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    Trump’s Deployment of Troops to L.A. Protests Is a Do-Over of 2020

    President Trump was talked out of deploying the military to crush the George Floyd protests in 2020. He always regretted it.In 2020, as racial justice protests swept through the country over the murder of George Floyd, President Trump was itching to deploy the military to crush the unrest. He was talked out of it by his top national security advisers, who feared that such a decision would be viewed as moving toward martial law.Five years later, as protests against his immigration policies began to swell in Los Angeles, Mr. Trump said he had learned his lesson.“I’ll never do that again,” Mr. Trump said on Thursday, about waiting to send in the National Guard in 2020. “If I see problems brewing,” he added, “I’m not going to wait two weeks.”With the Los Angeles protests, Mr. Trump has seized the chance to make up for his first-term regret.His decision to send in federal troops right away, taking the extraordinary step of deploying active-duty military to deal with domestic unrest, fits into the larger pattern of Mr. Trump operating without any significant pushback from the people around him in his second term.“He saw the military as his reactionary arm,” said Olivia Troye, a former homeland security official and aide to former Vice President Mike Pence. Ms. Troye said she witnessed multiple national security officials explain to Mr. Trump in 2020 that the military takes an oath to the Constitution — not Mr. Trump — and that it should not be turned against American citizens, even protesters.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    In L.A., the Divide Between Peace and Violence Is in the Eye of the Beholder

    Los Angeles, a city marked by fiery and full-throated protests, adds a new chapter to that history. Alfonso Santoyo was marching through the streets of Los Angeles with a boisterous crowd on Wednesday protesting the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Mr. Santoyo’s presence, and his voice, were his only weapons.“It’s upsetting how they’ve portrayed the community as criminals,” said Mr. Santoyo, a 43-year-old postal worker whose parents came to the U.S. from Mexico as undocumented immigrants but eventually gained legal status. “It’s just upsetting to see that. Because we know it’s not the case.”After an 8 p.m. curfew brought a ghostly quiet to much of downtown, a man in body armor stood in front of a building full of jewelry stores, smoking a cigarette down to the filter.The man, who declined to give his name, wore a handgun on his thigh and carried a rifle that fires plastic projectiles. He pointed to nearby stores and buildings in L.A.’s jewelry district that had been broken into days earlier. Much like the 2020 demonstrations against police violence, he said, there always seemed to be bad actors among the peaceful ones.Separating them out, he said, was pointless. He cited an Armenian proverb: “Wet wood and dry wood burn together.”In Los Angeles this week, many protesters have marched peacefully. Others have thrown objects at the police, set cars ablaze and looted stores and restaurants. Police have responded aggressively, intimidating protesters with earsplitting explosives and mounted patrols, hitting them with batons, deploying tear gas and firing foam projectiles and rubber bullets into crowds.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Which U.S. Cities Have Joined L.A. in Protesting Immigration Raids?

    From small daytime gatherings to marches with thousands of people, protests condemning immigration enforcement operations have spread steadily across the United States. More are expected in the coming days.Some of the demonstrations were organized by local residents after being surprised by sudden immigration raids; others are part of planned efforts by organizations like the Service Employees International Union, the Party for Socialism and Liberation and the 50501 Movement, a progressive political group.While the protests have been mostly calm, there have been several instances of violence and unrest. In Los Angeles, a few cars were set on fire and some people threw rocks and bottles at law enforcement. About 200 people were arrested on charges of failure to disperse after the curfew took effect downtown, according to a statement by the Los Angeles Police Department. And in Philadelphia, 15 people were arrested including one man who was charged with assaulting an officer during a confrontation between protesters and the police.Here are where some of the protests have happened.AtlantaOn Tuesday evening, a crowd of over 1,000 demonstrators gathered in the heavily Hispanic and Asian American enclave of Buford Highway in metropolitan Atlanta. The group dwindled quickly after police ordered people to disperse. Shortly afterward, law enforcement deployed chemical irritants and charged the remaining crowd with riot shields. A total of six people were arrested in the protests, according to the Brookhaven Police Department.Megan Varner/ReutersWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Hits California Farms

    Farmworkers hid in fields on Tuesday as word spread that ICE agents were conducting raids in California’s breadbasket, an activist said.As a community activist in California’s agricultural heartland, Hazel Davalos spends much of her day talking with migrant farm workers and volunteers. So as word spread Tuesday of immigration raids on the Central Coast and San Joaquin Valley, she heard accounts of some migrants hiding in the fields between rows of crops.Many could not leave the ranches where they work, said Ms. Davalos, executive director of Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy, and others worried about being detained on their commute home. She knows of 40 workers who were detained Tuesday in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, she said.A video published by ABC News showed federal agents chasing a farmworker through the fields Tuesday in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles. Raids were also conducted at farms in Kern and Tulare counties, according to Teresa Romero, president of the United Farm Workers union.A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson would not confirm that any of the reported raids took place, but said in a statement that work-site immigration enforcement “protects workers from exploitation and trafficking.”A crowd formed at the back gate of Ambiance Apparel in Los Angeles on Friday after federal immigration agents gathered at the company.Alex Welsh for The New York TimesThe Trump administration is ramping up its immigration crackdown, with a focus on workplaces with undocumented laborers, such as farms, restaurants and construction sites. Estimates show more than eight million undocumented immigrants work in the United States.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    I Had an Affair With a Politician Who Denies Being Gay. Do I Keep His Secret?

    Is what happened between us my story to tell?Many years ago, I had a brief relationship with another young man. We had sex once, and he wanted to continue but asked me to keep it secret because he was in politics. I was a hotheaded gay activist, and I refused on principle, ending the affair. He went on to become one of the most prominent politicians in his country. He was a single man for a long time, but when asked about his sexuality he denied being gay. He eventually married a woman and lives a putatively heterosexual life.I am a writer. Is what happened between us my story to tell, or is it his story to (still) hide? Is he entitled to privacy? Am I obligated to keep his name a secret even though I didn’t agree to do that at the time, and when asked to keep it quiet I refused? — Name WithheldFrom the Ethicist:Let’s start with the obvious questions: Why now, after all this time? What would you hope to gain from this disclosure? You say that this man is a prominent politician in “his country” (which is presumably not your own), but you don’t indicate that you think he’s a threat to the common good. Is what moves you a belated desire for recognition? A murky wish to be acknowledged in a story that has long since moved on without you — to insert yourself in someone else’s Wikipedia page?Sexual intimacy presupposes a measure of respect for the privacy of those involved. Would your brief encounter have occurred had you announced in advance that you felt free to publish the names of your sexual partners? And there’s an ethical weight that comes with holding in your hands another person’s private life, or an episode of it, anyway. You don’t know how he now thinks of his own sexuality, what his wife knows, how they’ve shaped their lives together or what accommodations have been made in the privacy of a life that has nothing to do with you anymore. Before you risk bruising another family, perhaps it’s worth closing your laptop and pausing to consider: Do you really have good reason to change course and stop honoring the intimacy of your youthful affair?Once a story like this reaches the media, especially social media, it can spiral far beyond your control. Depending on the political culture of his country, what begins as a personal anecdote can quickly turn into a public spectacle. The result could be more intrusive, more destructive and more lasting than you anticipate — for him, his family and for you. You can send a story out into the world, but you can’t call it home.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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    Detention and Deportation As Seen Through a Family Group Chat

    <!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–><!–> –><!–> [–> Livan (teammate) Feb. 15 8:55 AM 7:07 PM <!–> [–><!–>Carlos knew he fit the profile of a “criminal alien” the Trump administration had pledged to target. Not long after coming to the United States from Venezuela, he had been convicted of fraud. But he had served […] More

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    Thousands of Protesters March Through Downtown Chicago

    The demonstrators carried signs denouncing federal immigration officials.Demonstrators in Chicago gathered at Federal Plaza and took to the streets to protest immigration raids.Jamie Kelter Davis for The New York TimesProtesters by the thousands marched through Chicago on Tuesday, stopping traffic in the downtown Loop and chanting anti-Trump slogans as they denounced immigration raids in Los Angeles, Chicago and other cities.Marchers, by turns upbeat and defiant, waved Mexican flags and held signs denouncing Immigration and Customs Enforcement and President Trump, reading “ICE Out of Chicago,” “One mustache away from fascism” and “Immigrants make America great.”They were also joined by protesters supporting Palestinians, wearing kaffiyehs and calling for a cease-fire in Gaza.“From Palestine to Mexico, these border walls have got to go,” the marchers chanted.In Chicago, a city with a sizable immigrant population, tensions have been high in predominantly Latino neighborhoods over arrests of undocumented people. In communities like Pilsen, a heavily Mexican neighborhood, some residents have been afraid to go to work or go shopping, worried that they will be detained by federal immigration agents.On Tuesday, Chicago police officers monitored the protests from the sidelines while clearing parts of downtown to allow marchers to pass. On some streets, motorists honked their horns in support and residents of high-rises took pictures from their balconies. Some protesters streamed onto DuSable Lake Shore Drive in the early evening.Cheryl Thomas, 26, said that she had joined the march “because of the injustices being perpetrated against brown and Black people.”“They are basically being kidnapped,” she said, adding that she doesn’t know if the march will make a difference. “Doing nothing sure won’t change anything.”The marchers tried to reach Trump International Hotel & Tower, a gleaming skyscraper along the Chicago River, but the police department blocked the way with officers and large trucks in the street.The demonstration in Chicago, a predominantly left-leaning city of 2.7 million, was far larger than the regular protests in the city in opposition to the Trump administration since January. For months, groups denouncing President Trump’s policies have held protests downtown, often joined by Democratic elected officials.“This is cruelty with intent,” Representative Chuy Garcia of Chicago, a Democrat, said at a separate protest this week. More