Staff Reports
ICE Los Angeles Field Office Director Thomas Giles went on the record in a Fox ride‑along this week and said something simple but alarming: ICE agents in Los Angeles are being followed home, harassed on social media and forced to carry out risky arrests on the street because local sanctuary rules stop routine transfers from jails. That exclusive account shows how sanctuary city policies and LAPD practice have real, on‑the‑ground consequences for federal officers and public safety.
The Fox exclusive: ICE Director speaks out
Giles, who runs Enforcement and Removal Operations in Los Angeles, described a recent enforcement operation Fox accompanied. He said ICE arrested multiple people during the operation and then faced a quick‑growing crowd of protestors, forcing his team to relocate for safety. Giles blamed Los Angeles’ sanctuary rules — and the LAPD’s practice under Special Order 40 — for moving enforcement out of secure jail settings and into neighborhoods where officers and the public are exposed to danger. LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, meanwhile, has publicly restated that his department will not participate in civil immigration enforcement.
Sanctuary rules force risky street operations
Before the sanctuary ordinance and the city’s policy choices, Giles says ICE often received custody transfers inside jails — a controlled, safer environment. Now, with Ord. No. 188441 and the city’s legal posture in place, federal officers have to run more street arrests. That raises obvious operational problems: less backup, more bystanders, and a higher chance that crowds or agitators will interfere. The federal government even sued over the ordinance, and a judge recently dismissed that challenge — a ruling that only hardens the local position and complicates federal planning.
Harassment, protesters and an arrest that says it all
Giles detailed claims that officers have been followed home and harassed. He pointed to a case where local police arrested a man for assault with a deadly weapon but released him after declining an ICE detainer; ICE later detained the same man during the Fox‑accompanied operation. Protesters formed a crowd at the second encounter. Call it civic passion or political theater — either way, it puts federal officers and ordinary neighbors at risk. If masked agitators are going to play street judge, then don’t be surprised when the system has to improvise to keep dangerous people off the streets.
Public safety vs. political theater
Who pays the price?
This is about more than headlines or virtue signaling. It’s about whether a city’s policy choices protect its residents or create avoidable danger. Mayor Karen Bass and City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto defended the sanctuary ordinance as local control. That’s a legitimate debate — but when the result is ICE officers working without local backup, being stalked, and doing transfers in public, taxpayers and families pay the price. If Los Angeles wants fewer federal enforcement actions in jails, it should own the consequences and fund the alternatives that keep neighborhoods safe.
Giles’ on‑the‑record account should prompt one simple question for city leaders: do you want sanctuary slogans or public safety? You can’t have both without a clear plan. Protect the rule of law, secure transfer protocols, and the men and women who enforce it — or be honest about the risks your policies create. Either way, taxpayers deserve the truth, not theater.
