The Mexican flags replaced the Black Lives Matter black standard. Slogans are no longer the same. At the “No Justice, No Peace” panels, succeeded the “No Kings” signs. There is no king in America but Donald Trump finally learned to use his sovereign powers: almost an art in a federal country. Five years after the riots of the BLM movement (30 dead, $ 2 billion in damage), the Republican is no longer content to tweet, he governs. He no longer threatens, he strikes.
When in Los Angeles, on June 6, an ICE operation, the immigration police, triggered the fury of a left -wing left between anti -capitalist slogans and zapatist flags, his response was not long in coming. In a few hours, Donald Trump federalized the California National Guard, sent 2,000 men, then deployed 200 navies (out of the 700 planned) in this city eleven times greater than Paris.
Armored vehicles cross Westlake, this district northwest of the historic center of Los Angeles from which the riots left. It was here that ICE agents, at the express request of the Tom Homan immigration tsar, had invested the parking lot of a home depot, a sort of equivalent of Castorama. The operation was targeting day laborers hired by channel customers, these owners and small entrepreneurs who use undocumented workers for repair and construction work. Other raids have targeted restaurants, shopping centers and clandestine textile making workshops.
Stephen Miller, chief of staff of the White House, main craftsman of the migration policy of Donald Trump and originally from the Californian megalopolis, made the objective of a million expulsions per year a real political obsession. On May 21, he summoned to Washington, along with internal security secretary Kristi Noem, managers of ICE regional offices to pass them a soap.
It’s just a warm -up
Because if the pace of arrests has increased well compared to the Biden era, it remains below expectations. Miller demanded 3,000 arrests per day (almost four times the current level) and sanctioned several senior ICE executives by downgrading them for insufficient results. Since this shouting, the number of daily arrests has increased to 2,000.
However, it is only a warm -up. The finance bill brought by the Republicans, which Donald Trump hopes to promulgate by July 4, independence, plans more than $ 150 billion for the fight against illegal immigration. A large part of this envelope will be devoted to the strengthening of ICE workforce, the construction of retention centers as well as the financing of expulsion flights.
But it was the tension scenes in the heart of Los Angeles that have made an impression. Especially those showing these dozens of demonstrators in hooded sweatshirts causing the barricades in a hurry by means of burnt down junk to block the main arteries of the city. Or of these Waymo autonomous taxis, reduced to ashes … The looting scenes recalled the bad hours of BLM, with its Apple Stores, its pharmacies and its cannabis dispensaries. Elsewhere in the country, the bustle has gained ground. In San Francisco, Chicago or San Antonio, Texas, solidarity demonstrations took place. Everywhere, local authorities have strengthened security around public buildings, deployed in civilian clothes in transport and installed concrete blocks around the local seats of Ice.
“They spit, we knock”, warned Trump in a martial tone
Since the 2020 riots following the death of George Floyd, the United States has transformed its doctrine of order. From now on, the response is faster and better organized. “We are going to deploy troops everywhere”warned Trump from the first overflows. Adding, martial: “They spit, we knock. »»
Behind this responsiveness hides a long work of reflection. As early as 2021, police tanks, in particular the Police Executive Research Forum, produced reports on the management of the 2020 demonstrations, highlighting command gaps and unsuitable emergency plans. In response, the big cities updated their textbooks. From the first hours of tension, the change is obvious. Closure of the districts, anticipated fire cover, encirclement devices, coordinated interventions between local and federal fonts are almost systematic. This reorganization was accompanied by a technological jump. The use of mobile cameras, drones, facial recognition and artificial intelligence facilitate the neutralization of leaders before they train hundreds of people on the street.
The political climate plays a crucial role. Since his re -election, Trump has left the white forces carte blanche, claiming a posture of absolute firmness. The decrees signed since January have encouraged the rules of engagement. Authorized to militarize their response, mayors no longer fear a reminder of the federal order. The fonts know that they are expected. And supported.
Immigration remains one of the areas where Trump is perceived as competent. More than half of Americans support its policy. An IPSOS survey for Reuters, from June 12, shows that 48 % of Americans approve of the army to watch riots (against 41 % that disapprove of it). As if the fear of anarchy responded to migratory exasperation.
