Officials in the Los Angeles suburb of Glendale said they are ending their holding contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) because of public backlash amid days of riots and protests across the city.
A statement issued by the city of Glendale said that it is “formally” terminating its ICE contract to hold federal immigration detainees at a Glendale Police Department facility, describing the move as a “local decision” that “was not made lightly.”
“Since 2007, the City has maintained a highly regulated, locally controlled facility that is maintained to the highest standards, extending basic dignities to those temporarily held—ensuring access to clean accommodations, on-call medical care, family visitation, and legal counsel,” the statement reads. “By offering local access, detainees were given due-process proximity that is too often lacking in more remote or privately-operated detention centers.”
But the “public perception of the ICE contract ... has become divisive” in recent days, “no matter the good” done by the facility or how it is “carefully managed,” the statement said.
“And while opinions on this issue may vary—the decision to terminate this contract is not politically driven. It is rooted in what this City stands for—public safety, local accountability, and trust,” it reads.
The city, which is the fourth largest in Los Angeles County, added that its police department isn’t involved in federal immigration enforcement.
“It is also our duty to ensure that Glendale’s residents and businesses do not suffer the consequences of the unruly and unlawful behavior of others,” the statement reads. “Moving forward, the facility will continue to serve local law enforcement needs without participation in federal detention efforts.”
Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up arrests across the country in recent days, after President Donald Trump had campaigned in 2024 on mass deportations of illegal immigrants.
Homeland Security officials have said in recent days that ICE is primarily targeting criminal illegal immigrants.
Dozens of protesters gathered on the evening of June 6 outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles, where lawyers said arrestees had been taken, chanting “set them free, let them stay.”
On June 8, border czar Tom Homan told Fox News that ICE was focusing on criminal illegal aliens. He said that an ICE enforcement operation in Los Angeles resulted in the arrests of gang members, a “sexual predator,” and a convicted armed robber.
“We made LA safer that day,” Homan told the outlet. “But you’re not hearing any of that.”
Top California officials, including Gov. Gavin Newsom, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and Democratic lawmakers, have accused Trump of inflaming the violence by sending in the National Guard. Over the weekend, Trump signed a memorandum to deploy members of the Guard to Los Angeles, and Homeland Security officials later confirmed they were sent to protect federal facilities.
Police fire projectiles during clashes with protesters in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. (Jim Vondruska/Getty Images)
Newsom said on June 8 that he sent a letter to the administration requesting rescission of the National Guard troop deployment in Los Angeles County, saying that officials “didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved.”
“This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California,” Newsom wrote on social media.
The Los Angeles Police Department on the night of June 8 ordered the demonstrators and rioters to go home, declaring all of downtown Los Angeles to be the site of an unlawful assembly.
Los Angeles police said some protesters had thrown concrete projectiles, bottles, and other items at officers. Police declared several rallies to be unlawful assemblies and later extended that to include the entire downtown area.
Reuters contributed to this report.
