Sometimes when you're chatting with the 13-year-old girl who replied to your ad for a mom/daughter team to have sex with, you're actually chatting with a law enforcement officer. Such was the case with 21-year-old Shaw Bruce Warrington, who was busted through the efforts of an investigator with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement. more ›

A combo platter of community groups have announced they're filing suit against Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca, on grounds he being a shady secret-keeper by not fully disclosing public information about dealings with immigrations enforcement agents. The National Day Laborer Organization (NDLON), the National Immigration Law Center (NILC), and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA), say they have been trying to obtain the info through the California Public Records Act. more ›

It might be in the 90s, but it's already the time of year to think about donning some skates and hitting the ice at the seasonal outdoor rinks poised to open around town. more ›

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents arrested four Chinese nationals over the weekend as part of a takedown of two brothels operating in the San Gabriel Valley, according to abc7. more ›

An alleged fake marriage has landed a couple in the hot seat, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced today. 28-year-old actress Fernanda Romero (here's her IMDB and her modelling page) of Westwood and her husband (on paper)--musician and pizza delivery man Kent Ross, also 28, of Park La Brea--were arrested this morning by federal officials on marriage fraud charges that allege they entered into a sham marriage so the actor could obtain legal status in the United States. more ›

A 28-year-old Sherman Oaks man today was sentenced to 18 years in prison after hiring a hitman to kill a witness involved in a different case against him. “You’re your own worst enemy," said United States District Judge Percy Anderson. more ›

Although the Obama Administration stopped Bush-style immigration raids, a different tactic was used to deter illegal immigrants working in the U.S.: forced sackings. American Apparel with it's "Legalize L.A." slogan was one of the first to see this type of "raid" and had to let go around 1,800 people. more ›

Ice and snow prompted the closure of the 5 Freeway's Grapevine this morning, but lanes in both directions were quickly reopened by officials a couple hours later, according to KNX1070. The National Weather Service says snow would reach as low as 3,000 feet in the latest storm. The Grapevine's highest point is about 4,500 feet. more ›

This week the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement conducted a three-day dragnet in California aimed at "finding, arresting and removing at-large criminal aliens and immigration fugitives who have ignored court-ordered deportation," reports the Daily News. more ›

Other big (and colder) cities get ice rinks, so what's there to stop us? Great weather might be one factor, but it hasn't stopped the likes of the cities of Santa Monica and Los Angeles. more ›

The Bush era of ICE raids are over. That, however, does not mean ICE is on the fritz. In what the New York Times calls "a showcase for the Obama administration’s effort to reduce illegal immigration," companies are being forced to "to dismiss unauthorized workers." more ›

Move over, dodgeball, there's a new sport in town:Curling. Yup. It seems that the Winter Olympic sport that combines shuffleboard, bocce and ice has quite a growing following in LA. We spent an open-house learning session recently with the super cool Hollywood Curling team and learned a few things about the oft-maligned sport. more ›

On Sunday evening, an interagency drug task force following an alleged trafficker made an arrest subsequently finding over a million dollars worth of ecstasy in his car. Police observed Ramandeep Singh Sandhu, a 25-year-old resident of Fremont, at the corner of Lincoln Boulevard and Broadway Avenue sitting in his car doing unknown things consistent with illegal activity. The LAX-ICE task force, a group comprised of federal and local policing agencies around ports of entry dedicated to the interdiction of drugs into the country, arrested Sandhu on the spot. "It was believed this subject was involved in the transport of ecaasy from Canada into the United States," Sgt. Robert Almada of the Santa Monica Police Department explained over the phone. "We know he made numerous trips to Canada." Police recovered around 40 pounds, some 51,000 tablets, of ecstasy. more ›

Every winter, many Angelenos get excited by the novelty of heading downtown to Pershing Square and lacing up their ice skates and gliding along (or falling down on) the rink set up during the holiday season. If you spend enough time in Los Angeles eventually you'll hear someone say their weekend plans include "going to the snow," as if cold weather was a destination. And though we may crank up our heat on some chilly wintry nights, we still wear flip flops on our feet with scarves around our necks around here. So it's actually quite fitting to know that once upon a time, when UCLA's roots were barely sinking into the grounds of a blossoming area called Westwood, there was an outdoor skating rink open year-round for pros and amateurs alike. more ›

There's no better time to open the city's first New Orleans snow-ball shop than during a heatwave. Tucked between two of the many small restaurants in Sherman Oaks' restaurant row is Nola Ice, a product of two entertainment publicists with Southern origins and aspirations to bring the Big Easy treat to the West Coast. more ›

This just in from the Mars Phoenix Lander's Twitter at 5:15 p.m.: "Are you ready to celebrate? Well, get ready: We have ICE!!!!! Yes, ICE, *WATER ICE* on Mars! w00t!!! Best day ever!!" It was just two days ago that media outlets were reporting that there were no signs of water yet. more ›

With one season left in his contract, the Kings announced that they fired coach Marc Crawford. "We appreciate Marc's commitment the two seasons he has been here," Dean Lombardi, the team's president and general manager, said in a statement. "However, we believe that in evaluating where we are at and, more importantly, where we are going as an organization, we feel this coaching change was the right decision to make," he said. "We wish Marc the best in his future endeavors." more ›

Special Order 40 is a nearly 30-year-old law in Los Angeles that prohibits Los Angeles police officers from asking people about their immigration status. Part of the intent is to get more community cooperation when investigating a crime. Illegal immigrants who witness or know something about a crime would more likely avoid police because of their status without the order. more ›

In the latest of Los Angeles immigration raids by federal investigators, ICE raided a two-story house in South LA near Normandie and 103rd, arresting at least 61, according to KNX1070 live on the radio. Officials say a criminal investigation into smuggling led to the raid at the house, which was home to sixty or so people, all members of four families. One woman was pregnant and those detained are from Guatamala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. more ›

Not only is Lou Dobbs angry at Councilman Ed Reyes and LAPD Chief Bratton, but he doesn't seem to be a fan of Los Angeles and especially Mayor Villaraigosa after yesterday's news of his letter to Homeland Security regarding ICE. Check this video below: more ›

It's about time Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa goes public on the recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in the Los Angeles area. Last week, 60 workers were arrested on immigration violations in Torrance and 130 undocumented workers were busted in Van Nuys back in February. Nationwide, 4,900 work-site arrests occurred in the 2007 fiscal year, a 45% increase since 2001. more ›

To some, Elvira Arellano is a leader among pro-immigration rights activists who think the federal government' immigration and trade policies are unfair. To others, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Arellano is just another attention-grabbing, "criminal alien and immigration fugitive," unfairly using her American-born son as an Elián González-like prop for pro immigration activism . Arellano spent an entire year inside Adalberto United Methodist Church on Chicago's West Side, defying a federal order to report... more ›

This is the second piece in a series celebrating some of the most classic albums to ever come out of Los Angeles.Part two is all about the west coast hip-hop classic Death Certificate, a true masterpiece from one of the OG architects of LA hip-hop.... more ›

It was really hard to explain to our friends in the midwest about how cold it's been here over the last 3-4 weeks. One of our friends from Portland emailed us about this video, above, and asked if it was true that the Grapevine was closed after two inches of snow. We told our friend that if they continued to tease us we would move to Oregon. They shut up.... more ›

Pershing Square has once again transformed into a frozen wonderland of twisted ankles and bruised tailbones. This lovely, downtown park spends most of the year as a grassy knoll and concrete potty, but for a few brilliant weeks during the deep freeze of our LA winter, it becomes a glorious, outdoor ice skating rink for the entire city to enjoy. Hockey clinics, open-air movies, community and family events and live music make this a... more ›