With decades of combined experience across a variety of units and stations, detectives Joshua Kelly-Eklund, Victor Lemus and William Osborn had deep law enforcement experience even before joining the Sheriff’s Department’s elite Special Enforcement Bureau’s Arson Explosives Detail.

“There are no words to express the pain and sorry we feel,” LA Sheriff Robert Luna said in a written statement in which he identified the three men late Friday. “These heroes represented the best of our Department, exemplifying courage, integrity and selfless service.

“This is not only a heartbreaking loss for their families, but for all of us,” the sheriff added.

Detective Kelley-Eklund first joined the department in 2006. After working assignments at the Pitchess Detention Center North and the North County Correctional Facility, he moved to the Lennox and South LA stations.

Kelley-Eklund mentored younger deputies as a field training officer before becoming a detective in the Narcotics Bureau and being assigned to the LA Impact Team. As part of that assignment, he spent years investigating complex crimes that led to large narcotics seizures and the arrests of murder suspects, department officials said.

Detective Lumus joined the department in 2003. He initially worked at the Twin Tower Correctional Facility, and in his off time joined the department’s Baker to Vegas running team. He worked a senior training officer and a detective at the Century Station and as a K-9 handler at the Special Enforcement Bureau.

Lumus was known for his mentorship and his arrests of career criminals, department officials said, and joined the Arson and Explosive unit last year.

Detective William Osborn joined the department in 1992, and after serving as the Men’s Central Jail moved to the Industry Station, where he rose to the rank of detective. Over more than a decade as an investigator, Osborn handled upwards of a hundred cases a year, and gained recognition for his skill at recovering stolen vehicles.

Osborn moved to the department’s training bureau in 2016, where he worked as an emergency vehicle operations instructor. But his love for investigations drew him back into the detective ranks, officials said, and he joined the Special Enforcement Bureau and the arson and explosives unit in 2019. He was considered a leader among his peers in the unit, officials said, often handling cases that involved damage to expensive properties or the loss of life.

All three men leave behind family’s, some of whom also serve in the department.

Det. Kelley-Eklund is survived by his wife, Jessica, and their seven children, officials said.

Detective Lemus is survived by his wife, Sheriff’s Department Detective Nancy Lemus, and three daughters.

Osborn is survived by his wife, Detective Shannon Rincon, four sons, and two daughters.

Information about memorial services will be announced in the coming days, officials said.

The thefts occurred in early to mid-June from Union Pacific trains passing through Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

The Missouri-bound trains originated in Long Beach and “were hit in what investigators call targeted thefts,” according to a bureau social media post.

Empty gun boxes were later discovered in Long Beach and in the Riverside County communities of Coachella and Mecca.

Anyone with information about the thefts was urged to contact ATF by calling 888-ATF-TIPS (888-283-8477) or email atftips@atf.gov.

Garden Grove police were called just after 8 a.m. Thursday, July 17, to a home in the 11500 block of Morgan Lane, just south of Orangewood Avenue, after receiving requests for a welfare check, Sgt. Nick Jensen said.

Crystal Gonzalez of Lodi, 37, was found dead inside the home, Jensen said. The couple’s two children were found inside unharmed and unaware of what exactly happened.

How Gonzalez died was not disclosed by police.

Police identified the suspect as Gonzalez’s husband, Miguel Lopez, 35, who they say was seen leaving the home early Thursday. The neighborhood of single-family homes sits less than a mile south of Disneyland.

The family was in a short-term rental for the house. Police did not know what, if any, plans the family had during their stay.

The Stockton Police Department told Garden Grove police that Lopez was involved in a shooting in its jurisdiction.

CBS News reported Lopez shot another man at a gym in Stockton then shot himself. Stockton police did not identify Lopez as the shooter, only that the shooter was 35 and had died.

That victim, a 55-year-old man, was hospitalized, police said.

Lopez was a former California Highway Patrol officer who last worked with the department in 2022, the CHP said Friday afternoon.

The CHP identified him as Miguel Lopez-Cuen and said he was first assigned to the department’s Hayward Area office in March 2017, then transferred to the Stockton Area office in April 2020 before “separating” from the department in August 2022.

“The alleged conduct of this former employee does not reflect the professionalism of the thousands of CHP members who pledge to provide the highest level of safety, service and security to the people of California,” the CHP said in a statement. “The CHP extends its thoughts and prayers to the families and friends of those involved in this tragedy.”

Whether the two men knew each other was unclear.

Friday, Jensen said investigators had not found any criminal history for Lopez and motives for the shootings were not known.

The sentence of Zeta “Jimmy” Dhanapanth, 53, in a Santa Ana courtroom — officially 235 years, eight months to life — came a little more than two months after a jury convicted him of a dozen felony counts of lewd acts with a minor under 14 and a single count of possession of child pornography.

Dhanapanth would have to serve the 235 years, eight months in custody before even becoming eligible for parole.

Dhanapanth, who served as his own attorney, testified to being interested in children who have sex with other children and to possessing child pornography for “educational purposes.” But he denied ever touching the boys, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing brief.

Dhanapanth met the two boys — ages 8 and 9 when the abuse began — while tutoring them in math and English at the Anaheim Indepencia Center in an unincorporated area near Anaheim. He worked at the center, which is focused on the Spanish-speaking community, from 2012 to 2016.

According to testimony, Dhanapanth began by sitting close to the boys and touching their legs before progressing to placing his hands in their shorts and to eventually more explicit sexual acts.

He also showed pornographic material to the boys and gave at least one gifts in exchange for sexual acts.

After a teacher walked in on Dhanapanth and one of the boys in a “compromising situation,” the authorities were told. Investigators, during a search of Dhanapanth’s home, found child-pornography videos on his electronic devices.

Along with his work at the center, Dhanapanth also volunteered for School on Wheels, which provides tutors for children living in shelters, group foster homes or on the streets, and tutored at the homes of needy students.

Edgar Verduzco, 34, of Santa Ana will serve the sentences at the same time, said Deputy District Attorney Kaveh Faturechi.

Verduzco pleaded guilty on April 11 to three counts of murder, one count of driving under the influence of alcohol causing injury, and one count of driving with a .08 percent blood alcohol content causing injury.

He was also sentenced on Friday to two years each for the DUI charges, which will be served concurrently, Faturechi said.

Verduzco apologized to the victims’ family during his sentencing held at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center.

Verduzco’s lawyer couldn’t be reached for comment on Friday.

An off-duty Verduzco was drunk and driving 150 mph when his Camaro rear-ended a Nissan and a Scion on the southbound 605 Freeway, south of Saragosa Street, in the unincorporated community of West Whittier the night of Sept. 26, 2017, according to the California Highway Patrol and the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.

The Nissan hit a center divider and burst into flames, killing 52-year-old Maribel Davila, 60-year-old Mario Davila, and their 19-year-old son, Oscar Davila.

The Scion was carrying a mother and baby. The woman suffered minor injuries.

Oscar Davila, a graduate of John W. North High School in Riverside, worked as a tutor at his former school.

The Davilas also have three other sons and a daughter, Faturechi said.

Verduzco, who resigned from the LAPD, was with the department from July 2015 to July 2018, the LAPD said. At the time of the crash, he worked the front desk at Central Division.

The blast just before 7:30 a.m. at the Biscailuz Center Academy Training facility at 1060 N. Eastern Ave. resulted in the largest loss of life for the Sheriff’s Department in a single instance since 1857, Sheriff Robert Luna said at a news conference.

The detectives later were identified as Joshua Kelley-Eklund, Victor Lemus, and William Osborn, all assigned to the Arson Explosives Detail of the Special Enforcement Bureau.

Few details of what led to the explosion were initially available. Luna said a Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad had cleared the scene only minutes before the 11:45 a.m. news conference. And the sheriff cautioned that a full accounting of what led to the blast will likely take days or weeks to complete.

The explosion was an “isolated” occurrence, the sheriff said, and there is no ongoing danger to the public. But he also acknowledged, “There’s a lot more that we don’t know than what we do know.

“We lost three lives, and we want to make sure we know what happened,” Luna said. “We want to make sure we don’t repeat this.”

The scene was still active up until minutes before the late-morning press conference, with a Los Angeles Police Department bomb squad declaring the blast area safe, Luna said, adding that the investigation was in the beginning stages.

Various reports indicated the explosion may have involved materials found at a Santa Monica home on Thursday that were collected by sheriff’s bomb squad personnel.

A resident of that complex told KTLA5 at the scene that police and sheriff’s officials had been at the building Thursday to retrieve some old grenades that a tenant found in a storage unit, apparently left behind by a previous tenant.

A search on Friday afternoon prompted an evacuation of at least part of that apartment complex as investigators swept the property for any additional potentially dangerous materials.

Earlier, at the news conference, Luna described members of the Special Enforcement Bureau, where the explosion occurred, as being the “best of the best,” and the arson detail as an elite unit whose members average more than 1,000 calls a year.

Luna said the detectives had a collective 74 years of law enforcement experience, including a 19-year department member, a 22-year member and a 33-year veteran.

Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger on Friday afternoon ordered all flags in L.A. County to be lowered to half mast in honor of the three detectives.

Jason Zabala, director of the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs and a member of the sheriff’s SWAT team, became emotional as he talked about the loss of what he called some of the department’s finest detectives.

Zabala knew all three of the deceased, two of them since high school, he said.

“It’s something you realized from day one when you signed up for the job that you know, it’s gonna be a dangerous job,” he said. “As the years go on, you realize how dangerous it is. You do this job for a reason.”

He described the detectives killed in the explosion as “smart” and always “motivated to work.”

No one else was injured, Luna said.

Luna called Friday’s blast “the largest loss of life for us as the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department since 1857.”

That was when Sheriff James Barton and several members of his posse, including three deputies, were ambushed in present-day Santa Ana by criminals they were pursuing. Barton died just three weeks into his second term, according to a sheriff’s department online historical timeline.

Friday’s tragedy is believed to be the worst involving an L.A.-area law-enforcement bomb squad since a February 1986 explosion on Vanscoy Avenue in North Hollywood that killed two LAPD bomb squad members.

That blast took the lives of the head of the LAPD bomb squad and another veteran squad member who were attempting to defuse a booby-trapped pipe bomb in the garage of a home where, several hours earlier, a suspect had been removed in connection with an ambush shooting.

ABC Los Angeles, citing helicopter footage on Friday morning, said it appeared something had exploded next to a bomb squad vehicle.

LASD officials confirmed just before 10:30 a.m. that a “critical workplace incident” occurred at the facility and that the FBI, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the sheriff’s department were investigating.

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said on X she spoke with U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli “about what appears to be a horrific incident that killed at least three at a law enforcement training facility in Los Angeles.”

She said federal agents were at the facility and working to learn more.

Saadullah Sheikh, a spokesman with the Los Angeles County Fire Department, said firefighters were dispatched at 7:27 a.m. and arrived at the same time. That agency has a facility across the street from the sheriff’s training center.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office said on X he had been briefed, was monitoring the situation and has “offered full assistance.”

“The thoughts of all Angelenos are with all of those impacted by this blast,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.

Los Angeles County supervisors Barger, Hilda Solis and Janice Hahn also put out statements saying they were closely tracking the situation.

“This is one more example of how tragic it is sometimes to be in public safety,” Barger said at the scene.

“I never got to say thank you to them, but now we have to honor them,” Solis said.

Around 5 p.m., a law enforcement procession began Friday to transfer the detectives’ bodies from the training center to the medical examiner’s office.

Dozens of sheriff’s deputies stood in formation and saluted as the bodies were carried to a trio of medical examiner vans for the journey.

The vans were then escorted by deputies and other law enforcement representatives on the drive.

City News Service contributed to this report.

– Sandy Wood, Tustin

A: Good memory, Sandy — Honk likely helped you out with his perfect prose back in ’23.

Still, he isn’t a lazy fellow, so he went back to the DMV to ensure nothing has changed.

Your better half should fill out an application, which can be accomplished online, when the time comes. To cut down on the wait time at a DMV office, Ronald Ongtoaboc, a spokesman for the agency, recommends making an appointment.

The state-issued ID card will be canceled, so the Real ID can move onto the license.

Here is some good news:

“If a person already has a California Real ID, they do not need to present their identity and residency documents again,” Ongtoaboc said in an email. “(But) if they have an out-of-state Real ID and want to get a California Real ID, they will need to present their identity and residency documents. An out-of-state Real ID does not transfer to California (and vice versa).”

Sandy, if your wife would like another state-issued ID, albeit without the Real ID, in addition to the Real ID driver’s license she can get one.

Q: Will new federal regulations on California emission standards allow Japanese domestic-market vehicles registered in other states to be eligible for registration in California? I am interested in a 2000 Toyota Granvia. The engine comes in four- or six-cylinder models, which are used by the 4Runner. They are legal in Washington and in Oregon. Basically, what I want to know is if federal guidelines supersede California’s guidelines and make it possible to bring such a vehicle already registered elsewhere into California without California’s onerous requirements?

– Robert Raffel, Dana Point

A: No.

California laws can vary, depending on the model year and other factors.

But under a state law that has been in place for decades, vehicles with model year 1968 or later that were not made to meet United States standards must be modified to meet California emissions regulations, said John Swanton, a spokesman for the California Air Resources Board.

And they must pass a test given by a Santa Ana firm that is state-certified. (A second firm has applied for the special status.)

For that route, a car must be at least 2 years old, such as the one you are eyeing, Robert.

There are rare exceptions for vehicles modified under federal requirements. For info, ask the Air Resources Board at helpline@arb.ca.gov.

HONKIN’ FACT: To keep him in the family’s gold-leaf business, Allen Swift‘s father offered him a car of his choosing for his 26th birthday. He picked a new 1928 Rolls-Royce Phantom I. By 2003, his Rolls had clocked an estimated 172,000 miles. Just before he died in 2005, at age 102, the Connecticut resident gave $1 million to the Springfield Museums in Massachusetts to buy a building that now houses, among other cars, another Swift gift he donated that year after owning it for 77 years — his Rolls. (Source: Springfield Museums)To ask Honk questions, reach him at honk@ocregister.com. He only answers those that are published. To see Honk online: ocregister.com/tag/honk. Twitter: @OCRegisterHonk

They appeared in plain clothes outside a San Diego hotel, wore camouflage as they raided a Los Angeles factory and arrived with military gear at a Ventura County farm.

The presence of thousands of hard-to-identify federal agents is a new fact of life in Southern California this summer as the Trump administration carries out the president’s promised deportations.

Many residents may assume these masked agents are officers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But that’s not always the case.

Many of them belong to the Border Patrol, the agency that traditionally has policed the nation’s border with Mexico. But the Trump administration sent officers from other agencies to Los Angeles, too, including the FBI and special tactical teams from the Department of Homeland Security not widely seen until now.

Democrats in California’s Legislature have proposed measures to unmask the federal agents.

Senate Bill 627, the “No Secret Police Act,” seeks to prohibit all local, state and federal officers from using masks with some exceptions. SB 805, the “No Vigilantes Act,” would require that officers clearly display their name or badge number. It’s disputed whether the state can regulate federal officers and law enforcement agencies are lobbying against the proposals.

Federal regulations state that ICE and Border Patrol agents should identify themselves when arresting someone “as soon as it is practical and safe to do so.”

And the public is allowed to ask federal agents to identify themselves.

But David Levine, a professor at UC Law San Francisco said, “they can ask but it doesn’t mean they’ll get the information.”

The number of sweeps and detentions appeared to slow this week after a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order, finding that agents stopped people based on someone’s race, language, accent, presence at a specific location or job. For ensuing stops, agents must have “reasonable suspicion” that doesn’t consider those factors “alone or in combination,” according to the judge’s order.

While ICE is a different agency than Border Patrol, both are part of the Department of Homeland Security and carry out immigration enforcement.

The difference may not always matter much, but misidentifying an agency can confuse the public, as it did with the sighting of federal agents outside Dodger Stadium in June. The agents reportedly had no visible names or badges and attempted to enter the stadium’s parking lots. The Dodgers put out a statement that “ICE agents” had been denied entry to the stadium. ICE denied it was ever there; the Department of Homeland Security then clarified that it had been Customs and Border Protection agents at the venue.

Images on social media show a constellation of federal agencies supporting immigration sweeps in Southern California. Here’s how you can identify them.

Border Patrol far from the border

Border Patrol agents often wear green uniforms and “Border Patrol” and “U.S. Customs and Border Protection” might be labeled on their badge, vest, shoulder, back, bucket hat or cap, and usually in yellow text over blue.

Their marked vehicles tend to be white with a green slash, reading “Border Patrol” on the side.

Some might confuse Border Patrol with Customs and Border Protection officers. Those officials wear blue and usually stay stationed at ports of entry.

You may be wondering why Border Patrol agents are conducting immigration operations deep into Los Angeles neighborhoods, rather than staying closer to the border.

Border Patrol agents can search vehicles without a warrant throughout much of the country. They’re allowed to operate 100 miles from any edge of the country and coastline, reaching roughly two-thirds of the U.S. population, according to a CalMatters investigation and documentary produced in partnership with Evident and Bellingcat.

Since its creation by Congress in 1924, the Border Patrol’s role has been to prevent unauthorized entry into the United States. The agency polices trade, narcotics, contraband and combats human trafficking.

The agency has a SWAT-like unit known as BORTAC, or Border Patrol Tactical Unit, which has also been documented in immigrant hubs such as MacArthur Park, Los Angeles’ Toy District, and Bell. Border Patrol sources describe the unit’s use for “high-risk” purposes.

In fatigues, the unit wears a “BORTAC” patch on the left shoulder with, at times, black undershirts.

Customs and Border Protection also deployed its tactical Special Response Team in Los Angeles’ North Hills late June, executing a federal search warrant at a “human smuggling hub” tied to national security threats, arresting two, according to the agency.

ICE in police vests

ICE agents might wear an “ICE” patch on the front or back of their vest, usually in black-and-white, though they also can carry a badge of the same design in gold. The ICE emblem features the U.S. Department of Homeland Security eagle seal.

ICE agents might display “police” on their uniform. The ACLU wants ICE to stop using the word “police” on uniforms, contending the agency is impersonating local law enforcement officers

After 9/11, the Bush administration created the Department of Homeland Security, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement within it shortly thereafter. ICE is tasked with enforcing trade and immigration laws, including within the interior of the country.

The Cato Institute found that ICE booked over 200,000 people into detention between October 1 and June 14. More than 93% of book-ins had no violent conviction and 65% had no criminal conviction whatsoever.

ICE itself has a few enforcement divisions. That’s why some ICE uniforms might read ERO—part of their “Enforcement and Removal Operations” team—or HSI for “Homeland Security Investigations.”

In 2024, ICE launched a rebrand and created the investigations unit to develop cases, and improve public outreach, including with local law enforcement, an HSI official told ABC News.

According to its website, HSI combats a broad array of transnational-related crime, ranging from narcotics smuggling to cybercrime, and from human trafficking to intellectual property theft.

ERO meanwhile manages all aspects of the typical immigration enforcement process: identifying, arresting, GPS monitoring, and deporting unauthorized immigrants. Their site description also says they seek to deport priority undocumented immigrants after they are released from U.S. jails and prisons. They can also assist multi-agency task forces in arresting unauthorized immigrants without any other criminal history who are “deemed a threat to public safety.”

ICE also deployed its Special Response Team (SRT), decked in military wear and weaponry, in San Diego late May. It sent a dozen or more of those officers to the Santa Fe Springs Swap Meet near southeast Los Angeles in June, detaining two people for deportation.

Agents from those teams will often feature their logo on the shoulder and will be seen in heavy military-like uniforms. The teams are meant to engage “high risk” situations, according to ICE.

Rare National Guard deployment

National Guard troops had been most visible outside a federal building during protests in downtown Los Angeles, but have also accompanied a few immigration enforcement operations. In mid-June, National Guard soldiers accompanied federal agents raiding marijuana farms around Thermal, a desert town near Coachella, where about 70 undocumented immigrants were arrested, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.

On July 7, about 90 California National Guard soldiers swept through the Los Angeles immigrant hub of MacArthur Park, a defense official said, to protect immigration agents from potentially hostile crowds, according to the Associated Press. They also were on site in Carpinteria last week.

The National Guard troops in L.A. wear Army uniforms. Soldiers in the state units have patches on their left shoulder that show a raven, a sunburst, or a sunburst on top a diamond, each in black and green color schemes. Troops will also have a full color U.S. flag on the right shoulder. The patch under that, if any, can vary and may be based on a soldier’s past deployments.

Part of the U.S. military, the National Guard is able to serve both domestically and globally for state and federal duties, assisting with natural disasters, border security, civil unrest, overseas combat, counter-drug efforts and more. Soldiers largely stay in their home state and can be called on by the state governor or president.

Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed President Trump’s decision to send the troops to Los Angeles, and the assignment marked the first time that a president has deployed the National Guard over the objections of a governor since the Civil Rights era.

More federal law enforcement officers

In January, a Homeland Security memo called for Justice Department agents to carry out immigration enforcement, according to ABC News. Deputized bureaus include the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco and Firearms (ATF), the U.S. Marshals Service, the Federal Bureau of Prisons receiving the “same authority already granted to the FBI.”

Officers’ affiliations can be seen on their vests, jackets, or at times, their shoulder patches.

Agents wearing FBI fatigues were most visible in the worksite sweep at Ambiance Apparel in LA’s Fashion District, arguably the first major operation of the current wave of raids.

On June 10, FBI Los Angeles’ X account touted its collaboration with an ICE operation in Ventura County. They have also participated in other immigration raids across the country.

A spokesperson with the Justice Department declined to comment on how it deployed agents from various agencies. In early June, the FBI told KTLA that it is participating in immigration enforcement in Los Angeles and nationwide “as directed by the Attorney General,” supporting with SWAT, intelligence and more.

The ATF was also seen at the Ambiance Apparel raid. The DEA was there, too, and has since collaborated with ICE in the region.

On X, U.S. Marshals touted themselves as “on the front lines of immigration enforcement” in Los Angeles while showing officers interviewing a man on a bike. Marshals were also on site at a Ventura County marijuana farm raid where more than 200 people were arrested.

Can California unmask federal agents?

The use of masked agents without clearly identifying uniforms has confused the public, including local police receiving reports of kidnappings.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta warned in March that reports of ICE impersonations were growing. Alleged federal agent impersonations have occurred in Huntington Park, Wisconsin, Philadelphia and elsewhere.

“We don’t even know who these people are. It’s so dangerous, it’s so horrific, and it’s time to put standards in place,” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a San Francisco Democrat who is backing two proposals that would compel law enforcement officers to go without masks and display identification.

The Trump administration maintains that the masks are necessary to protect officers’ identities as they carry out investigations.

“So, I’m sorry if people are offended by them wearing masks but I’m not going to let my officers and agents go out there and put their lives on the line and their family on the line because people don’t like what immigration enforcement is,” said acting ICE Director Todd Lyons in a press conference early June.

And some law enforcement experts say the federal government has that authority.

“Certain legislators are giving a false sense of hope that California can legislate laws to control the practices of federal agents,” said Ed Obayashi, a longtime sheriff’s deputy in California and policy adviser to the Modoc County Sheriff’s Office.

“They cannot do that—bottom line. Plain and simple. Federal law is supreme.”

Acknowledging potential legal disputes, Wiener said he’s willing to test the “time-sensitive” bills in the courts.“Federal employees can’t just come in and ignore all California laws,” he said. “There are laws that they have to follow.”

The data requests went out to sheriffs in “multiple major California counties,” including Los Angeles and San Francisco, on Thursday, July 17, the announcement states.

“Removing criminal illegal aliens is this Administration’s highest priority,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement. “I look forward to cooperating with California’s county sheriffs to accomplish our shared duty of keeping Californians and all Americans safe and secure.”

The Department of Justice stated it “hopes that California sheriffs will voluntarily produce the requested information,” but also warned that it would “pursue all available means of obtaining the data, including through subpoenas or other compulsory process.”

The new requests mark the latest battle between the federal government and California over their opposing immigration policies.

The state, known for its sanctuary cities and counties, passed a law in 2017, the California Values Act, that largely prohibits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities without a court order. Many of the most populous counties and major cities, including Los Angeles, have enshrined similar laws and policies locally.

Andrés Kwon, senior policy counsel and organizer with the ACLU SoCal, said the DOJ’s action “opens the possibility for sheriffs across the state to violate, if not the letter, the spirit and intent of the California Values Act.”

The California Attorney General’s Office, in a statement in response to Bondi’s announcement, fired back that it would review the federal agency’s request and “monitor its implementation for compliance with the law.”

“President Trump and his Department of Justice cannot bully our local law enforcement into breaking the law,” the statement reads. “The California Values Act — or SB 54 — ensures that our limited state and local resources are focused on public safety, not immigration enforcement, and promotes vital community trust in local law enforcement.

“SB 54 allows county jails to transfer an individual into ICE custody if ICE presents a criminal arrest warrant for a violation of a federal criminal immigration law, but it does not allow for the wholesale notification to DOJ of individuals housed in county jails, regardless of whether or not they have even been found guilty of a crime.”

Kathryn Barger, chair of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said she would work closely with county counsel and the Sheriff’s Department to evaluate the “scope of this request and determine how best to move forward in a manner that protects public safety, respects due process, and complies with all legal requirements.”

“I support the deportation of individuals who are in this country illegally and have committed violent crimes — our laws must be enforced, and public safety must remain a top priority,” she stated. “At the same time, we must take a balanced, compassionate, and lawful approach that upholds state and federal law without creating fear among our immigrant communities who are following the rules and contributing to our county.”

A copy of the letter sent to Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna included a warning suggesting that the U.S. Department of Justice would seek to use the terms of past consent decrees against L.A. County’s jails to ensure it provides the immigration data.

“I also remind you that the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is currently subject to multiple judicially enforceable settlement agreements with the Department of Justice that require you to provide access to certain documents and data upon request, including one that requires you to give the Department of Justice ‘full and complete access to the jails’ and to certain jail-related documents and data,” Bondi wrote in her letter to Luna.

The federal agency and Los Angeles County entered into a settlement agreement in 2015 requiring the Sheriff’s Department to implement reforms that would protect prisoners from suicide risks and excessive force within the jails. The enhanced data collection mandated under that agreement does not include anything related to immigration.

Supervisor Hilda Solis said in a statement that Los Angeles County “will not be pressured by the Trump Administration into actions that violate SB 54, the California Values Act, and County policy, or compromise the principles of due process and equal treatment under the law.”

During a press conference Thursday, Luna said he had not officially seen the letter yet and would need to review it with county counsel to determine how LASD responds. The department does not know how many inmates in its custody are undocumented immigrants.

“Because we don’t ask somebody if they’re here legally or illegally, it would be impossible for us to provide a list like that unless we redo our system one way or another,” he said.

He noted that he has already received multiple threatening letters from DOJ stating that he could be arrested criminally if his agency does not assist immigration authorities.

The Sheriff’s Department cooperates with ICE only when it receives a federal arrest warrant signed by a judge, he said. The agency complies fully with the California Values Act and the county’s policy, which “prohibits local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials, except under very specific and lawful circumstances,” he said. The agency does not honor requests from ICE to detain individuals for immigration violations.

In 2024, the department received 995 civil detainer requests and, so far this year, 435 from ICE and did not comply with any of them, Luna said.

The department “cannot do our jobs” without the trust of the public, he said.

“And as a matter of fact, that is something that greatly concerns all of us, because we don’t want people to stop calling us when they see something that occurs, or, worse yet, they’re a victim of a crime because they believe that we are involved in some immigration enforcement,” he said.

However, anyone arrested by the agency does have their fingerprints scanned into a federal database and the release dates for inmates are publicly accessible on LASD’s website, he said. Luna also acknowledged that L.A. County does turn over inmates to federal authorities, but only if a court-approved warrant is obtained.

“This isn’t the ice cream vendor, this isn’t the lady making tacos on the street, this is somebody who has committed a violent or serious crime,” Luna said.

Luna also criticized the federal government for sending officers to chase “people around a car wash or Home Depot.” “That’s something we should all be concerned about,” he said.

It is unclear which other counties were contacted by the U.S. Department of Justice.

Neither San Bernardino nor Riverside counties had received any requests from the federal agency. In a statement, San Bernardino County indicated it would “respond accordingly” if it does.

Federal immigration officers have detained 2,792 undocumented immigrants in the Los Angeles area since June, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Officials didn’t specify in which counties or cities the arrests occurred.

As of June 26, more than 70% of those who have been detained in recent months across the country have never been convicted of a crime, despite President Trump’s claims that immigration raids would target “the worst of the worst,” according to the Deportation Data Project. From Inauguration Day until June 26, more than 111,000 people have been arrested across the country, the group said.

DHS did not immediately respond to questions about the Deportation Data Project’s findings.

Of the detainees convicted of crimes, most committed minor infractions like traffic violations, said Graeme Blair, deputy director of the the Deportation Data Project and a UCLA professor.

The project began in the fall, when Blair and other academics made a series of Freedom of Information Act requests to various federal immigration enforcement agencies, so they could gather data on each arrest and track detainee transfers. When federal agencies haven’t responded to the FOIA requests, the Deportation Data Project has sued and received the data following court proceedings, Blair said. The data is then published on the project’s website for anyone to access.

This information, Blair said, can help people track who is being targeted in immigration raids, the conditions in which they’re being held and how many people are being removed from the country, among other information. He believes it’s important for every voter, regardless of their views on Trump’s immigration policy, to know how federal authorities are administering these polices and how their tax dollars are being spent.

“When Americans understand that people are being arrested regardless of their circumstances, even if they’ve been in the U.S. for decades, even if they have been paying into Social Security for decades,” Blair said, “I think it raises a really different way of thinking about what’s going on here than the public narrative that the Trump administration is promoting.”

Going through the data, Blair said it appears that Trump officials have targeted and arrested people based on their race. Detention transfers, he said, often move detainees far from their families and lawyers, making it difficult to seek support and fight their case.

Cities across the area, including Los Angeles, Pasadena, Santa Monica, Culver City, Montebello, Monterey Park, Pico Rivera and West Hollywood joined a lawsuit brought by the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California and other civil rights groups, accusing federal immigration authorities of making unlawful stops and targeting people based on their race. The lawsuit also claims that detainees have been denied their right to see counsel.

After the lawsuit was filed, a federal judge issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits federal immigration officers from stopping people without reasonable suspicion and requires detainees have access to their attorneys every day of the week.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs with DHS, denied the accusations and said detainees receive dietician-approved meals, medical treatment and opportunities to communicate with their family and attorneys.

“Any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” McLaughlin previously said in a statement. “These type of smears are designed to demonize and villainize our brave ICE law enforcement.”