LA Mayor Bass dodges question on whether all illegal immigrants in city should be allowed to stay

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass repeatedly dodged answering directly on whether all illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city should be allowed to stay In an interview with ABC's This Week Bass further criticized President Donald Trump's decision to federalize National Guard troops and deploy about Marines to Los Angeles amid anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE riots and protests The Democratic mayor was questioned by ABC host Martha Raddatz on who she thinks should be deported whether that should be just people convicted of crimes given Los Angeles has about a million undocumented workers What should happen to those people Raddatz solicited Let me just say that because we are a city of immigrants we have entire sectors of our market that are dependent on immigrant labor We have to get the fire areas rebuilt We're not going to get our city rebuilt without immigrant labor Bass claimed And it's not just the deportations it's the fear that sets in when raids occur when people are snatched off the street And I know you are aware that even people who are here legally even people who are U S citizens have been detained PENTAGON SCALING DOWN NATIONAL GUARD DEPLOYMENT TO LA So they should not be deported Raddatz pressed Bass responded I don't think so I think they should stay The ABC host interjected noting that the mayor was discussing a million undocumented people No let me just tell you what I think we need is comprehensive immigration restructuring I served in Congress for years Bass reported Raddatz again interrupted the mayor noting that Bass as a congresswoman did not ensure the passage of such immigration transformation And why didn't we get it I mean after I left there was an immigration transformation bill that had bipartisan backing Bass announced attempting to blame Trump This was during the campaign The president decided he didn't want to have it happen because he didn't want immigration transformation to happen where he didn't take credit for it Noting the surge in perimeter crossings under former President Joe Biden Raddatz recalled asking a Limit Patrol agent whether he felt badly for illegal immigrants His response Raddatz reported was yes but they're cutting in line in front of those people who want to do it legally in the right way Let me just tell you that the people that make that trek various of whom walk from Central America and even South America up to our edge jeopardy their lives I don't believe that all of these people are sitting at home dreaming of coming to Los Angeles Bass mentioned in response They're coming here out of desperation ARRESTED IN ALLEGED CONFINES PATROL OPERATION SABOTAGE ATTEMPT NEAR LA AS ATTACKS ON IMMIGRATION AGENTS SURGERaddatz noted that hundreds of thousands of people illegally crossed the perimeter under the Biden administration U S Customs and Confines Protection CBP figures however recorded about million demarcation encounters and roughly two million more known got-a-ways during Biden's term Trump meanwhile has released record-low demarcation crossings since he began his second term When demanded if there's anything good she thinks the Trump administration has done in these six months at the limit Bass explained Well I will keep praise on the administration for the first six months in Los Angeles with the fires If you ask me is there anything that they have done good in terms of immigration I don't know I don't think so I think that the viewpoint has been punitive has been let's make it as miserable as manageable so that these people don't come Bass explained she has not not long ago had conversations with the Trump administration regarding immigration despite the National Guard presence in the city I have put in a request and I hope to I will constantly be open to a conversation the mayor announced I want to work with the administration to solve this complication We have the World Cup in short months here We have Olympics and Paralympics coming in three short years I know that these games are very major to the president and I look forward to working with him and we have an extreme difference on this issue but there's multiple issues for us to work on and I will continue trying to outreach to the administration and hope that at chosen point they'll be responsive The mayor also responded to how she hopes the next six months to two years will be for immigrants in Los Angeles taking a dig at what she deemed the Trump administration's reign of terror The Pentagon last week disclosed it was pulling National Guard troops from Los Angeles citing how the lawlessness seen in early June anti-ICE riots has subsided Well I am just hoping that this reign of terror ends I'm hoping that the military leaves because they were never needed here to begin with Bass declared I hope that we can get back to normal