LOS ANGELES: This isn鈥檛 the image Los Angeles wanted projected around the globe.
Clouds of tear gas wafting over a throng of protesters on a blocked freeway. Federal immigration agents in tactical garb raiding businesses in search of immigrants without legal status. A messy war of words between President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom. Photos captured several Waymo robotaxis set on fire and graffiti scrawled on a federal detention center building, while videos recorded the sounds of rubber bullets and flash-bang grenades hitting crowds.
In a city still reeling from January鈥檚 deadly wildfires 鈥� and with the World Cup soccer championships and the 2028 Olympics on the horizon 鈥� Mayor Karen Bass has been urging residents to come together to revitalize LA鈥檚 image by sprucing up streets, planting trees and painting murals so LA shows its best face to nations near and far.
鈥淚t鈥檚 about pride,鈥� she鈥檚 said. 鈥淭his is the city of dreams.鈥�
Instead, a less flattering side of Los Angeles has been broadcast to the world in recent days. Protests have mostly taken place in a small swath of downtown in the sprawling city of 4 million people. As Trump has activated nearly 5,000 troops to respond in the city, Bass has staunchly pushed back against his assertions that her city is overrun and in crisis.
Bass, in response to Trump, said she was troubled by depictions that the city has been 鈥渋nvaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals, and that now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming our federal agents. I don鈥檛 know if anybody has seen that happen, but I鈥檝e not seen that happen.鈥�
The series of protests began Friday outside a federal detention center, where demonstrators demanded the release of more than 40 people arrested by federal immigration authorities.
Immigration advocates say the people who were detained do not have criminal histories and are being denied their due process rights.
An international city
Much like New York, Los Angeles is an international city that many immigrants call home. The city鈥檚 official seal carries images referencing the region鈥檚 time under Spanish and Mexican rule. Over 150 languages are spoken by students in the Los Angeles Unified School District. About half of the city鈥檚 residents are Latino and about one-third were born outside the US
Bass faulted the Trump administration for creating 鈥渁 chaotic escalation鈥� by mobilizing troops to quell protests.
鈥淭his is the last thing that our city needs,鈥� Bass said.
Los Angeles resident Adam Lerman, who has attended the protests, warned that protests would continue if the Trump administration pushes more raids in the city.
鈥淲e are talking about a new riot every day,鈥� Lerman said. 鈥滶verybody knows they are playing with fire.鈥�
It鈥檚 not the publicity LA needs as it looks to welcome the world for international sporting events on a grand scale.
鈥淎t this stage in the process, most host cities and countries would be putting the final touches on their mega-event red carpet, demonstrating to the world that they are ready to embrace visitors with open arms,鈥� said Jules Boykoff, a Pacific University professor who has written widely on the political and economic impacts of the Olympic Games. The scenes of conflict are 鈥渘ot exactly the best way to entice the world to plan their next tourist trip to the US to watch a sports mega-event.鈥�
A mayor under pressure
The federal raids and protests have created another dicey political moment for Bass, who has been struggling with a budget crisis while trying to recover from political fallout from the wildfires that ignited when she was out of the country.
She鈥檚 been careful not to discourage protests but at the same time has pleaded for residents to remain peaceful. The mayor will likely face backlash for involving the Los Angeles Police.
And she needs to fight the perception that the city is unsafe and disorderly, an image fostered by Trump, who in social media posts has depicted Bass as incompetent and said the city has been 鈥渋nvaded鈥� by people who entered the US illegally. Los Angeles is sprawling 鈥� roughly 470 square miles (750 square kilometers) 鈥� and the protests were mostly concentrated downtown.
鈥淭he most important thing right now is that our city be peaceful,鈥� Bass said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 want people to fall into the chaos that I believe is being created by the (Trump) administration.鈥�
On Monday, workers were clearing debris and broken glass from sidewalks and power-washing graffiti from buildings 鈥� among the structures vandalized was the one-time home of the Los Angeles Times across the street from City Hall. Downtown has yet to bounce back since long-running pandemic lockdowns, which reordered work life and left many office towers with high vacancy rates.
Trump and California officials continued to spar online and off, faulting each other for the fallout. At the White House, Trump criticized California leaders by saying 鈥渢hey were afraid of doing anything鈥� and signaled he would support Newsom鈥檚 arrest over his handling of the immigration protests.
If Los Angeles鈥� image was once defined by its balmy Mediterranean climate and the glamor of Hollywood, it鈥檚 now known 鈥減rimarily for disaster,鈥� said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney.
鈥淎 lot of perception depends on images,鈥� Pitney added. Right now, the dominant image 鈥渋s a burning Waymo.鈥�