SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
We are joined now by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who earlier today called the deployment of the National Guard a chaotic escalation. Mayor, thanks for coming on the program.
KAREN BASS: Thanks for having me on.
DETROW: I want to start with your response to Secretary Noem's characterization of the LAPD here.
BASS: Well, the LAPD was ready and able to provide the support when it was asked for. You can't expect for them to have hundreds of officers ready when they did not know when the raid was going to take place. And so I believe that these raids and now the federalization of troops to come into Los Angeles is an intentional effort to sow chaos. The fear in our city is real, rippling through every community and every family. You have people now who are going to be afraid to go to work on Monday, kids who are going to be afraid to go to school. I've been in touch with immigrant rights leaders and so we have a...
DETROW: What are you telling them?
BASS: Well, I'm actually trying to assist them because they're trying to reach out to the people who have been detained. And I'm asking the - you know, the government - federal government to allow these visits to take place. That is what has happened for years and years and years when people were arrested for, you know, immigration reasons. And so families now - they might know their relative has been taken away. They don't know if their relative is still in the United States. They don't know where in the city, which is - now we know that a lot of people have been moved out of the city to another area. So that's what my conversations have been with the immigrant rights leaders - trying to collaborate, trying to find out what they need and trying to be responsible to those needs.
DETROW: Mayor, I want to ask about the presence of the National Guard in the city. You have raised concerns about it, a chaotic escalation, as I said before. What are your specific concerns tonight, especially as we are beginning to see interactions between protesters and law enforcement already?
BASS: Well, there you go. That's my specific concern - is that this city right now is a tinderbox. And I do not want to see civil unrest take place in the city. And I think bringing the National Guard in is provocative. The - what was happening in terms of the protest and all was well under control by the police department. And, you know, Los Angeles County has multiple cities in it. And so what you saw take place yesterday was not inside Los Angeles City. But our law enforcement officers are well-equipped here to handle the level of protest that you saw. And that's why Governor Newsom did not make the request for federal support, and neither did I, in terms of we thought more support was needed that our local law enforcement couldn't handle.
DETROW: Still...
BASS: If you have - oh, go ahead.
DETROW: Still, federalized troops are in the city now. Is the city coordinating them? Is the city working with them?
BASS: Well, the city is not coordinating them, no. But the city is...
DETROW: Coordinating with them, rather - are you in communication with these units...
BASS: Yes.
DETROW: ...There now?
BASS: Yes, yes, yes.
DETROW: And how's that going? Is that collaborative? Is it tense?
BASS: Well, no. It is collaborative at this point. It's not tense. There are some things that we're trying to work with them on specifically. For example, the federal building was vandalized with graffiti all around. We want to remove that graffiti, but we need federal permission in order to do that. So I spoke to the U.S. attorney, Bill Essayli, and I made that request that we wanted access so we could clear off the graffiti. The graffiti makes, you know, the area look terrible, and we want that taken care of.
But, you know, this is the first time that the National Guard has been federalized since 1992. I was here then, very much involved in the community at that time. But at that time, there was real civil unrest all around the city. This is not the situation that we are facing now. You had protests. You had some violence and vandalism that happened, but it was - you know, the disruption last night was about 120 people...
DETROW: Well, there...
BASS: ...Why does that warrant...
DETROW: Yeah.
BASS: ...The National Guard?
DETROW: You say that, and you're right. This is a much different scale at this point, but you and others have said that you're concerned this could escalate. There are many people arguing that that's...
BASS: Yeah.
DETROW: ...Exactly what the president wants. You have people coming out wanting to confront these troops who they don't want in their city. So I'm asking you, do you think there is a way - is there an off-ramp at this point? Do you see a way to avoid a crisis at this point, given the various motivations?
BASS: Yes.
DETROW: What is it?
BASS: Oh, yeah. No, absolutely. There's no reason for this to continue to escalate at all. And, you know, now having said that, we also want to make sure that the protests stay peaceful, that we don't give the National Guard or the Trump administration the excuse. But when mayhem breaks out, you know, it's going to be addressed. And so I'm just hoping that people peacefully demonstrate. They exercise their First Amendment right, but they do not cross the line into violence.
DETROW: That's Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. Thank you so much for joining us.
BASS: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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