Statement from Hindus for Human Rights on Unlawful Federal Intervention and Violence in Los Angeles
Hindus for Human Rights calls on the Trump Administration to return control of the California National Guard to the Governor’s office, end its militarized immigration sweeps, and uphold the civil rights of the people of Los Angeles. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s authoritarian tactics to kidnap immigrants and violently assault Americans mirror the playbook of authoritarians that use the language of security, surveillance, and martial law to suppress dissent.
We urge Congress to exercise oversight over federal law enforcement, demand full transparency in the chain of command behind these deployments, and ensure that the Administration fulfills its constitutional duty to respect the rights of all Americans. We also encourage Congress to reintroduce the Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act, which abolishes ICE. As Rep. Jayapal said in 2018 when this bill was first introduced, “There was enforcement of our immigration laws before ICE was created and there will be after ICE, as an agency, is gone.”
Dipti Baranwal, HfHR member and Los Angeles chapter organizer, shared:
“These raids and deportations in Los Angeles are an attempt to deny the humanity of our communities. Many of our city’s immigrants are here because of the ripple effects of US policies and military intervention all around the world. Many people are undocumented because they have been waiting for years or decades to receive papers from the government. Criminalization of anyone is inhumane. As a Hindu, I know that all beings are connected. These ICE raids and the presence of the National Guard is an attempt to criminalize an entire city that has famously stood up with Black people, with immigrants, with Palestinians, with poor people, and with workers. It’s not a coincidence that this current regime is targeting us. We are proud to resist this wave of oppression and invite everyone everywhere to do the same in solidarity with our undocumented loved ones and migrants around the world.”
As Hindus, we are guided by the teachings of ahimsa (nonviolence), swaraj (self-rule), and dharma (righteous action). These values leave no room for silence in the face of state-sponsored violence. We stand with the brave communities of Los Angeles, with journalists whose work is essential to democracy, and with leaders who have stood firm in the face of the weaponization of government authority.
In an outrageous abuse of power, the federal government usurped the California governor’s authority over the California National Guard in response to Los Angeles’s community-led protests against deportations. This act is not a measure of public safety, but an act of political intimidation by this presidential administration. The shooting of journalists, threats to arrest California’s elected governor, and the repression of peaceful protestors reveal a chilling disregard for democracy, civil rights, and human dignity.
President Trump must uphold the duties of his office rather than abuse his power to intimidate our country’s most vulnerable members.