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[00:01]
Progressive Insurance / Expedia Advertiser
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[00:29]
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[00:58]
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[01:28]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
This is one of the most important videos I've ever done here at the Midas Touch Network and it has deep connections to me and my family. I'll explain to you in a moment why we have Donald Trump busted on tape. We have the receipts, we have the film, we have the photos of Donald Trump sending his gestapo, his militarized ICE agents, many in plain clothes and wearing masks, disappearing people off the streets. I show you this conduct across the country. I want to focus on what's been happening again recently in Los Angeles. It's where I'm from and my wife's family. My wife is first generation here in the United States. Her family is Latino. They live in a vibrant Latino community here in Los Angeles and their neighborhood is targeted on a frequent basis by ice. I'm not going to mention the town for obvious reasons. So this has a deep connection to me and I really want you to look at it, watch it and share this with as many people as possible. And I want to bring in as well Heidi Feldstein Soto. She is the city attorney of Los Angeles and she is calling out these tactics that in her legal career she can never imagine could ever happen in the United States. So let's take a look at this. Let's see Donald Trump being busted on film. This is what's taking place. This recently happened in Los Angeles where plainclothes ICE agents snatched a man outside Los Angeles largest courthouse. This is what we see frequently. They're waiting in bushes, they're dressed like everyday people. Then they run, they grab you, they beat you and they throw you into vehicles. Here, watch what happens here. Play this clip.
[03:16]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Can you get me please?
[03:26]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
You guys have a warrant?
[03:28]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Can you get me please? Can you get me, please?
[04:01]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Now in this next video I'm going to show you a 15 year old high school student with disabilities was recently detained in Los Angeles after he was mistaken by ICE agents as a Salvadoran national with suspected ties to MS.13. Here, play this clip.
[04:18]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
We have brand new video shared by the San Fernando Valley sun of an incident earlier this week. The moment a 15 year old high school student with disabilities was briefly detained in Los Angeles after he was mistaken by ICE agents as a Salvadoran national with prior criminal convictions and suspected ties to the MS.13 gang. And here's what he and his mother told our local station in Los Angeles. He has these moments where he breaks.
[04:45]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Down and he tells me he feels harassed. He tells me he doesn't feel safe.
[04:49]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Handcuffed me and they were just telling me who the person is and I was like, no, I don't know who that person is.
[04:55]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Next up, Andrea Velez, a US Citizen detained by ICE in Los Angeles on her way to work. Play this clip.
[05:03]
News Reporter / Narrator
Andrea Velez has yet to physically return to work near 9th and Main street in downtown Los Angeles where the 32 year old works as a production coordinator for a shoe company.
[05:13]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
I take it day by day that.
[05:15]
News Reporter / Narrator
Day, June 24, Velez says her mom and sister had just dropped her off at work.
[05:20]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
It was like a scene, like they were just ready to like attack and chase.
[05:24]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez describes seeing unmarked cars and masked men in civilian clothing going after people.
[05:31]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
All I felt was that he grabbed and just slammed me to the floor.
[05:34]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez says she tried to tell the plainclothes agent who arrested her that she's a US Citizen.
[05:40]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
He said that I was interfering with what he was doing, so, so he was going to arrest me. And that's when I asked him to show me his badge number, his id, identification. I asked him for like if he Had a warrant, and he said I didn't need to know any of that.
[05:58]
News Reporter / Narrator
Bless says while officers were processing her into a detention center in downtown, she again tried to tell them she was a US Citizen and did nothing wrong.
[06:07]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
So they didn't believe me. And then I gave them my real id, and at one point, I gave them my driver's license and even my Kaiser health insurance card.
[06:19]
News Reporter / Narrator
Lilez says they still didn't believe her. She spent two days in the detention center where she says she had nothing to drink for 24 hours.
[06:27]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
And you have to buy utensils to eat. This lady, she was gonna get out that day, and she was very kind enough to give me her. Her cop and her like, her sport.
[06:38]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez was released from custody two days after her arrest. And a month ago, the Department of Justice dismissed her case without prejudice, which means her case is closed temporarily.
[06:49]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
And then back in June, the president of California's largest union, David Werta, was targeted and kidnapped by ICE during their illegal raids. Here, play this clip. One more I want to share with you as well. Latinos from East Los Angeles confronted by ICE agents after being profiled. And you're like, I'm American, you mother effer. I have my papers.
[07:44]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
What the hell are you freaking doing?
[07:46]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
And we're seeing these scenes play out across Los Angeles on a daily basis. Play this clip.
[07:56]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Literally based off of skin color. My homie was born here just because of the way he looks. Home right here. Took my phone, dog. He arrested me knowing I'm a American, and I proved it to this guy. That's crazy, yo. Hey, bro, that's not fair at all, bro. That this. This is not fair at all, bro. This is not fair at all, bro. We're all American over here, man. Can't be doing this to us, bro. This, bro. You're a wrong, bro. I'm American. You don't ever grab me like that, bro. I'm American. I'm American citizen, you dog. You. I'm an American citizen. You don't ever grab me that way. Yo, check it out, guys. Maple Olympic. Man, be careful. I just got attacked for no reason. I gotta come and fuck with these guys.
[08:52]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Watch.
[08:52]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
I already know it. I already know it, man. It's not fair. Guys, we shouldn't be like this, man. We shouldn't be like this, bro. But come and get us right now. I already know it. Fuck these guys, man. That's not fair, bro.
[09:04]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
So let me bring in Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto. But before doing that, I do want to play this one clip as well. This is of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying that if it wasn't for Donald Trump doing all of this, Los Angeles would be destroyed, it would be burned, it wouldn't exist. Here, play this clip.
[09:27]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
They're in essence protecting or backing up those federal agents as they conducted operations. Is that what we should expect to see in Chicago? You know, that always is a prerogative of President Trump and his decision. I won't speak to the specifics of the operations that are planned in other cities, but I do know that LA wouldn't be standing today if President Trump hadn't taken action. Then that city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state.
[09:53]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
And so now I want to bring in Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto. City Attorney Feldstein Soto, I have some questions for you. You've brought a action against the Trump regime. I want to talk about the lawsuit that you filed, but I just want to get your general observations being on the ground in the city, as the city attorney, you're the, you're the day to day kind of main lawyer there, you know, in the city, protecting the city, the sites that you must be see, I just want to get your perspective on what's going on in the streets right now. With Trump's ICE and Trump's federal forces.
[10:35]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
The activity around City hall has calmed down. So what I saw that really galled me and required me to act as city attorney for my city is my office is literally in the one square mile of downtown that was experiencing immigration protests. So I had a bird's eye view to what was going on here. And I will tell you that the level of aggression, the number of troops, think about it, our entire Los Angeles Police Department for the entire city is all of 8,600 officers right now. And this administration deployed 4,000 federalized national troops, plus 800 Marines to supposedly deal with a protest that occupied at most 1 to 2 square miles in downtown LA, right around my offices. At no point in time did I feel as though the protests were out of control or something our LAPD couldn't handle and in fact was handling very well. The federal government was response was disproportionate, unconstitutional, militaristic, and candidly, a little bit frightening, more than a little bit. It was very frightening to everyone because to deploy troops into our streets and into our communities, to suppress First Amendment speech, supposedly to enforce immigration laws or to quell the kind of protests that Los Angeles has seen over the years and always handled on our own, without a request from the local authorities or, or the state authorities, is what is utterly unconstitutional.
[12:16]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
When you saw the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the weekend, she says that if it wasn't for Donald Trump right now and sending these troops into Los Angeles, that Los Angeles would no longer exist and that the people of Los Angeles need to say thank you because it would have been completely exterminated and eradicated and LA wouldn't be a thing. As the City Attorney of Los Angeles, what's your response to that?
[12:46]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
That's preposterous. That is utter, abject nonsense. Los Angeles has long been a place of robust civil discourse, has long been a place of protesting and taking to the streets. Certainly in my time in Los Angeles, we survived the 1992 riots, which exceeded by magnitudes and exponential ratios what happened in our streets this June. We've done fine through the years. The most recent round of protests before the immigration raids included the George Floyd protests in 2020, which were far more widespread around our city. And at the end of the day, our Los Angeles Police Department, our Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, our California State Highway Patrol has risen to the occasion of constitutional policing of being able to contain the violence or the looting or at least seek retribution and arrest folks who engage in criminal behavior without the kind of violence and suppression on citizens exercising their free speech that came in with the federal troops.
[14:05]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
Now, Heidi, there's a temporary. I don't want people to forget this. It's an important point. A Federal Judge, Article 3 Federal Judge Judge, has issued a restraining order against the Trump regime from doing racial profiling for, you know, going to the Home Depots and rounding up people simply because of their skin color or going to, you know, down the street and seeing food vendors and then saying, oh, they have brown skin, they're food vendors. You add those up, they must be migrants. Arrest them right now, tase them or whatever. Like there's a restraining order saying they can't do that. Yet we keep seeing it happening over and over again. Can you talk to us about what's happening here and this violation of the restraining order?
[14:57]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Here is the motion and joinder for a preliminary injunction that we filed on behalf of 22 local jurisdictions. So let me break down the Perdomo case for you a little bit. I'm deeply grateful to the lawyers and to the ACLU and public counsel who started this lawsuit representing individual plaintiffs who had been arrested, detained, jeopardized whose rights had been violated by the federal administration in the conduct of these raids and roundups. What we have done as a city is we have organized and led a coalition of cities and counties who have said, not in my jurisdiction because we are separately and individually being harmed and because we have our own police powers to protect, we have our residents to protect, and we have our own interest in the subject matter of this lawsuit. So initially in July, the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, and I believe it was seven other cities, filed a complaint and intervention in the ACLU and the public council lawsuit. We thought that it was something where we could all stand together, where the government could stand up for its residents and where we could have one court where all of the violations of everybody's rights could be heard. We filed a second motion to amend our complaint and add additional cities. And at this point, there are 22 jurisdictions standing together, saying to the federal administration, and I want to be clear, we are not interfering with the legitimate and constitutional enforcement of federal law, including federal law, including federal immigration law. What we are saying is you can't run around with rifles and masks and militarized equipment in unmarked cars and in effect snatch people off our streets or, or round up residents in public or private areas and take them away in vans, lock them up, detain them, not give them access to counsel, and in effect, do performative theater to terrify the city and our residents. Businesses are empty and have shuttered. The city's law enforcement personnel has received countless 911 calls about what look like, for all intents and purposes, Ben, it looks like a kidnapping. That's what it looks like with individuals who will not identify themselves. Sometimes they have badges on their belt, sometimes they don't. But the manner in which this is done, and as we learned from Judge Breyer's opinion this morning, it was an organized series of troops that were designed to come here and scare people into self deporting, into doing the federal government's bidding in ways that we have never seen the federal government deploy troops domestically.
[18:14]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
So what do you do, though now when you've prevailed, when the other groups, aclu, Public Council, representing the immigrant, have prevailed in the sense of a federal judge saying, one, you've got this, this ruling from Breyer, you know, saying violation of posse combatants. You can't use military on the streets this way. But, but, but in the central district, the injunction from the federal judge, you can't be to your point. Look, you want to, you want to enforce immigration law, great. You can do It. But you can't have these masked agents kidnap people, throw them in vans, take them to places that no one knows where they're going to be, profile them. I mean, they're picking up migrants and citizens. I mean, and then they. They pick people at first, ask questions later. But then. But then the Trump regime ignores the order, like they violate that order every single day. So how do you combat that aspect? When does it become an issue of contempt? And where do we go from here?
[19:15]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Since we're in the throes of litigation, I will be a little bit cautious about what I say. But first of all, I commend Judge Frimpong for thoughtfulness, for her care, and for establishing a briefing schedule that will allow us to get to a preliminary injunction. I will not speak for the original plaintiffs. I can only speak for ourselves. The temporary restraining order came down just as the judge was leaving town. She was gone for a while, and so going back to her courtroom proved difficult. It went up to the ninth Circuit. It then went up on certiorari to the Supreme Court, and there it has sat in limbo for almost a month. So the Supreme Court has not acted. Of course, you know, temporary restraining orders are designed to be limited in time. So at least from the city's vantage point, what we determined to do was to consolidate our motion and intervention, make sure we were firmly plaintiffs and interveners in the lawsuit, submit our declarations in support of a preliminary injunction so as to put provide the judge with the factual record necessary for a preliminary injunction, and then proceed from there to hold the federal government accountable. The problem with a TRO is it is done ex parte. It was granted before our motion to intervene had been granted. And so, although the judge's order protects the seven counties in the Central District of California, we thought that it was better to wait for a more fully developed record where we clearly were in the case and we had submitted our own evidence as to what the harms were to each of our cities. It is interesting that in the 22 jurisdictions we have the county of LA, we have both charter cities and general law cities under the California Constitution, and under the California Constitution, as I suspect you know, the police power devolves to the local authorities as well. And we also have cities that at this point are across four separate counties. So I commend the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana for joining us. From Orange county, the city of Carpinteria, the city of Oxnard, the city of Pasadena, my other sister cities here in Los Angeles County. We are here to say that we stand together against what is the federal government turning external troops trained for warfare into a political tool against our residents. That is utterly unacceptable. So what do we do? We develop the record. We get a preliminary injunction. And I'm a lawyer. My best hope is the courts. And I will hope that our branch of government, our judiciary, will fulfill its historical function and provide a check against this overreach and this militaristic deployment of external troops on domestic soil.
[22:28]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
Heidi Feldstein, Soto City Attorney, City of Los Angeles Great to see you again everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers.
[22:36]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.
[22:48]
Progressive Insurance / Expedia Advertiser
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[22:59]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Oh come on.
[23:01]
Progressive Insurance / Expedia Advertiser
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[23:19]
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Summary6 min read

The MeidasTouch Podcast

Episode: Trump Caught on Film as LA Rises Up and Strikes Back Hard
Date: September 4, 2025

Overview

In this urgent episode, the Meiselas brothers focus on shocking footage and first-hand accounts of militarized ICE raids in Los Angeles, conducted under orders from Donald Trump's administration. The show highlights the personal and constitutional implications of these actions, speaking directly with LA City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto about ongoing legal battles and the city's efforts to protect its residents against federal overreach, racial profiling, and violations of civil liberties. The episode is both a condemnation of the Trump regime’s tactics and a rallying cry for democracy and constitutional rights.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Host’s Personal Connection & Opening Monologue

Host Ben Meiselas opens with a passionate explanation of why this episode is especially personal, connecting the issue to his wife’s Latino family and their experiences in LA.
- Quote [01:28]: "This is one of the most important videos I've ever done here at the Midas Touch Network and it has deep connections to me and my family... their neighborhood is targeted on a frequent basis by ICE."

2. Shocking Evidence: ICE Conduct in Los Angeles

Hosts present multiple recent video clips showing ICE agents in plainclothes snatching individuals from the streets and public places, often without warrants or clear identification.
Key themes:
- Disappearances of ordinary residents
- Use of unmarked cars
- Targeting of Latino communities

Key Clip 1: Courthouse Snatching

ICE agents grab a man outside LA’s largest courthouse.
- [03:26]: Heidi Feldstein Soto: “You guys have a warrant?”

Key Clip 2: Detainment of a Minor with Disabilities

15-year-old disabled student mistaken for gang member, briefly detained.
- [04:44]: Mother’s account: "He feels harassed. He tells me he doesn't feel safe."

Key Clip 3: Andrea Velez, U.S. Citizen, Detained

32-year-old production coordinator forcibly detained by ICE despite her American citizenship.
- [05:30]: Andrea Velez: “All I felt was that he grabbed and just slammed me to the floor.”
- [05:39]: “I asked him to show me his badge number, his id, identification... he said I didn't need to know any of that.”
- [06:07]: “They didn't believe me... I gave them my real id... my driver's license and even my Kaiser health insurance card."
- [06:18]: Had nothing to drink for 24 hours and had to buy utensils to eat while detained.

Key Clip 4: ICE Profiling in East LA

Witnesses recount being profiled and detained purely based on skin color.

3. Federal Rhetoric: Secretary Kristi Noem’s Justification

Clip of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem suggesting LA would have been "destroyed" without Trump's crackdown.
- [09:27]: Kristi Noem: “LA wouldn't be standing today if President Trump hadn’t taken action... that city would have burned down...”

4. Interview: City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto

Federal Overreach and Militarized Response

Feldstein Soto describes an overwhelming federal militarized presence, utterly disproportionate to any actual threat.
- [10:34]: “This administration deployed 4,000 federalized national troops, plus 800 Marines to supposedly deal with a protest that occupied at most 1 to 2 square miles... The federal government response was disproportionate, unconstitutional, militaristic, and candidly, a little bit frightening.”
Points out that LAPD, Sheriff's Department, and CHP have handled far more intense civil unrest without federal intervention.

Direct Rebuttal: Noem’s Comments

[12:45]: “That's preposterous. That is utter, abject nonsense... LA has long been a place of robust civil discourse... we've done fine through the years.”

Legal Efforts Against Trump Administration

Explains the coalition of 22 local jurisdictions joining federal lawsuits and the ongoing legal strategy:
- [14:56]: “We are not interfering with... federal law... What we are saying is you can't run around with rifles and masks and militarized equipment in unmarked cars and in effect snatch people off our streets... The manner in which this is done... was an organized series of troops that were designed to come here and scare people into self deporting, into doing the federal government's bidding in ways that we have never seen...”
Businesses are shuttered; calls pour in reporting what appear to bystanders as public kidnappings.

Restraining Orders and Rule of Law

The Trump regime continues violating a federal judge’s restraining order against racial profiling and unconstitutional ICE raids.
Feldstein Soto details legal steps to strengthen injunctions and hopes for the judiciary to check executive abuse.
- [19:15]: “We develop the record. We get a preliminary injunction. And I'm a lawyer. My best hope is the courts... to provide a check against this overreach and this militaristic deployment of external troops on domestic soil.”

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

Ben Meiselas [01:28]: "We have Donald Trump busted on tape. We have the receipts, we have the film, we have the photos of Donald Trump sending his gestapo, his militarized ICE agents... disappearing people off the streets."
Eyewitness 07:56: "Literally based off of skin color... I'm American, you don't ever grab me like that, bro."
Heidi Feldstein Soto [10:34]: "At no point in time did I feel as though the protests were out of control or something our LAPD couldn't handle... The federal government response was disproportionate, unconstitutional, militaristic, and candidly, a little bit frightening."
Heidi Feldstein Soto [12:45]: "That's preposterous. That is utter, abject nonsense... we've done fine through the years."
Heidi Feldstein Soto [14:56]: "You can't run around with rifles and masks and militarized equipment in unmarked cars and in effect snatch people off our streets... and take them away in vans... and in effect, do performative theater to terrify the city and our residents."
Interview Wrap [19:15]: "My best hope is the courts... will provide a check against this overreach and this militaristic deployment of external troops on domestic soil."

Important Timestamps

[01:28] – Host's personal connection, introduction of videos and context
[03:15] – Initial video of plainclothes ICE agents snatching man outside courthouse
[04:00-06:37] – Series of clips: 15-year-old disabled teen detained, Andrea Velez’s ordeal as a citizen detained
[07:43] – Eyewitnesses describe racial profiling and ICE detentions
[09:27] – Kristi Noem's comments rationalizing Trump's crackdown
[10:34-19:15] – Interview and legal discussion with LA City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto

Tone & Style

The episode maintains a direct, urgent, and unapologetically pro-democracy tone, blending legal expertise, passionate advocacy, and first-hand testimonies. The conversation is frank about both the gravity and unconstitutionality of federal tactics while emphasizing the importance of local resistance and judicial checks.

Takeaway

This episode offers a stark look at escalating federal actions against immigrants and people of color in Los Angeles, presenting firsthand testimony and legal analysis on both the cruelty and the constitutional perils of the Trump administration’s tactics. The legal fight led by LA and a coalition of cities is portrayed as an essential stand for civil rights and the rule of law.

Listeners are left with both a chilling portrait of present dangers and an urgent call to shared action and vigilance in defense of democracy and humanity.

Loading summary

Transcript47 lines

[00:01]
Progressive Insurance / Expedia Advertiser
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations.
[00:29]
Bluehost Advertiser
I'm no tech genius, but I knew if I wanted my business to crush it, I needed a website. Now thankfully, Bluehost made it easy. I customized, optimized and monetized everything exactly how I wanted with AI. In minutes my site was up. I couldn't believe it. The search engine tools even helped me get more site visitors. Whatever your passion project is, you can set it up with Bluehost with their 30 day money back guarantee. What do you got to lose? Head to bluehost.com that's b l u e h o s t dot com to start.
[00:58]
T-Mobile Advertiser
Now back to school is better with family Freedom from T Mobile we'll pay off four phones up to $3200 and give you four free phones all on America's largest 5G network. Visit your local T Mobile location or learn more@t mobile.com familyfreedom. Up to $800 per line via virtual prepaid card typically takes 15 days. Free phones via 24 monthly bill credits with finance agreement eg Apple iPhone 16128 gigabyte 82999 eligible trade in eg iPhone for well qualified credits end and balance due if you pay off earlier. Cancel contact T Mobile.
[01:28]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
This is one of the most important videos I've ever done here at the Midas Touch Network and it has deep connections to me and my family. I'll explain to you in a moment why we have Donald Trump busted on tape. We have the receipts, we have the film, we have the photos of Donald Trump sending his gestapo, his militarized ICE agents, many in plain clothes and wearing masks, disappearing people off the streets. I show you this conduct across the country. I want to focus on what's been happening again recently in Los Angeles. It's where I'm from and my wife's family. My wife is first generation here in the United States. Her family is Latino. They live in a vibrant Latino community here in Los Angeles and their neighborhood is targeted on a frequent basis by ice. I'm not going to mention the town for obvious reasons. So this has a deep connection to me and I really want you to look at it, watch it and share this with as many people as possible. And I want to bring in as well Heidi Feldstein Soto. She is the city attorney of Los Angeles and she is calling out these tactics that in her legal career she can never imagine could ever happen in the United States. So let's take a look at this. Let's see Donald Trump being busted on film. This is what's taking place. This recently happened in Los Angeles where plainclothes ICE agents snatched a man outside Los Angeles largest courthouse. This is what we see frequently. They're waiting in bushes, they're dressed like everyday people. Then they run, they grab you, they beat you and they throw you into vehicles. Here, watch what happens here. Play this clip.
[03:16]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Can you get me please?
[03:26]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
You guys have a warrant?
[03:28]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Can you get me please? Can you get me, please?
[04:01]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Now in this next video I'm going to show you a 15 year old high school student with disabilities was recently detained in Los Angeles after he was mistaken by ICE agents as a Salvadoran national with suspected ties to MS.13. Here, play this clip.
[04:18]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
We have brand new video shared by the San Fernando Valley sun of an incident earlier this week. The moment a 15 year old high school student with disabilities was briefly detained in Los Angeles after he was mistaken by ICE agents as a Salvadoran national with prior criminal convictions and suspected ties to the MS.13 gang. And here's what he and his mother told our local station in Los Angeles. He has these moments where he breaks.
[04:45]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Down and he tells me he feels harassed. He tells me he doesn't feel safe.
[04:49]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Handcuffed me and they were just telling me who the person is and I was like, no, I don't know who that person is.
[04:55]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Next up, Andrea Velez, a US Citizen detained by ICE in Los Angeles on her way to work. Play this clip.
[05:03]
News Reporter / Narrator
Andrea Velez has yet to physically return to work near 9th and Main street in downtown Los Angeles where the 32 year old works as a production coordinator for a shoe company.
[05:13]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
I take it day by day that.
[05:15]
News Reporter / Narrator
Day, June 24, Velez says her mom and sister had just dropped her off at work.
[05:20]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
It was like a scene, like they were just ready to like attack and chase.
[05:24]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez describes seeing unmarked cars and masked men in civilian clothing going after people.
[05:31]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
All I felt was that he grabbed and just slammed me to the floor.
[05:34]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez says she tried to tell the plainclothes agent who arrested her that she's a US Citizen.
[05:40]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
He said that I was interfering with what he was doing, so, so he was going to arrest me. And that's when I asked him to show me his badge number, his id, identification. I asked him for like if he Had a warrant, and he said I didn't need to know any of that.
[05:58]
News Reporter / Narrator
Bless says while officers were processing her into a detention center in downtown, she again tried to tell them she was a US Citizen and did nothing wrong.
[06:07]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
So they didn't believe me. And then I gave them my real id, and at one point, I gave them my driver's license and even my Kaiser health insurance card.
[06:19]
News Reporter / Narrator
Lilez says they still didn't believe her. She spent two days in the detention center where she says she had nothing to drink for 24 hours.
[06:27]
Andrea Velez (Interviewee)
And you have to buy utensils to eat. This lady, she was gonna get out that day, and she was very kind enough to give me her. Her cop and her like, her sport.
[06:38]
News Reporter / Narrator
Velez was released from custody two days after her arrest. And a month ago, the Department of Justice dismissed her case without prejudice, which means her case is closed temporarily.
[06:49]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
And then back in June, the president of California's largest union, David Werta, was targeted and kidnapped by ICE during their illegal raids. Here, play this clip. One more I want to share with you as well. Latinos from East Los Angeles confronted by ICE agents after being profiled. And you're like, I'm American, you mother effer. I have my papers.
[07:44]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
What the hell are you freaking doing?
[07:46]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
And we're seeing these scenes play out across Los Angeles on a daily basis. Play this clip.
[07:56]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Literally based off of skin color. My homie was born here just because of the way he looks. Home right here. Took my phone, dog. He arrested me knowing I'm a American, and I proved it to this guy. That's crazy, yo. Hey, bro, that's not fair at all, bro. That this. This is not fair at all, bro. This is not fair at all, bro. We're all American over here, man. Can't be doing this to us, bro. This, bro. You're a wrong, bro. I'm American. You don't ever grab me like that, bro. I'm American. I'm American citizen, you dog. You. I'm an American citizen. You don't ever grab me that way. Yo, check it out, guys. Maple Olympic. Man, be careful. I just got attacked for no reason. I gotta come and fuck with these guys.
[08:52]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Watch.
[08:52]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
I already know it. I already know it, man. It's not fair. Guys, we shouldn't be like this, man. We shouldn't be like this, bro. But come and get us right now. I already know it. Fuck these guys, man. That's not fair, bro.
[09:04]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
So let me bring in Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto. But before doing that, I do want to play this one clip as well. This is of the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem saying that if it wasn't for Donald Trump doing all of this, Los Angeles would be destroyed, it would be burned, it wouldn't exist. Here, play this clip.
[09:27]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
They're in essence protecting or backing up those federal agents as they conducted operations. Is that what we should expect to see in Chicago? You know, that always is a prerogative of President Trump and his decision. I won't speak to the specifics of the operations that are planned in other cities, but I do know that LA wouldn't be standing today if President Trump hadn't taken action. Then that city would have burned down if left to the devices of the mayor and the governor of that state.
[09:53]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
And so now I want to bring in Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto. City Attorney Feldstein Soto, I have some questions for you. You've brought a action against the Trump regime. I want to talk about the lawsuit that you filed, but I just want to get your general observations being on the ground in the city, as the city attorney, you're the, you're the day to day kind of main lawyer there, you know, in the city, protecting the city, the sites that you must be see, I just want to get your perspective on what's going on in the streets right now. With Trump's ICE and Trump's federal forces.
[10:35]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
The activity around City hall has calmed down. So what I saw that really galled me and required me to act as city attorney for my city is my office is literally in the one square mile of downtown that was experiencing immigration protests. So I had a bird's eye view to what was going on here. And I will tell you that the level of aggression, the number of troops, think about it, our entire Los Angeles Police Department for the entire city is all of 8,600 officers right now. And this administration deployed 4,000 federalized national troops, plus 800 Marines to supposedly deal with a protest that occupied at most 1 to 2 square miles in downtown LA, right around my offices. At no point in time did I feel as though the protests were out of control or something our LAPD couldn't handle and in fact was handling very well. The federal government was response was disproportionate, unconstitutional, militaristic, and candidly, a little bit frightening, more than a little bit. It was very frightening to everyone because to deploy troops into our streets and into our communities, to suppress First Amendment speech, supposedly to enforce immigration laws or to quell the kind of protests that Los Angeles has seen over the years and always handled on our own, without a request from the local authorities or, or the state authorities, is what is utterly unconstitutional.
[12:16]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
When you saw the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem over the weekend, she says that if it wasn't for Donald Trump right now and sending these troops into Los Angeles, that Los Angeles would no longer exist and that the people of Los Angeles need to say thank you because it would have been completely exterminated and eradicated and LA wouldn't be a thing. As the City Attorney of Los Angeles, what's your response to that?
[12:46]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
That's preposterous. That is utter, abject nonsense. Los Angeles has long been a place of robust civil discourse, has long been a place of protesting and taking to the streets. Certainly in my time in Los Angeles, we survived the 1992 riots, which exceeded by magnitudes and exponential ratios what happened in our streets this June. We've done fine through the years. The most recent round of protests before the immigration raids included the George Floyd protests in 2020, which were far more widespread around our city. And at the end of the day, our Los Angeles Police Department, our Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, our California State Highway Patrol has risen to the occasion of constitutional policing of being able to contain the violence or the looting or at least seek retribution and arrest folks who engage in criminal behavior without the kind of violence and suppression on citizens exercising their free speech that came in with the federal troops.
[14:05]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
Now, Heidi, there's a temporary. I don't want people to forget this. It's an important point. A Federal Judge, Article 3 Federal Judge Judge, has issued a restraining order against the Trump regime from doing racial profiling for, you know, going to the Home Depots and rounding up people simply because of their skin color or going to, you know, down the street and seeing food vendors and then saying, oh, they have brown skin, they're food vendors. You add those up, they must be migrants. Arrest them right now, tase them or whatever. Like there's a restraining order saying they can't do that. Yet we keep seeing it happening over and over again. Can you talk to us about what's happening here and this violation of the restraining order?
[14:57]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Here is the motion and joinder for a preliminary injunction that we filed on behalf of 22 local jurisdictions. So let me break down the Perdomo case for you a little bit. I'm deeply grateful to the lawyers and to the ACLU and public counsel who started this lawsuit representing individual plaintiffs who had been arrested, detained, jeopardized whose rights had been violated by the federal administration in the conduct of these raids and roundups. What we have done as a city is we have organized and led a coalition of cities and counties who have said, not in my jurisdiction because we are separately and individually being harmed and because we have our own police powers to protect, we have our residents to protect, and we have our own interest in the subject matter of this lawsuit. So initially in July, the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, and I believe it was seven other cities, filed a complaint and intervention in the ACLU and the public council lawsuit. We thought that it was something where we could all stand together, where the government could stand up for its residents and where we could have one court where all of the violations of everybody's rights could be heard. We filed a second motion to amend our complaint and add additional cities. And at this point, there are 22 jurisdictions standing together, saying to the federal administration, and I want to be clear, we are not interfering with the legitimate and constitutional enforcement of federal law, including federal law, including federal immigration law. What we are saying is you can't run around with rifles and masks and militarized equipment in unmarked cars and in effect snatch people off our streets or, or round up residents in public or private areas and take them away in vans, lock them up, detain them, not give them access to counsel, and in effect, do performative theater to terrify the city and our residents. Businesses are empty and have shuttered. The city's law enforcement personnel has received countless 911 calls about what look like, for all intents and purposes, Ben, it looks like a kidnapping. That's what it looks like with individuals who will not identify themselves. Sometimes they have badges on their belt, sometimes they don't. But the manner in which this is done, and as we learned from Judge Breyer's opinion this morning, it was an organized series of troops that were designed to come here and scare people into self deporting, into doing the federal government's bidding in ways that we have never seen the federal government deploy troops domestically.
[18:14]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
So what do you do, though now when you've prevailed, when the other groups, aclu, Public Council, representing the immigrant, have prevailed in the sense of a federal judge saying, one, you've got this, this ruling from Breyer, you know, saying violation of posse combatants. You can't use military on the streets this way. But, but, but in the central district, the injunction from the federal judge, you can't be to your point. Look, you want to, you want to enforce immigration law, great. You can do It. But you can't have these masked agents kidnap people, throw them in vans, take them to places that no one knows where they're going to be, profile them. I mean, they're picking up migrants and citizens. I mean, and then they. They pick people at first, ask questions later. But then. But then the Trump regime ignores the order, like they violate that order every single day. So how do you combat that aspect? When does it become an issue of contempt? And where do we go from here?
[19:15]
Los Angeles City Attorney Heidi Feldstein Soto
Since we're in the throes of litigation, I will be a little bit cautious about what I say. But first of all, I commend Judge Frimpong for thoughtfulness, for her care, and for establishing a briefing schedule that will allow us to get to a preliminary injunction. I will not speak for the original plaintiffs. I can only speak for ourselves. The temporary restraining order came down just as the judge was leaving town. She was gone for a while, and so going back to her courtroom proved difficult. It went up to the ninth Circuit. It then went up on certiorari to the Supreme Court, and there it has sat in limbo for almost a month. So the Supreme Court has not acted. Of course, you know, temporary restraining orders are designed to be limited in time. So at least from the city's vantage point, what we determined to do was to consolidate our motion and intervention, make sure we were firmly plaintiffs and interveners in the lawsuit, submit our declarations in support of a preliminary injunction so as to put provide the judge with the factual record necessary for a preliminary injunction, and then proceed from there to hold the federal government accountable. The problem with a TRO is it is done ex parte. It was granted before our motion to intervene had been granted. And so, although the judge's order protects the seven counties in the Central District of California, we thought that it was better to wait for a more fully developed record where we clearly were in the case and we had submitted our own evidence as to what the harms were to each of our cities. It is interesting that in the 22 jurisdictions we have the county of LA, we have both charter cities and general law cities under the California Constitution, and under the California Constitution, as I suspect you know, the police power devolves to the local authorities as well. And we also have cities that at this point are across four separate counties. So I commend the cities of Anaheim and Santa Ana for joining us. From Orange county, the city of Carpinteria, the city of Oxnard, the city of Pasadena, my other sister cities here in Los Angeles County. We are here to say that we stand together against what is the federal government turning external troops trained for warfare into a political tool against our residents. That is utterly unacceptable. So what do we do? We develop the record. We get a preliminary injunction. And I'm a lawyer. My best hope is the courts. And I will hope that our branch of government, our judiciary, will fulfill its historical function and provide a check against this overreach and this militaristic deployment of external troops on domestic soil.
[22:28]
Interviewer / Podcast Host
Heidi Feldstein, Soto City Attorney, City of Los Angeles Great to see you again everybody. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 6 million subscribers.
[22:36]
Podcast Host / Narrator (Midas Touch Network)
Thanks for watching. Be sure to add the Midas Touch podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast for new updates every single day.
[22:48]
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[22:59]
Interviewee / Eyewitness
Oh come on.
[23:01]
Progressive Insurance / Expedia Advertiser
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[23:19]
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