Santa Ana's $16M Budget Gap: Protests Cost $500K

0:00It's April 22nd. Welcome in. This is California News today, where local news meets AI. Santa Ana is staring down a $16 million budget shortfall, and officials just revealed that last summer's anti-ice protests cost the police. Department around $500,000 to handle. Legal claims from protesters could drive those expenses even higher. Most of that spending, about $400,000, hit over four intense days. June 9th, 10th, 11th and 14th, when crowds flooded, downtown, to push back against stepped up immigration raids. Police chief Robert Rodriguez explained they deployed after a call from the Department of Justice, mainly to separate local folks from federal agents, and keep things from boiling over. Community backlash was fierce, with residents slamming the police response across Southern California. One city council member even claimed officers fired rubber bullets at him during the chaos. Meanwhile, the city attorney reports four

1:00claims, and one full lawsuit in the works, with no clear tab yet on what it'll cost. As Santa Ana scrambles to plug that budget gap, these lingering bills keep the pressure on.