Following days of protests in Los Angeles over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) workplace raids, dozens of Californians in the swing region of northern Los Angeles County are saying they wanted President Donald Trump to enforce immigration law, but that now it has gone too far.
The Washington Post recently spoke with four dozen people in the Antelope Valley, a closely divided region in the state about an hour north of Los Angeles, about their views on the administration's handling of immigration. Some of them said they felt deceived over ICE seemingly targeting all migrants, not just criminals, as Trump promised on the campaign trail.
"It's going overboard. It's too much," said Jesus Martinez, a 36-year-old aerospace worker, who initially supported the president's decision to send the military to shut down immigration protests in his home state. A former Democrat, Martinez said he supported Trump in 2020 and sat out the 2024 election.
"They said only criminals, and now they're saying, 'well, they did come in illegally so they are criminals,'" he added. "Hispanics or Latinos that voted for Trump, they didn't think he was going to go after kids."
Others further explained that while they supported increased deportations for migrants with criminal records, they opposed the scope of mass deportation and ICE raids, and to a lesser extent, sending troops to crack down on protesters.
"When you already have aggressive people and then you're sending in people like that, I feel like it just makes it kind of worse," said Christian Strand, a 19-year-old EMT from Palmdale, a majority-Latino city, referring to the deployment of National Guards troops and Marines. "It's creating more of a pushback, because the aggression is rising."
"It's a little unclear what's happening. If you're targeting gangs, or drugs, things like that— yeah— but if you're targeting single homes and families, it's a tough call," said Joseph Kennedy, a 62-year-old retired engineer from Santa Clarita who supported Trump in November.
Other voters say they are worried about Trump fulfilling his promise to target those with criminal records, but stand by the idea of deporting all undocumented migrants.
Thomas Allen, a 68-year-old Republican said the president went "too far," and that he had a hard time with Trump's decision to send California National Guard troops and Marines into Los Angeles. He also believes that recent ICE raids have "been a little rough."
"But illegal is illegal. You've got to go, you've got to go," said Allen, who came to the United States from Panama in 1980. "I sympathize with the people. I'm an immigrant myself, but you've got to follow the law."
The Los Angeles protests have slowed down since last weekend, when millions of Americans took to the streets across the country in a series called "No Kings" protests. However, tensions between Gov. Gavin Newsom and President Trump over immigration remain high.
On Sunday, Trump wrote on his Truth Social site that ICE "must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America's largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside."
Newsom's office later responded to the threat, telling Newsweek "it looks like Stephen Miller got ahold of Trump's phone again."
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