The Brief

Police in Huntington Park arrested a man this week who they said tried to impersonate a federal immigration agent.

The Tuesday arrest comes amid heightened fears over immigration enforcement sweeps by masked agents across Southern California.

Police arrested Fernando Diaz, 23, of Los Angeles after they found him in possession of an unlicensed handgun, three handheld radios mounted on the center console of his car, and a list of radio codes for U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to city officials.

LAist is working to find out whether Diaz has an attorney, and if he has been charged in court.

Details about the arrest

According to Huntington Park officials, police officers were initially drawn to a car, later linked to Diaz, that was parked without a handicap placard in a handicapped space. They said the car was an unmarked Dodge Durango with red and blue lights like the ones law enforcement use hidden under the car’s visors.

Officers ran the plates with dispatch and learned it was not registered to law enforcement.

Diaz claimed he worked as a security guard and had been with Customs and Border Protection but could not provide any identifying information, according to Huntington Beach Police Chief Cosme Lozano.

“A sheet containing radio codes, multiple copies of passports not registered to the individual’s name and other miscellaneous items indicative of criminal activity,” Lozano said at a Friday news conference.

The chief said Diaz also had official-looking documents bearing the name Homeland Security Investigations and Customs and Border Protection.

Diaz was arrested on an outstanding DUI warrant. He had a prior arrest related to human smuggling, but no conviction, according to city officials.

LAist has reached out to the county District Attorney's Office for more information about any charges that may have been filed against Diaz. We will update the story when we get a response.

Heightened fears over ICE raids

Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores noted the arrest comes as people are facing raids by masked immigration agents in unmarked cars.

“The presence of law enforcement style equipment without any verified authority raises serious concerns,” Flores said. “When people cannot trust who is enforcing the law, public safety is undermined and fear begins to take hold.”

“We cannot allow bad actors — whether they are rogue individuals or unauthorized impersonators — to intimidate and exploit our community,” he added.

On Wednesday, the Huntington Park City Council passed a resolution directing police to verify the identity of anyone claiming to be a federal immigration agent in the city.

“Let me be clear, Huntington Park is not attempting to obstruct legal federal operations. What we are saying is simple, if you are acting with federal authority, then show it,” Flores said. “Do not hide behind unmarked vehicles and face masks.”

Flores said local law enforcement has sought for decades to build trust with immigrant communities, but current ICE operations are eroding that.

“There is a better way to conduct enforcement — one that does not terrorize neighborhoods or blur the line between lawful action and dangerous intimidation,” he said.

The city resolution also said Huntington Park “strongly condemns using unmarked vehicles, masked agents, and unidentifiable personnel in immigration enforcement activities conducted within the City, and views such tactics as harmful to public trust, community safety, and constitutional protections.”

Meantime, a new California bill — called the “No Vigilantes Act” — would require law enforcement working in the state to clearly display identification information, including either name or badge number, and ban bounty hunters from engaging in any form of immigration enforcement.

Four million acres of California’s wildest backcountry could soon be opened to paving roads and logging.

The Trump administration announced last week that it’s pushing forward with a proposal to scrap a 2001 rule that blocks logging, road building and other construction in parts of national forests. The administration argues repealing the so-called “roadless rule” is key to managing vegetation to better prevent wildfires on public lands.

Environmental advocates and other groups worry rescinding the rule would harm pristine habitat and the wildlife it supports, and open up more public land to industrial activities and human access that can cause more wildfires.

And locals are worried about losing access to some of the last protected natural lands in the region.

“What we're dealing with here in the roadless rule is the protection of the backcountry,” said David Browning, president of the Orange County Mountain Bike Association, “where you can actually go out and be having an experience where you don't hear traffic, where you don't see buildings, where you actually remember what it was like before all of us got here.”

In Southern California, large swaths of the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests would lose protections.

Browning, who spoke with All Things Considered host Julia Paskin on Monday, said he’s particularly concerned about the Santa Ana Mountains, where much of Orange County’s backcountry biking trails exist within a roadless area that could be opened to construction.

“Our mission is to protect and expand trail access, and so our entire agenda is to make sure that in a highly populated county, like Orange, that we have available the outdoors to be able to go and enjoy,” he said.

Browning takes issue with the wildfire argument — he pointed to the 2024 Airport Fire, which was sparked when heavy equipment operated by Orange County employees struck a rock. They were moving large boulders that day to, in part, block vehicles from getting into a dry brush area and potentially starting a fire. Browning said the “roadless rule” prevents such access that could increase the risk of fire. A recent peer-reviewed study supports that, finding that although roads are important for managing a fire once it ignites, they’re also more likely to be a place where a fire starts.

Though addressing wildfires and protecting public lands have become heavily politicized under the Trump administration, Browning thinks most locals probably aren’t as divided.

“ I don't think this is a party issue,” he said. “We want to hold onto the outdoors and protect them as best we can.”

There unfortunately isn’t much respite in sight for heat-weary Southern Californians.

Forecasters say this week’s heat wave is likely to be the hottest so far this summer. Extreme heat warnings will be in effect from the National Weather Service for almost the entire region from Tuesday morning through Friday evening.

Temperatures will peak between Tuesday and Thursday.

Highs in downtown Los Angeles are expected to reach around 100 degrees, and the warmest inland valleys will get up to 112. L.A. County beaches will hit the high 80s.

Forecasters have also issued Red Flag Warnings for the interior mountains and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Gusty winds and low humidity at higher elevations mean fires could spark and spread quickly.

At lower elevations, humidity continues to make the heat feel more sweltering and make it harder to cool down, especially at night. Nighttime temperatures will only get down to the 70s in most places, including along the coast.

A slight cooldown is expected this weekend, though forecasters say temperatures will stay above normal into next week.

The extreme heat this week poses an especially high risk of heat-related illness for people over 65, young children, people who work or spend a lot of time outside and those without access to air conditioning.

Driving the heat

Several factors are behind this week’s heat wave, many of which have also been behind the rest of this summer’s consistently hot weather.

The main driver is a high pressure air system hovering over the southwestern U.S., trapping warm air, compressing it and warming it further, and blocking cooler air from entering the region.

Offshore winds are also pushing warm inland air toward the coast, preventing cooler onshore winds from blowing inland.

“That blocks our natural air conditioning off the ocean from coming in as early as it normally does,” said Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. “So as long as that cool air stays offshore, it heats up on land.”

The offshore winds are not strong enough, however, to significantly dry out the air in the L.A. Basin and cut down on the humidity.

“That's probably going to be around for the whole summer because you’ve got all this warm ocean water that's feeding into that,” Wofford said.

Warmer seawater evaporates faster, adding to moisture in the air and increasing humidity across the region, especially along the coasts.

Air quality warnings

Along with the heat this week, many Southern Californians also have smog to worry about.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an ozone advisory on Monday for inland areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, much of Riverside County and parts of San Bernardino County. It will remain in effect through Friday evening.

The multi-day smog event is in part driven by the heatwave.

Officials say ozone pollution may reach unhealthy levels or higher in the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys, and portions of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Under unhealthy levels, it’s possible for anyone to experience adverse health effects like difficulty breathing and throat irritation. Sensitive populations could experience more serious effects.

Levels are expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups in the San Fernando Valley, Perris Valley, Mission Viejo, Lake Elsinore, Corona, Hemet, Riverside and Pasadena.

Officials advise certain vulnerable groups — including people with heart or lung disease, those with asthma, pregnant women, children and people over 65 — to limit their time outdoors.

Officials predict that ozone levels will be lower along the coast.