While Democrats and the Leftmedia seek to frame the anti-ICE protests and riots currently roiling Los Angeles as organic grassroots expressions of objections to the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce immigration law, the truth is that they are anything but spontaneous, organic, and uncoordinated.
As calls and plans have spread for mobilizing anti-ICE protests this coming weekend in cities across the country, Republican Senator Josh Hawley wants to know who’s financing this anti-American mayhem on the streets of Los Angeles.
Hawley has an idea of who the culprit is, and he recently sent a letter to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA) in which he accuses the leftist group of providing “logistical support and financial resources” to the rioters. He writes, “Credible reporting now suggests that your organization has provided logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged in these disruptive actions.”
The Missouri senator pointedly warns, “Let me be clear: bankrolling civil unrest is not protected speech. It is aiding and abetting criminal conduct.” Hawley was notifying CHIRLA that as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, he was launching an investigation into the group.
It’s a matter of record that CHIRLA helped organize the Los Angeles ICE protest a week ago — a protest that has descended into days of rioting. CHIRLA predictably has played innocent. “We have not participated, coordinated, or been part of the protests being registered in Los Angeles other than the press conference and rally,” a representative of the group stated.
Importantly, over the last several years, CHIRLA has been the recipient of tens of millions of taxpayer dollars via government contracts. In 2023, the organization received $34 million, primarily from the state of California.
However, CHIRLA isn’t the only organization to come under scrutiny; the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) are also under scrutiny.
David Huerta, president of the California chapter of the SEIU, was arrested for his efforts to obstruct federal agents from accessing a worksite. “He was arrested for interfering with federal officers and will face arraignment in federal court on Monday,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli explained.
Unsurprisingly, the SEIU blasted Huerta’s arrest, claiming he was simply engaged in “exercising his First Amendment right to observe and document law enforcement activity.” CHIRLA used Huerta’s arrest to gin up protestor support, calling for them to “stand in solidarity with SEIU California leader David Huerta, unjustly beaten and detained for defending immigrant rights.”
PSL, which has been active in organizing and coordinating protests on college campuses, specifically protests against Israel, has links to the Chinese Communist Party. The PSL is part of the larger “Singham Network,” which has “close financial, interpersonal, and ideological ties to Neville Roy Singham and his wife Jodie Evans, a power couple within the global far-left movement with close ties to the CCP,” according to The Heritage Foundation’s Mike Gonzalez.
Yesterday, an individual who was witnessed dropping off a bunch of “bionic shield” face masks to rioters in Los Angeles earlier in the week was arrested. “We have made it a huge priority to try to identify, locate and arrest those who are involved in organizing, supporting, funding or facilitating these riots,” Essayli explained. “It appears they’re well-orchestrated, and coordinated and well-funded, so we want to understand who these people are and where this organization’s coming from and today was one of those first arrests, the key arrests that we did.”
While it’s good that some of these lower-level foot soldiers are being apprehended, the bigger issue is the fact there are groups with the money to fund this mayhem. It’s good that Hawley is digging into these known groups. Hopefully, those funding this violence will be held to account.
Violence is not free speech, and the conflation of rioting with protesting will only get worse unless it is checked. Thankfully, the Trump administration appears committed to doing just that.
