Federal immigration agents have reportedly detained more than 100 people in ongoing sweeps in the Los Angeles area, targeting people in the country illegally.
The immigration enforcement operations, which began Sunday, are pursuing roughly 400 people across seven Southern California counties, according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson Danielle Bennett tells NPR in an email that the agency is going after “individuals who pose a threat to national security, public safety and border security.”
Bennett blamed “uncooperative jurisdictions,” like Los Angeles, for making the agency use “additional resources to conduct at-large arrests in the community, putting officers, the general public and the aliens at risk and increasing the incidents of collateral arrests.”
The Los Angeles Police Department has limited cooperation with federal agents in enforcing immigration laws and conducting raids.
Police chief Charlie Beck wrote in December that the LAPD “is neither authorized nor responsible for the enforcement of civil immigration laws or regulations.” Local police and city officials say undocumented immigrants may not help with unrelated police investigations if they fear being targeted for deportation by coming forward.