is that people in the, like what we think of as the city of LA are constantly moving between municipalities, either by walking, driving, commuting to work, that crosses these municipal lines.

So what level of coordination has there been between LA County proper and these surrounding municipalities?

And how can these cities possibly, I don't know, maybe coordinate like a more unified

resistance to these actions that are going on?

Yeah, no,

that's a great description of the city of LA, right?

It's just really a, you know, LA County has 88 cities.

I mean, West Hollywood has its own mayor.

I was dumbfounded to learn that as someone who just merely visits Los Angeles.

I know, right?

Little West Hollywood does have a mayor indeed.

You know, I think there's been some coordination.

Now, luckily, the nonprofits, you know, they don't serve, you know, the city of Los Angeles.

They serve.

you know, anyone that comes through their doors.

Multiple cities have their different hotlines.

You know, we have our rapid response hotline.

Orange County has their own.

Different cities have their own hotlines.

They have their own level of volunteers.

Much of that coordination is centralized.

The training is very similar.

You know, just last week, we had over 90 elected officials come together with a unified message and a unified strategy.

So, you know, we're trying to, you know, that's the challenge of the LA region is just so sprawled out.

And so we're definitely doing as much coordination as we can, but sometimes it can be a bit challenging because it's just so spread out.

Another issue here, like in light of the protests last week, is that the National Guard has been deployed to Los Angeles.

Even the Marines, I saw the Marines made one arrest of someone as they were guarding a

federal office building in downtown Los Angeles.

I mean,

this would seem to be like quite an escalation.

What is the status of either the National Guard or the U.S.

military in Los Angeles right now?

And once again, has the city government asked for this?

And would you like them to leave?

Yeah, that's a great question.

You know, and

this example of the National Guard being federalized, right?

So they've been taken over by the federal government and the Marines

being

brought in against their own civilians.

There has only been

a few times in American history where this has actually happened that the federal government has brought in military against its own people.

And the last time it happened is when we were trying to desegregate the schools in the South.

You know, I think in 1963, it happened in Alabama.

And the last time before that was, you know, World War II.

And so this is really...

There's a civil war before that.

Yeah, I know, exactly.

So it's like this, we have the federal government taking over the National Guard and bringing in Marines against its own civilians this is like a constitutional crisis to the highest degree this is the things that we've heard in military dictatorships uh this is not what happens in the united states of america and what makes it even more you know terrifying is that this whether the president has this power is being decided in the federal court.

And two of the three judges that are going to make the decision on this are Trump appointees.

So we're not expecting the federal court to be with,

you know, you know, be in the in the right decision here, in my opinion, the right decision.

And so this expansion of executive power, because we're really talking about, is like, does the president have the ability to do this?

And, you know, I don't know what's going to happen, but this is why we need like a mass movement of working class people to stop this.

You know, just like we stopped, people stopped apartheid in South Africa, just the way

Gandhi and India toppled the British Empire.

We're talking about that kind of level of urgency right now.

If you could speak to any California National Guardsman or woman who is stationed in Los Angeles right now, or even Marines, probably from San Diego.

If you could say something to them, what would be your message to soldiers and National Guardsmen who are in Los Angeles right now.

I mean, I think I would, you know, say to them, you know, we all

believe, if we believe in the Constitution, we said we would defend against any enemies, foreign or domestic.

And what we have right now is an enemy within the United States of America that is the president of the United States.

You know, he's saying that, you know, he's trying to stop an insurrection in the city of L.A.

and trying to get the feds, you know, the ICE agents to do their job.

The real insurrection happened on January 6th.

That was the real insurrection.

And this president pardoned every single person that

was part of that of that part of that action.

And so if they were in front of me, I would tell them that and that they have an obligation to uphold the Constitution no matter who is giving the orders.

I talked earlier about

the language which immigration is being used, like the language being used to describe immigration, and it's being described as an invasion.

And like if you believe polls, you know, people are unhappy, people in America are unhappy with the state of undocumented or illegal immigrants in this country.

But then you see,

then we see, but then like when the same voters actually see what is going on in Los Angeles, or when it affects someone they know, it immediately becomes very unpopular.

So like, what would you say to like

an American, an American citizen who views undocumented immigrants in LA, LA, in Southern California, or anywhere in this country as like an enemy or a threat to them.

Like,

is there some way that that person can be reached or what are they not seeing?

What do they need to know?

You know, I think they need to understand like who truly is

manipulating

the way they're like, look, I think when people are angry and frustrated, it's easy to find someone to scapegoat, right?

And what are people upset about?

They're upset about their economic conditions.

They're upset that they have to work two, three jobs or the cost of housing or lack of good jobs.

And those frustrations are absolutely valid.

Like that's the that's the thing that fuels me every single day to fight for working people.

But

that problem has not been the result of someone coming from Venezuela, you know, because they're trying to find a better life or like my parents who immigrated here

to try to improve their lives.

It is the capitalist billionaire class that has used this system to benefit and enrich themselves to a degree that is basically sickening.

And it's not the person serving your food.

It's not the person taking your temperature at the hospital.

It are the capitalist billionaires who are doing this.

And I know it's like I'm simplifying it right now, but

I think it's going to require an analysis where we really put the blame on the people who deserve it.

And it's not the folks street vending in Hollywood.

It's those rich people.

And obviously,

the economy of California and the economy of the United States

runs to a large degree on the economic exploitation of everyone, but particularly of undocumented immigrants.

And I think it's telling that these raids of mass law enforcement officers are just taking the people who are doing these jobs and not the people who are hiring them.

If this were a real concern,

wouldn't the way to stem the demand for undocumented labor would be to make a big show out of arresting all of the people who hire them?

I mean, look, the biggest crime, one of the biggest crimes in Los Angeles County is wage theft, right?

We're the wage theft capital of the United States.

And

who's getting jacked, you know, every two weeks or every week in their paycheck?

It's the very people that are being, that are being attacked right now, right?

It's like, those are the, the every single company benefits from

immigrant labor.

I mean, I just had

a friend tell me that, you know, he was trying to get some work done at his house and the contractor was like, I can't do it because I don't have any workers.

You know, we got the Palisades fire and Altadena fires that need to be rebuilt.

Well, guess who's going to build that?

The very people that are being attacked right now.

So it's just...

It's a complete hypocrisy from the companies.

On one end, they're benefiting from that.

but even when they're not betting from, they're not, you know, when their own workforce is being attacked, like they're remaining silent.

It's just, it's, it's really, really cowardice on behalf of the business community.

Obviously, like, the ability to exploit undocumented people

to work at lower wages is obviously not something to be celebrated.

But like, what would

just a better, more humane system that like acknowledges not just the humanity of people from

Latino countries or just immigrants in general, general.

But what would a humane labor policy in this country look like so that

we don't have to say, well, oh, like we obviously need undocumented immigration in this country because they do all the shitty jobs that no one else wants to do or

will work for a lower wage?

Is there a way out of this like

pitting people's interests against one another?

And also like a sort of like, I don't know, like there's a certain liberal condescension in being so proud of like, oh, how much we love and need undocumented labor because we love exploiting them so much.

Oh, completely.

I mean, it's like the neoliberal sort of policies, right?

It's like, it's like that, that's, you know,

they pretend to be with working people, but at the same time, they're benefiting from the exploitation of their labor.

You know, I've always said, you know, joining a union is one of the most important things people can do.

because it really crystallizes the relationship between working people and the corporations.

It's like, if you're working at a workplace and you don't have a union, then that means you don't have power.

That means that your boss is the one dictating, you know, what your worth is, what your wages, what your benefits, what hours, what days off you have, whether you can take a sick day or a PTO or whether they can promote you.

They have control over your entire life and everything and that mobility that you have as a worker.

When you have a union, you can create a structure of power where you take all those tools because all those things, the days off, the hours, the promotion,

those are levers of power that they have on you.

And so taking away those levers from your boss and putting them in a union contract where you have that power, I think really crystallizes for working people that the true conflict, the true sort of battle that we need to have is between workers and the capitalist class.

And you create a level of solidarity among your worker, among your coworkers that cuts through race, age, nationality, or any of that.

It just really makes it about the workers versus the corporations.

And so I'm always going to be a builder, a believer in building the labor movement as much as you can because it does have that effect with working people.

Well, I remember

years ago when we first had you on, when you were running for city council, sort of part of your story and part of your pitch was that you were a union organizer who organized hotel workers before you ran for office.

And I remember part of that story was that

as a union member, you helped stop an ICE raid at your workplace.

I'm wondering if you could share that story and like, and

what do you think can be drawn from

that example of what you did as organizing a union to protect your workers from an ICE raid?

Yeah, thank you.

Thank you for reminding me of that.

Good memory, Will.

You know,

it gave us the ability to just fight back.

I mean, you know,

I don't know if it was DHS or ICE, but, you know, one of those federal goons showed showed up and people were terrified.

They were terrified about what was going on.

But because we had a union contract, the employer had to notify us.

We were there immediately.

We did the Know Your Rights training.

We prepared people how to act because we knew, by the way, we knew ICE was going to come back.

And so we prepared folks and we were in front of it.

We were prepared.

People were not operating from a position of fear and panic people were operating from a position of knowledge and strength and solidarity and and that that we need that more than ever but it's a great example of how uh you know a an organized unit of workers you know in a union it can have that ability that that would have never happened if those workers didn't have a union uh last question here that this is uh my l a friends have uh give me a little a little clue to what's going on here but they say that there is a petition going around right now in Los Angeles about the minimum wage.

Can you first explain what that petition is and how, strangely,

what this has to do with the anti-ICE protests going on right now?

Well, you know, I think we can never separate

that

a large work,

the biggest percentage of workers in the city of LA are immigrants.

And so to me, the labor movement and the immigrants' rights movement are one and the same.

They really go hand in hand.

And so, you know, one of the

key legislation that myself and Councilmember Price and others worked on was raising the minimum wage for tourism workers to $30 by 2028, which in my opinion was a great victory, took a lot of energy.

You know, the unions and the workers really took the lead in this and we were happy to partner with them.

And so we go through this two-year process of, you know, passing a law, which I won't bore the audience here, but we finally got it done.

And what did these greedy corporations do, right?

They knew that if they collected enough signatures in the following 30 days after it was signed into law, then they can take that decision that was made by 15 council members and the sign by the mayor that they could force that to a vote, a vote of the city of L.A.

And they're spending literally millions and millions of dollars so that they don't give people a raise.

Truly, truly despicable.

And who are those workers?

As I mentioned, immigrants, mostly immigrants.

And so

in the middle of all this stuff that we're dealing with ICE, we're also dealing with a handful of corporations, like United and Delta, and

I think the Hotel Lodge Association is in there, where they're really trying to hurt working people through other means.

And so we're fighting back on both of them right now.

So, you know, there's a lot going on.

Ugo, lastly, I mean, I guess it's sort of a reiteration of a question I asked earlier.

Like I said, if you've been like I have, you know, watching or protesting what you're seeing, whether you're in New York, L.A., anywhere in this country right now, I think people really feel frightened by what's going on right now, and they feel powerless in the wet.

What would your message be to people who see what's going on and are horrified by it, but feel like, what can I do?

Or they just feel like, you know, terrified by the prospect of, you know, facing off with, you know, masked goons with guns.

You know, if people feel fear, I think that's like a very natural emotion.

But, you know, I would say don't give them what they want.

That's what they want.

They want people to feel that they don't have power, that

whatever they do, it's not going to stop what the federal government is doing.

And I think that's just absolute baloney.

You know, like I mentioned earlier, apartheid was

toppled in South Africa.

And it was a movement that did it and we can point to tons of movements you know in in the Philippines you know they brought down a military dictatorship in Chile we did the same thing

you know I mentioned Gandhi and the nonviolent movement in in India that toppled the British Empire which was the the most powerful empire at the time people have shown that being militant

being peaceful, non-violent,

those are some of the most powerful tools that we can build, having class solidarity.

And so despite everything that's going on here, I do look back at those examples and I'm like, let's just follow many of the things they did.

And if we do it, we can beat this

fascist administration.

L.A.

City Councilman Hugo Soto Martinez, thanks so much for your time and for sharing a little bit of your perspective about what's going on in LA right now.

We'll be watching closely and

best of luck to you and all of your constituents in resisting this occupation of your city right now.

Thank you so much, Will.