Small Business Administration (SBA) Administrator Kelly Loeffler slammed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom for prioritizing illegal immigrants over local small businesses amid ongoing riots in Los Angeles in an exclusive sit-down interview with the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Many stores in downtown Los Angeles have been looted and vandalized after thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to numerous raids in the city led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Additionally, a curfew imposed by Democratic Mayor Karen Bass is cutting into the profits of local businesses.
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“President Trump is siding with American citizens, trying to keep them safe. And Governor Gavin Newsom is siding with violent, criminal illegal aliens trying to destroy our cities, our country, the fabric of our country, burning our flags, threatening our people, throwing Molotov cocktails at police,” Loeffler told the DCNF. “So, we’ve seen hundreds of arrests of illegal criminal aliens at that site, others across the country. And so, my message is: The SBA will not stand for that.”
On Monday, Loeffler called on Newsom to request an SBA Economic Injury Disaster Loan Declaration, which would allow small businesses affected by the riots to apply for a low-interest, long-term loan from the agency to assist in rebuilding. So far, Newsom, whose state has the largest population of illegal immigrants in the country, has not accepted the SBA’s help.
Loeffler announced shortly after the violence erupted that the SBA would be relocating its regional offices out of Los Angeles and other sanctuary cities.
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“Everywhere from L.A. to Atlanta, in these sanctuary cities that will not cooperate with ICE, we will not be able to provide services safely if the local leaders won’t keep their citizens safe,” Loeffler said. “We’re going to locate where it’s safe for our employees and our small businesses to be.”
Newsom’s office did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
Since being sworn in as SBA Administrator in February, Loeffler said the agency implemented “common-sense” measures to ensure that its resources are allocated exclusively to American citizens, including adding citizenship requirements and a verification process to loan applications. According to Loeffler, citizens from 19 countries received COVID loans administered by the SBA, resources she said were “meant for America’s small businesses.”
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Amid the unrest in Los Angeles, President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 California National Guardsmen and hundreds of Marines to help restore order. In response, Newsom sued the Trump administration and claimed during a Tuesday address that “Democracy is under assault right before our eyes.”
“We are here trying to advocate for small businesses. And he’s turning away from them in support of the criminal illegal aliens,” Loeffler said of Newsom.
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First published by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
