The Brief

For three immigration judges, the day took a similar turn.

Kyra Lilien, who was hired in 2023, was presiding in a courtroom in Concord, Calif., in July when she paused the hearing of an immigrant seeking asylum to read an email.

"I told them that we were not going to have a hearing because I had just been fired," Lilien said. Present in the court was a court interpreter and an attorney for the Department of Homeland Security. "They asked me if I was joking."

Anam Petit, who was hired as an immigration judge in 2023 after a career in immigrant defense, was sitting on the bench in her courtroom in Virginia's Annandale Immigration Court in September. It was her two-year anniversary in the position and she was between hearings when she got the email.

"My voice was shaking. My hands were shaking. My mind was racing. And I gave the decision and I dismissed everyone without mentioning anything," Petit said. One decision that day was to deny asylum, and the other was a partial denial, each for a different member of one immigrant family, she recalled.

Tania Nemer was hired as a judge at the Cleveland immigration court in 2023. She had about 30 or 40 immigrants, a DHS attorney and staff in her court one morning in February. She had just finished explaining rights and responsibilities to the group when her door opened and her manager asked her to come with him. She was later escorted out of the building.

"I didn't know at all why I was being fired at the time. And I kept asking; no one had a reason," Nemer said.

Nemer was one of the first immigration judges fired by the Trump administration after a slew of dismissals of leaders at the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR), the branch of the Justice Department that houses immigration courts. Later that month, the administration fired 12 judges — an entire incoming class that had just been trained and was about to take the bench.

Those dismissals come as the administration has ramped up mass deportations of those without legal status, and sometimes pointed to judges as obstacles in that effort.

The pattern has been consistent. Every few months this year, a new class of judges gets termination notices in the middle of the day, often while they are in the middle of immigration court proceedings. The notices often target those who have reached the end of their two-year probationary period, a trial period for federal workers before they are "converted" to permanent employees. It was previously common for these civil servants to be converted to permanent employees of the DOJ.

"None of us have been given an explanation, we are in the dark, but we've been trying to ascertain patterns," Lilien said, the former judge in northern California. She wonders if her past experience representing immigrants got her fired, even though she also worked at DHS as an asylum officer.

Her hunch has some correlation with the data. NPR has independently identified 70 immigration judges who received termination notices from the Trump administration between February and October. The number of judges who received termination letters matches the tally kept by the immigration judges' union. It also accords with NPR's past coverage of the terminations.

The count does not include assistant chief immigration judges (ACIJ), who are courthouse supervisors and also have their own dockets. The union has counted 11 ACIJs terminated.

An analysis of each of the 70 immigration judges' professional backgrounds found that judges with backgrounds defending immigrants, and no prior work history at DHS, made up about 44% of the firings — more than double the share of those who had only prior work history at DHS.

NPR also analyzed the classes of judges onboarded between February 2023 and November 2024, who would have neared the ends of their probationary periods this year or are still in the probationary period. Of those judges, those who had prior DHS experience, including working as asylum officers and as attorneys for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, made up the largest share still on the bench.

NPR reached out to the DOJ, EOIR and the White House for a comment on the firings and NPR's findings. The press staff at EOIR is furloughed due to the ongoing federal government shutdown, according to automatic email replies, though immigration courts are still operational. The White House referred questions to the DOJ.

"DOJ doesn't 'target' or 'prioritize' immigration judges for any personnel decision one way or the other based on prior experience," a DOJ spokesperson told NPR in a statement. "DOJ continually evaluates all immigration judges, regardless of background, on factors such as conduct, impartiality/bias, adherence to the law, productivity/performance, and professionalism."

The spokesperson added that, "pursuant to Article II of the Constitution, IJs (Immigration Judges) are inferior officers who are appointed and removed by the Attorney General."

The spokesperson disputed the 70 count, saying the agency has terminated fewer than 55 judges, but was unable to provide more details. The agency's number is inconsistent with other news reports, NPR's prior reporting and the union. NPR reached out to reconcile the numbers. The DOJ spokesperson said staff have been furloughed and the Justice Department is not able to confirm their data.

Folders containing documents related to immigration cases are piled on a table in the office of Stephen Born, Esq. on July 31, 2025 in Everett, Mass.

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Employees search for reasons

Fired judges have been grasping at straws to understand why they were fired — some have filed Freedom of Information Act requests. Others have turned to wrongful termination complaints and lawsuits. Some worry they were targeted on the basis of protected classes, such as gender or race.

"I fit the bill," said Nemer, who had represented immigrants prior to becoming an immigration judge. Nemer listed off characteristics cited in a lawsuit she has filed, arguing she was fired based on various protected classes.

"It's hard to know without having the explanations of why judges were fired," said Kathleen Bush-Joseph, policy analyst at the Migration Policy Institute, a nonpartisan organization that focuses on immigration policy. "But the way the Trump administration is approaching immigration courts reflects a really high prioritization of immigration enforcement and [the administration] has really made deportations this whole-of-government effort."

Immigration judges approve or deny a final order of deportation. Court officials have placed pressure on judges to move through their dockets faster, including by reviewing asylum cases without hearings.

Each fired judge can leave behind thousands of cases, according to several interviews with fired judges throughout the year. Each case is an immigrant who has likely already waited years for their day in court, to make the case for why they should be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Many of these cases have now been reassigned to other judges, at the bottom of their already years-long dockets. Immigrants whose cases were already in progress, or set to be reviewed soon, now have new dates as far out as 2029.

There were 700 immigration judges at the start of the year. Over the past 10 months, EOIR has lost more than 125 judges to firings and voluntary resignations. Earlier this year, Republicans in Congress approved a spending bill that allocated over $3 billion to the Justice Department for immigration-related activities, including the hiring of more immigration judges, to address the backlog of millions of cases at immigration court.

Federal agents patrol the halls of immigration court at the Jacob K. Javitz Federal Building in June 2025 in New York City.

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Spencer Platt

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Fear of retribution

Probationary judges aren't the only ones who have been fired under the Trump administration. NPR tracked 12 fired judges who started prior to 2023. This means they were fired after their two-year probationary period.

Some have been left wondering if their firings were retribution for the decisions they made on the bench.

Shira Levine had worked for EOIR since 2021 before being fired in September. She was presiding over a hearing for an immigrant who had already waited more than five years for a day in court when she got the email.

"People looked surprised, but no one looked shocked," Levine said. "That's because, unfortunately, this by that point had become a pattern." She said she didn't expect to be removed since she had passed her two-year mark. She was never given a reason.

Levine, like several others, received a standard email that they were being terminated pursuant to Article 2 of the Constitution, which gives the executive the power to dismiss federal employees.

Levine thought she might have been dismissed because of her response to some recent Trump administration policies.

During the summer months, immigration judges had already had to contend with an outsized enforcement presence in normally empty courtroom hallways. ICE attorneys — who argue on behalf of a government that an immigrant should be deported — started more regularly filing "motions to dismiss" cases. When a judge granted such a motion, migrants would be detained before leaving the building.

Levine said such motions should be granted if there is a change in the individual migrant's case, not a change in immigration policy.

"I was not told it was because of my decision to deny the motion to dismiss that I was fired," Levine said. "But I handed down a decision that contravened what they apparently wanted the judges to do."

Others, like Ila Deiss or Emmett Soper, who had been immigration judges since 2017 and 2016, served as career officials at the DOJ for nearly two decades.

Soper had been with EOIR since graduating law school in a variety of other roles. He doesn't know if his firing had anything to do with past policy work under the Biden administration's EOIR director or his handling of cases as a judge.

As the Trump administration brings in new people to the bench, he has concerns over the loss of experienced judges.

"You have to be able to manage your courtroom and you have to make very difficult, sometimes life-or-death decisions, with the person whose life is going to be affected and the family members sometimes right in front of you," Soper said.

"It's not something that you pick up right away. And with all of these judges — many of whom are very experienced — being fired, the agency is losing something that will take a long time to get back, if they ever can."

People wait outside an immigration court and ICE field office on Oct. 24, 2025, in San Francisco.

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Prior political interference

The agency is prioritizing other judges to hire.

The Trump administration has moved to bring back immigration judges it sees as unfairly fired by the Biden administration. The Justice Department, in a February memo, said that it cannot be confident the Biden administration was ethical and lawful in how it dismissed immigration judges and other adjudicators.

A handful of judges in 2022 had not been converted to permanent employment, sparking GOP outrage over what lawmakers saw as political interference.

Earlier this year, Matthew O'Brien and David White, two of those judges let go under President Joe Biden, were reinstated at immigration courts in Virginia. O'Brien was brought back to a managerial position, as NPR previously reported — though he is no longer with EOIR. White is a judge at the Falls Church court.

The Justice Department appointed a new director of EOIR, Daren Margolin, in October. Margolin has previous experience as the assistant chief immigration judge, or courthouse supervisor, throughout multiple courts in California, and a background as a military and DHS lawyer. He had been fired from a command position at a Marine base for negligently firing a gun and had left EOIR in 2024 before returning to lead the agency.

Then the DOJ last month announced its first class of 2025, which included 25 temporary judges who are military lawyers.

"EOIR is restoring its integrity as a preeminent administrative adjudicatory agency," the announcement states. "These new immigration judges are joining an immigration judge corps that is committed to upholding the rule of law."

The incoming class of permanent judges comprises mostly those with a background in federal government work, including EOIR itself and the Department of Homeland Security. Their previous jobs included training Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection agents, serving as asylum officers and working for ICE's legal arm.

One judge was originally going to take the bench at the start of the year, but was among the initial class of judges fired before they could start. None of the incoming judges appear to have previously worked in the field of immigrant defense based on EOIR's announcement.

Immigration judges' backgrounds vary over time

In recent years, immigration judges' backgrounds have varied. Many came to the position after several years working for ICE's legal branch. Others became judges after working for immigrant defense nonprofits or in private practice. Some have no immigration law experience, which was previously a requirement for temporary judges but not for permanent ones.

When immigration courts were first established, it was more common for immigration judges to have an enforcement background, said Dana Leigh Marks, a former immigration judge and immigration attorney who litigated landmark immigration cases before the Supreme Court.

Marks joined the court in 1987, when courts were still under the former Immigration and Naturalization Service branch of the DOJ.

"Frankly, I was one of the individuals who was hired to show that it wasn't just a career path of prosecution that led you to be eligible to be an immigration judge," Marks said.

That push for professional diversification carried through the Biden administration. That administration selected as immigration judges not just immigration attorneys, but also criminal defense attorneys, other administrative judges across the federal government, and those with military experience, as it sought to diversify the perspectives of those interpreting the complicated set of immigration laws.

Marks said that the president and his cabinet will continue to affect personnel decisions as long as these courts stay in the executive branch.

"It's common sense that the boss of the prosecutor should not be the boss of the judge," Marks said, recalling the fight to keep immigration courts separate from immigration enforcement when DHS was created in 2002. Enforcement, which is primarily ICE, was separated from the DOJ.

—NPR's Rahul Mukherjee contributed to data analysis for this story.
Copyright 2025 NPR

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

The wait is over, and the Vision Theatre Performing Arts Center is preparing to reopen, ushering in a new era of performance, events and Black culture in Leimert Park. 

The L.A. Department of Cultural Affairs is scheduled to hold an invite-only ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday at the historic theater, marking a major milestone for a project that began the first phase of construction in 2011. 

“The Vision Theatre has long been a special place in Leimert Park and in the lives of so many who call this community home,” said Heather Hutt, who represents District 10 for L.A. City Council where the theater is located. “Its reopening represents both a celebration of that history and an investment in our future.” 

The city has invested nearly $40 million in the renovation project, which has unfolded in multiple phases and was slowed by funding challenges, the COVID-19 pandemic and supply-chain disruptions, a cultural affairs spokesperson previously told The LA Local.

The restored theater features a reconfigured 729-seat auditorium, new mezzanine and balcony seating, a lounge area, a full stage with wings and crossover space, dressing rooms and a green room. 

The project also includes restoration of the theater’s historic Art Deco features and auditorium ceiling mural, along with upgraded audio, visual and lighting systems and a broadcast room.

“The renovation of the Vision Theatre unites historic preservation with state-of-the-art venue upgrades to create a world-class cultural venue that all Angelenos can be proud of,” said Daniel Tarica, general manager of the cultural affairs department.

The Vision Theatre in Leimert Park in South L.A. is expected to reopen this year.

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Steve Saldivar

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The Vision Theatre’s reopening is expected to bring thousands of new patrons to Leimert Park, giving surrounding small businesses an opportunity to boost their bottom lines. The theater is also poised to strengthen the neighborhood’s identity as a Black Cultural Arts District by attracting top-tier talent, hosting major events and creating opportunities for emerging local artists.

“Anytime a business opens, especially something as big as the Vision Theatre , it’s going to be amazing for the entire Village and Crenshaw Corridor,” said Odessa Bowden-Sierra, owner of LA Native clothing store near Crenshaw Boulevard and 43rd Place. 

Genelle Brooks-Petty, vice president of the Leimert Park Village Merchants Association and co-owner of ALL CHILL hip-hop ice cream shop, said the theater reopening is an opportunity to showcase the historic community. 

“‘One Village. One Destination’ is our creed, and we’re excited to see this institution restored and reinvigorated, as Leimert Park Village continues to thrive,” Brooks-Petty said.

The original front entrance of the Vision Theater on 43rd Place, shown here on Aug. 19, 2026, remains after renovations.

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The theater’s cultural impact could be just as significant.

The city has partnered with the WACO Theater Center, founded by actor Richard Lawson and Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mother and former clothing designer, to expand artistic and educational programming at the venue. 

Shay Wafer, WACO’s executive director, told The LA Local that the organization’s mission includes creating opportunities for emerging artists of African descent, as well as local, national and international artists whose work reflects the African diaspora .  

“I’m overwhelmed and excited,” Wafer said about the reopening. “I’m optimistic that the philanthropic community and ticket buyers will support us.” 

Wafer said WACO, who’s responsible for the theater’s programming, will hold its own grand opening at the theater in November and soft launch performances, community events and a membership program. 

The first full season, about 15 to 20 shows and events, will launch in February 2027, Wafer said. 

“The time that it takes to fully activate a performing arts center the size of the Vision has to occur in phases,” Wafer said.  “The first season is going to look totally different from the second season. We’ll be at full capacity by the second year.”

Finding a good taco in Los Angeles isn't as hard as it used to be, but finding an excellent one requires an almost obsessive devotion to the craft.

Bill Esparza, the James Beard Award-winning food writer who's spent the last two decades chronicling L.A.'s taco scene, has made it his mission to uncover the best the cuisine has to offer.

His latest effort is Taqueando After Dark, a new festival he's curated, taking place Thursday, Aug. 27 and Friday, Aug. 28 at Level 8, located inside the Moxy Hotel in downtown L.A.

The festival brings together acclaimed chefs from both Los Angeles and Northern Mexico — specifically Tijuana and Valle de Guadalupe — who will offer their distinct region’s cuisines as festival goers roam through Level 8’s eight rooms.

The event

Esparza said he wanted to bring together taqueros from Baja California, Sonora, and Los Angeles "to express this wonderful moment that Northern Mexican food is having."

"We have a big Sinaloense culture, a big culture from Mazatlán,” he said. “And Tijuana tacos have been viral for the last decade. It's everywhere: birria, carne asada, adobada.”

Thursday evening will feature Ruffo Ibarra, the acclaimed chef behind Michelin-recognized Oryx in Tijuana, while Tomás Gastélum and José Luis Hinostroza of Michelin-recognized Mira Fireside in Valle de Guadalupe will be cooking on Friday.

Taqueando After Dark takes over Level 8 for two nights, Aug. 27 and 28.

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Courtesy of Level 8

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LA chefs

While Ibarra, Gastélum, and Hinostroza bring the border-crossing star power, local talent is also on display, including Ray Garcia of Qué Bárbaro  (DTLA), Broken Spanish Comedor (Culver City), Eloy Aluri of Tacos Royale (Silver Lake),
Tijuanazo (East L.A.) and Tacos La Carreta (Whittier and Long Beach).

Some of the festival's most compelling cooking may come from Vernon. Francisco Leal of Mariscos Chiltepín has quietly built a reputation for serving some of the best mariscos in the city.

Francisco Leal's aguachile at Mariscos Chiltepín brings the heat — and the kind of shrimp that makes the Vernon drive worth it.

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Gab Chabrán

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LAist

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For Leal, Taqueando After Dark isn't just an opportunity to flex his skills creatively, but also a chance to rub elbows with the Baja chefs he admires.

"I love the way they handle almejas chocolatas, reinas, pismo clams, and oysters — the different techniques to flavor them, whether French, Japanese, or natural," he said. "They're really doing it very well."

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

After missing the city’s Aug. 14 deadline to clear out the 88 million pounds of food from the burned Lineage warehouse in Boyle Heights, the company faces another deadline today — and it’s unclear if they will meet it.

Lineage disputes the city’s timeline, saying it was given until Aug. 20 to remove the rotted food, under orders imposed by the South Coast Air Quality Management District. 

As of Tuesday, Lineage reported that 97% of the food waste had been removed but had not confirmed that the work would be completed by the end of the day. The company said it has moved into the next phase of cleanup, which includes removing loose debris, power washing, disinfecting, detailing and deodorizing. That work is expected to be completed by Aug. 27, according to Lineage.

At a virtual community meeting last week, where L.A. Mayor Karen Bass announced that Lineage would not complete the work by Aug. 14, residents left frustrated by unanswered questions and what they called a lack of urgency from the city and Lineage to provide relief from lingering odors, pests and ongoing health concerns.

Here’s what we know about what’s been done so far and what’s left.  

What’s been cleaned up so far?

The freezer extensively damaged by the June 17 fire has been cleared and much of the structure has been demolished. For the past few weeks, crews have been working to remove the rotting food from inside the remaining freezer. 

As of Tuesday, Lineage reported that 97% of the food had been removed.

It’s unclear how Lineage has been calculating the cleanup estimates. The offices of Bass, Councilmember Ysabel Jurado and LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis have not directly answered questions from Boyle Heights Beat about how or if the numbers have been independently verified or how officials will determine when the cleanup is complete.

Bass acknowledged the issue last week, saying, “Lineage has said that they have removed 84% of all food waste in Freezer 1, but we cannot verify that.”

The L.A. County Department of Public Health has been inspecting the warehouse daily and citing Lineage up to $2,000 per day for its unsanitary conditions and inadequate pest control. 

Photos from the department’s most recent inspection on Tuesday show dozens of live and dead flies, decaying organic waste, sludge and food residue on the ground.

Can Lineage meet the Aug. 20 deadline?

Lineage’s reported cleanup pace has slowed over the last week, as they’ve said the remaining food is particularly challenging to remove. The company had previously been removing food at a pace of about 1% a day, but has slowed to less than 1% over most of the last week.

Based on Lineage’s self-reported cleanup pace, removing the final 3% could take several more days. In a statement Tuesday, the company said it expected the bulk food cleanup to be completed in “the coming days.”

Jurado said Wednesday that Lineage had not provided a definitive date for completing the food waste removal. 

Will removing the food eliminate the smell?

For many residents, the biggest question is how much longer the smell of rotting food will continue to disrupt their daily lives. Many have reported nausea and headaches due to the odors. 

Lineage told Boyle Heights Beat that it expects conditions to improve as more food waste is removed because the waste is the primary source of odor. 

The company said Phase 2 of the cleanup is underway and includes “extensive cleaning and decontamination of the site, including power washing, disinfecting, detailing and deodorizing.”

Lineage is also conducting around-the-clock air monitoring at various locations around the site and sharing the results online.

Lineage has not provided a specific timeline for when residents can expect the smell to end.

Mayor Karen Bass gives Boyle Heights residents an update on the Lineage Warehouse cleanup at Lou Costello Jr Recreational Center on Aug. 13, 2026.

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J.W. Hendricks

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Why are there two deadlines? 

The city’s Aug. 14 deadline was outlined in L.A. Mayor Karen Bass’ executive directives issued on June 29, which called for the complete bulk food removal within 45 days. Bass reiterated that deadline during a community meeting last week, where she said it had become clear the company would not meet it.

Lineage disputes that timeline, saying the Los Angeles Fire Department did not hand over the building until July 7, and that its applicable deadline is Aug. 20, in line with South Coast AQMD’s orders.

What happens if Lineage misses South Coast AQMD’s deadline?

If Lineage does not meet its Aug. 20 and Aug. 27 cleanup deadlines, South Coast AQMD will call for another hearing to determine the penalties it can impose. 

The deadlines were first established after a public hearing on Aug. 5 and 6, when air regulators unanimously approved an abatement order to enforce stricter cleanup requirements for Lineage after receiving thousands of air quality complaints since early July. 

What about the mayor’s Aug. 14 deadline?

In response to Lineage missing the city’s 45-day deadline, Bass said she was preparing to call on city lawyers to pursue civil litigation and other legal options, including cost recovery and penalties.

The mayor’s office did not respond to questions about whether the city has filed a lawsuit or taken other legal action since then.

Residents say they’re fed up

Tensions were high at Lou Costello Recreation Center last week, where about 40 residents watched Bass announce through Zoom that Lineage would not be meeting the city’s cleanup deadline.

Those living closest to the warehouse shared that the differing timelines matter less than wanting actual relief and answers about when the work would be completed. 

“I want them to get rid of this already,” said Maria Guzman, who brought her energy bill to the meeting, hoping to show city staff how much it’s gone up in the past two months. “They need to take care of it and do it as soon as possible.”

Boyle Heights Beat Senior reporter Alejandra Molina contributed to this story.

The two candidates for Los Angeles mayor, incumbent Karen Bass and challenger Nithya Raman, traded sharp jabs Wednesday night over homelessness, housing and police hiring in the first debate of the general election season.

The debate, hosted by the Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association, came as both campaigns began ramping up door-to-door canvassing in a race that’s expected to be close.

Bass, who was elected mayor in 2022, finished five points ahead of Raman in June but is considered vulnerable with unfavorable ratings at 57% in a poll taken before the primary.

Homelessness

During the debate, Raman, who represents Council District 4, said Bass had not made enough progress on the No. 1 issue facing Los Angeles: homelessness.

“You’ve been the mayor for four years and the results have not changed — the results are visible on our streets,” Raman said.

The latest homeless count showed unsheltered homelessness rose 8% from January 2025 to January 2026. The increase followed a two-year drop of 17.5%.

Bass countered that her Inside Safe program has brought thousands of people off of the streets and pointed out that Raman was head of the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee until recently and therefore shared responsibility for the city’s progress on the issue.

“She has been the point person for homelessness — a very powerful position that she declared as powerful when she lost it,” Bass said.

Raman touted a 49% drop in unsheltered homelessness in her council district, which stretches from Silver Lake to Sherman Oaks.

Bass claimed Inside Safe was largely responsible for the drop.

If elected, Raman promised to conduct an audit of homelessness spending in her first six months of office and said she would fully staff a new Bureau of Homelessness Oversight to hold the city accountable for its spending on the issue.

Auditors have also flagged major problems with the handling of tax dollars by the regional L.A. Homeless Services Authority. The failures stem from poor bookkeeping and accounting of taxpayer money at the agency, which spent over $800 million in public funds last fiscal year.

Raman also promised to lobby L.A. County more forcefully than Bass for mental health, drug abuse and other social services for the unhoused.

Housing

The two also sparred over housing policy, with Raman saying the city needed more density in housing to address a severe shortage.

“This is a massive problem for the future of Los Angeles,” Raman said. “Let’s have a Planning Department that does the work to build these units, zone for these units.”

Raman said the city is “not zoned for more housing,” adding that’s why the state has stepped in with mandates for more dense housing in cities and counties across California.

Raman supported the law.

Bass opposed it.

“I do not support Sacramento telling us what to do,” Bass said. “The best way to build is to reach agreement with communities.”

Bass has billed herself as someone who would do more to preserve residential neighborhoods in the city and protect them from density. She added that 42,000 units of affordable housing were in the pipeline.

Policing

The two also tangled over the hiring of police officers.

Bass pointed to a 2020 social media post by Raman that declared “defund the police.”

“She’s irresponsible in what she talks about,” Bass said.

Raman returned the verbal jab, arguing that Bass was irresponsible for backing a big raise for police officers in 2023.

“This is about fiscal management of public tax dollars,” Raman said. "This contract gave raises to the [Police Department] that our city couldn't afford and we suffered as a result.

”We cut street lighting, we cut pothole repair — we have more potholes on our streets than we did before," she continued. “We do less graffiti removal than we did before.”

Bass has said the raises were necessary to recruit new officers and keep current officers from leaving the department.

Raman also criticized Police Chief Jim McDonnell’s response to federal immigration raids, noting he refused to enforce a state law that largely prohibited federal agents from wearing masks. The council member said she didn’t believe the chief’s response to ICE raids “met the moment,” stopping short of saying whether she would seek to remove him.

Supporting business

Bass and Raman also fought over whether the city had sufficiently supported the entertainment industry.

“We need a tax credit and advocacy in Sacramento for the kind of tax credit that Georgia has, that’s the same as New Jersey has that’s taking jobs away from here,” Raman said.

Bass said she appointed a film czar to fight for such policies and criticized Raman for doing nothing on the issue.

“You have been on the City Council for six years,” Bass said. “You’ve been at City Hall twice as long as I have. I realize you want to pitch yourself as somebody from the outside. But where were you? You’ve introduced no motion for the entertainment industry.”

Bass said Raman would not be a good mayor because she lacks support from any of her colleagues on the City Council.

“She has no support from the council members because nobody can work with her,” Bass said.

Raman said she works well with colleagues and that Bass had locked up their endorsements before she made her last-minute entry into the race.