Mayoral hopeful Nithya Raman has pledged to terminate LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell if elected, citing his handling of ICE immigration raids. However, leaked images suggest Raman spent the afternoon of June 6, 2025, drinking cocktails in Silver Lake while mass protests gripped the city.
Cocktails at The Black Cat during June 6 protests
Leaked photographs obtained by The California Post place Democratic Socialists of America-backed candidate Nithya Raman at The Black Cat on Sunset Boulevard between 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. on June 6, 2025. According to the report, this window of leisure coincided with thousands of protesters besieging Downtown Los Angeles, where demonstrators confronted riot police and spray-painted anti-ICE slogans in response to federal raids.
The timing of these photos has created a stark political contrast. The Los Angeles Police Protective League noted that while Nithya Raman was reportedly sipping drinks, Mayor Bass was actively working on the ground in MacArthur Park to deescalate potentially explosive confrontations. This juxtaposition has allowed critics, including political consultant Michael Trujillo, to question whether Raman's commitment to the Latino community is performative rather than practical.
In her defense, Nithya Raman's campaign staff informed The California Post that the councilwoman had spent 90 minutes at an anti-ICE protest before attending the happy hour, which was intended to celebrate a departing staff member.
An audit of sanctuary ordinance compliance and unarmed response teams
Nithya Raman has leveraged her 100-day campaign launch to propose a significant overhaul of Los Angeles public safety. A central pillar of her platform is the demand to fire LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, whom she claims failed to meet the moment during federal immigration raids. Raman argues that the city requires a leader who recognizes that immigrants are currently "under attack."
Beyond the leadership change, Nithya Raman is proposing a mandatory audit of police officers to ensure strict adherence to the city's sanctuary ordinance, which prohibits the use of municipal resources for federal immigration enforcement. As reported by The California Post,Raman also intends to pivot away from traditional policing by increasing the deployment of unarmed crisis response teams rather than hiring additional sworn officers.
The 4,000-officer shortage and a 17% drop in homicides
The push to remove Jim McDonnell comes at a time of significant operational strain and statistical success for the LAPD. The department is currently grappling with a force that is short 4,000 officers,yet under McDonnell's leadership, the city has seen a notable decline in violent crime. LAPD statistics cited in the report show that homicides have dropped by 17% and burglaries have plummeted by 26% over the last year.
Other key metrics indicate a broader downward trend in crime:rapes fell by nearly 6%, robberies by almost 5%, and aggravated assaults by nearly 4%. Property crime overall has decreased by almost 11%. These figures provide a counter-narrative to Nithya Raman's critique, suggesting that the current administration has managed to lower deadly violence even with a diminished workforce.
Whether the LAPD actually aided federal immigration agents
A critical point of contention remains whether the LAPD provided any assistance to federal immigration authorities during the raids at the Fashion District and a Home Depot in Westlake. While Nithya Raman has made resisting ICE a centerpiece of her campaign,the LAPD Protective League has directly challenged the notion that city police cooperated with federal agents, asserting that such cooperation is strictly against city policy.
However,the source does not provide a direct statement from Chief Jim McDonnell himself regarding these specific allegations, nor does it offer the results of any independent investigation into the June 6 raids. It remains unclear if any "gray area" cooperation occurred that fell outside of official policy but still facilitated federal arrests.
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