Mayor Karen Bass and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove were joined by more than 20 members of the Los Angeles County Congressional delegation and state lawmakers on Friday afternoon, June 13, to demand an end to recent ICE raids and President Donald Trump’s deployment of military troops in the area.

Lawmakers condemned other actions taken by federal officials, such as forcibly removing Sen. Alex Padilla from a Homeland Security press conference on Thursday, and asked L.A. County residents to remain peaceful when attending planned protests over the weekend.

Elected officials gathered to demonstrate a united front after multiple cities across the area have experienced amped-up immigration raids that began last Friday, Bass said.

“I always raise the point that the day before, on Thursday of last week, everything was peaceful in Los Angeles,” Bass said. “Nothing was happening here. Nothing was going on that warranted the behavior of the federal government over the last few days. We are here today because the raids have caused fear and panic.”

She said that nothing is going to be solved by chasing people at car washes, by intimidating families in their schools, or by sending the National Guard and Marines into an American city. Los Angeles is diverse and embraces its immigrant population, an important sector of the local and national economy, she added.

“California has the largest immigrant population in this country. We are also the fourth-largest economy in the world,” Kamlager-Dove said. “There is a relationship between those two data points.”

Protests have been occurring daily in the area since Friday, when ICE agents carried out a series of immigration enforcement raids, detaining dozens of people.

Prior to Bass’ order of a dusk-to-dawn curfew, many of the nightly protests devolved into violence, with some demonstrators hurling objects or fireworks at police, who often responded by firing non-lethal weapons or tear gas.

That enforcement has led to scores of workers detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in a series of raids that include such places as L.A.’s fashion district, Home Depot parking lots in Southern California and scores of other sites.

Federal immigration authorities have been ramping up operations across the country to fulfill Trump’s promise of mass deportations with a goal of making the nation safer. Administration officials say the sweeps have resulted in the arrest many violent felons.

“Not only is this impacting our communities and our neighbors, it is impacting our businesses and it is impacting this economy,” Bass said. “Taxpayers are putting $134 million for these raids to happen because Stephen Miller (U.S. Deputy Chief of Staff) made an arbitrary number of 3,000 people that he wants rounded up every single day.”

“Stop this madness,” said Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, said. “Stop this economic trauma.”

Other speakers during the press conference at City Hall were State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, Speaker of the Assembly Robert Rivas, Rep. Judy Chu, Rep. Mark Takano, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, Sen. Maria Elena Durazo, Assemblymember Mark Gonzalez, Rep. Norma Torres, and Assemblymember Jose Solache.

The elected officials all shared similar remarks, as well as demanding that the federal administration be accountable.

“As a member of the Appropriations Committee,” Torres said, “I am demanding full accountability and reimbursement for the local cost incurred, including injuries to local officers and damages caused by the chaos unleashed when the Trump administration recklessly, recklessly deployed the military and ICE agents into our communities.”

Torres added: “They are the ones who created this unrest and they are the ones who need to foot the bill.”

With major protests planned for Saturday morning here and across the country, state and city leaders urged demonstrators to remain peaceful. The mayor said her downtown curfew will remain in place until troops are out of L.A., Bass said.

While Trump hosts a military parade to mark the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army in Washington on Saturday, which coincides with his 79th birthday, hundreds of protests are planned nationwide.  Organizers say they are  denouncing what they perceive as authoritarian actions by the Trump administration.

Major demonstrations are expected Saturday downtown and in scattered communities around Southern California.

Bass said she is working with the State Office of Emergency Services to prepare for the demonstrations.

“As people go and demonstrate our constitutional right to express ourselves tomorrow morning, we elected officials encourage everyone to do it peacefully,” Assemblymember Solache said. “Do it with a lot of heart and advocate for our immigrant community, and to those that do it violently and wrongly, we do not stand with you.”

Solache added: “Let’s show the president, this nation, and this world that we Angelenos are strong and that we will demonstrate peacefully.”