Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass canceled an appearance at an event to mark the six-month anniversary of the Palisades Fire to show up at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid in an attempt to stop it.
Bass had been scheduled to appear with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA), and other officials to mark the anniversary of the Palisades and Eaton Fires. But she decided to protest ICE instead.
The mayor’s absence was not explained at the event; she was, an official said, attending an “emergent event.”
That turned out to be an immigration raid.
Under Bass, Los Angeles has spent more on homeless people than on firefighting. Lately, she has become obsessed with championing the cause of anti-ICE protests, even though they have attacked law enforcement — including the Los Angeles Police Department.
Bass has blamed President Donald Trump for riots in the city, and has essentially defending the riots by saying they will stop when the anti-ICE raids also stop.
Bass was out of the country during the Palisades Fire, breaking a promise not to leave the country during her administration and to focus instead on local priorities.
The Department of Justice recently sued Los Angeles over its “sanctuary city” policy, saying it discriminates against federal law enforcement. As she runs for re-election, Bass appears to have made a political calculation that her future depends more on satisfying the far left rather than attending to the needs of local residents.
Even Newsom acknowledged the need for local permitting for rebuilding, which has stalled, to be accelerated.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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