The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) has released the findings of an investigation into the violent anti-ICE riots that took place in Los Angeles in June. FAIR found evidence that the riots were orchestrated by outside agitators, and it was likely that both the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff's office had prior knowledge of this orchestration but failed to act on it.
The violence resulted in assaults against federal law enforcement officers and the widespread destruction of property, leading to the Trump administration dispatching the National Guard and active-duty Marines to the city.
Ira Mehlman is media director for FAIR.
"I think it's pretty obvious to anybody, who's been watching what's been going on in this country over the past five years, that these protests that turned violent are not happening organically. These are the sorts of things that are being orchestrated by outside parties," says Mehlman.
Evidence of an organized riot includes instigators using megaphones and hand signals to direct the crowd and handing out face shields to rioters to continue assault against law enforcement.
Mehlman says some of these outside parties are domestic, such as the Coalition for Humane Immigrants and Rights of Los Angeles and the Hispanic Federation. However, some of them come from countries hostile to the United States, most notably China.
"You've got Neville Roy Singham and his wife Jody Evans who are American expats who live in China. Jody Evans was actually Jerry Brown's campaign manager back when he ran for president in 1992. They have been laundering Chinese Communist Party money and funding organizations, like Code Pink, here in the United States that go around disrupting all sorts of things,” explains Mehlman.
Mehlman concludes that the objective is to sow division within the United States.
