The Latest on Los Angeles

NBC News Radio National Correspondent Rory O'Neill joins us with an update on the unrest in Los Angeles. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So I don't know how effective a curfew can be.
It didn't work for me as a teenager. This is
West Michigan's Morning News, Steve Kelly and Brett Pikita, Rory O'Neil,
Nbcniors Radio National correspondent on Los Angeles. Well, how to
go last night?

Speaker 2 (00:13):
It went pretty well? As you said. They did institute
a curfew in a one square mile area of downtown,
right around that federal detention facility, a couple of blocks
from city Hall. Remember this is one square mile of LA,
which is five hundred square miles, So it's these riots
or demonstrations are all happening in a relatively confined space.

(00:35):
But they had what they described as mass arrests overnight
as people refused or refused to comply with the curfew
that was ordered by the mayor.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
We had heard from the administration that some of these
appear to be professional and might not be your average
Los Angelyn, what's the term? And Angelino and Angelina? What
do you know about the makeup? Can if you can
even tell?

Speaker 2 (01:03):
Well? Right, Look, I've been in these protests all many,
many times as a reporter, and there is this element.
Typically it's young men you know, seventeen to twenty five
who are there just for the purposes of anarchy. They
want to smash stuff, They like to spray paint stuff,
set fire to things, and there's always that element. And

(01:25):
as do these protests drag on, more of them are
bubbling up to the surface. So yes, there are people
genuinely opposed to what the Trump administration is doing when
it comes to immigration, but then there's another element that's
there that just wants to break stuff, and those are
the ones being arrested. Nearly four hundred people were arrested

(01:47):
even before last night's mass arrests, so we're hoping to
get an update later this morning with numbers of people
taking into custody last night. But LAPD seems to have
the situation much more under control as we speak this morning.

Speaker 3 (02:01):
I was just going to ask that Rory and just
take it to the next level and the fact of
you know, you can see different video and people can
make their own opinions and whether the marine should be
there or whatever. My question was just basically, you know,
what do you feel was the situation or the escalation
of it? I mean, did the National Guard need to
be there? I mean, did the LAPD need help. It

(02:23):
certainly look that way from the video I saw, But
I'm just curious because that really is the bottom line, right,
for the safety of everyone else?

Speaker 2 (02:30):
Well, right, and now we're in chicken versus egg territory?
Which came first?

Speaker 3 (02:34):
Right?

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Was it the riot that came first? Or was it
the deployment of the National Guard against the wishes of
the governor that really fired things up and intensified the situation.
Probably never really going to get a good answer to that.
And plus just having the stuff on TV more brings
out more again of that destructive element that I was
talking about man people who are opposed to these policies.

(02:56):
But we're also seeing the ice raids continue. We saw
more of them across California, some pretty high profile ice
activity in Omaha, Nebraska last night, going into a food
processing plant, arresting like a hundred people at a chicken
processing plant. So expect more of this to be happening.
And with the big military parade on Friday, the no

(03:18):
Kings rallies that are happening nationwide, I'd expect these kinds
of demonstrations to just keep mounting all week long.

Speaker 1 (03:24):
And is NBC News Radio National correspondent Rory O'Neill, Thank you,
Thanks Steve,