May ushered in yet another period of disruption in Los Angeles with federal raids on the immigrant population. President Trump campaigned on deporting illegal immigrants with criminal records but, as reported in the Wall Street Journal, Stephen Miller told ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) that they do not need to develop target lists of violent criminals and should “just go out there and arrest illegal aliens”. Miller then stated that ICE officials should target Home Depot stores or 7-Elevens and just sweep up who they could.
Home Depot stores are hiring hub locations where day labourers gather at the beginning of the day seeking on-demand and temporary work usually in construction or landscaping. ICE have been targetting these stores and arresting day labourers in groups with no way of knowing who they are loading into their cars. ACLU have said that the immigration raids violate the Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights of thousands of people and law suits have been filed against the Department of Homeland Security but the raids continue while we wait for the courts.
USC Dornsife states that nearly 70% of the illegal immigrants in Los Angeles have been here over 10 years. Many immigrants have no clear route to obtaining legal residency but they work and pay their taxes. However, anyone can be caught up in these raids including legal residents with paperwork and even citizens. It breaks my heart to know that people are hiding in their houses afraid to go out because of the colour of their skin so, I am currently training to work at these hiring hubs. With a team, we keep a lookout for ICE patrols and then document any raids to help make sure that any arrests are carried out legally and immigrants are granted due process which is their right under the Constitution.
Work-wise, Los Angeles is still very slow. However, the tax credit boost in California from $330 million to $750 million was passed at the end of June so hopefully, this will entice projects back to LA to shoot. I’ve been getting by with voice over work and I did take a break for a couple of weeks in May to visit my friends and family in the UK.
Having recommended, Jane Austen Wrecked My Life, in my last blog, on a similar theme in this blog, I want to give a shout out to the film, Oh Hi!, another romantic comedy. It’s a hilarious, deep dive into contemporary dating and what can happen when two people realise they are not exactly on the same page.
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