Nithya Raman says she would replace LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell if elected mayor, saying his response to ICE raids hasn’t ‘met the moment’

Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is challenging Mayor Karen Bass in the November runoff, says that if she is elected, she would replace the department’s chief, Jim McDonnell. According to the New York Post, she announced it at a campaign event tied to her first 100 days, saying, “I don’t believe that his response to the ICE raids on our streets have met the moment.” She said his successor should be someone who “respects and honors” that immigrants are “under attack.”

Her first 100 days plan also calls for more unarmed crisis teams, and the Post reports she pledged to audit whether officers comply with Los Angeles’ sanctuary ordinance, which limits how city resources can be used in federal immigration enforcement. She gave a similar answer at an August debate when asked whether she would fire or replace him.

The raids she cited began June 6, 2025, when federal agents took 44 people into custody at sites around the city, among them a Home Depot and a Fashion District warehouse. Bass described the enforcement as meant to “sow terror.” The Post reports that crowds gathered downtown, LAPD ordered protesters to disperse around 7 p.m. after declaring the gathering unlawful, and the unrest stretched across 40 days, with Bass ordering a nighttime curfew starting June 10. The topic of immigration enforcement has remained part of the runoff.

Who has the power to remove an LAPD chief

The city charter spells out who decides. Under Section 575, the mayor picks the chief from a shortlist forwarded by the Police Commission, and the City Council has to confirm the choice. A chief’s term runs five years. The commission can dismiss the chief at any point during that term, and a two-thirds Council vote can also end the chief’s tenure immediately.

LAPD’s Special Order 40 bars officers from opening investigations whose sole purpose is to establish someone’s immigration status. A veteran officer told the Post, “We’ve never worked with them,” and a second officer cited that policy. Officers also told the paper that ousting the chief would be an error, citing staffing shortages, the 2028 Olympics and morale.

The Post says the department is about 4,000 officers short, and that McDonnell’s earlier posts include leading the county sheriff’s department and the Long Beach police. The union that represents rank-and-file officers, which the Post says has endorsed Bass, criticized Raman over photos of her at a happy hour from 4 to 7 p.m. on June 6, 2025.

The union said Bass spent that day in MacArthur Park working to calm tensions, and that the councilmember has opposed adding officers and firefighters in council votes. Raman’s campaign told the Post she had visited an anti-ICE demonstration and spent about an hour and a half at an event before the happy hour, and the Post says her calendar lists a celebration for a departing staff member.

NBC Los Angeles reports that on Oct. 6 a video posted to Raman’s campaign Instagram account by a digital creator, with McDonnell’s face crossed out, was removed after it drew criticism. The Bass campaign said that labeling officers “fascists” “is crossing the line.” Raman’s campaign said the phrase “fascist liars” was “directed at federal immigration agents and the Trump administration, not Bass, McDonnell or LAPD officers.”

The Post cites LAPD statistics showing homicides down 17% and property crime down almost 11% over the past year, with burglaries down 26%. The candidates are set to debate Oct. 13, and the runoff is Nov. 3, according to Ballotpedia.