Star Anti-ICE Reporter Fired Amid Claims the Democrat Senator He Dated Helped Write His Stories

Memo Torres, the Los Angeles reporter whose videos of immigration raids made him one of the most recognizable names in immigration coverage during last summer's ICE raids, has been fired by the news site L.A. TACO. The outlet says it was over "repeated violations of our policies and our basic journalistic standards."

Torres announced his exit on X on Oct. 22 with the words "7 years come to an end," and many of his followers accused the outlet of pushing him out to go soft on ICE. On Saturday, L.A. TACO hit back with a public letter saying that story is false.

What the outlet says

"Memo Torres did important work here, and we're grateful that he rose to the challenge when ICE began their siege of our city. But we fired him for repeated violations of our policies and our basic journalistic standards. That's it. That's the reason," the letter says. It says the firing followed "an internal investigation, nearly five months of conversations, and real chances to be accountable and do better."

The outlet says Torres told staff on his last day that he was "ready to go independent," and that it offered him "a generous severance" and public support. Instead, it says, he told his followers he was "blindsided," and its journalists have since been harassed. "The rumor that we've turned our back on ICE coverage is a lie. And a dangerous one," it wrote. "Memo, you've always said you stand for the truth. Then tell it."

The senator

The letter does not say what Torres did. L.A. Material reported, citing two sources close to L.A. TACO, that management's concerns included Torres bypassing editors, making errors, and "engaging in a romantic relationship with an elected official while writing about her and her legislation."

That official is Democratic state Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez, 34, the youngest member of the California Senate and a former mayor of Alhambra, the California Post reported. The most serious claim, the Post said, is that Pérez was allowed to edit and write parts of stories that ran under Torres's byline.

Pérez denies it. "I did not write any articles or control the editorial decisions of L.A. Taco," she said in a statement. "Any person suggesting I wrote pieces for L.A. Taco is attempting to undermine my work and attack Memo's integrity." She acknowledged a prior personal relationship with Torres and said L.A. TACO management asked the two to limit their contact about six months ago, which she said they did.

According to the reports, Torres covered Pérez's legislation, including an oversight bill she introduced in early February and a press conference she held soon after. One of those stories was later updated with an editor's note saying it had been changed to meet editorial standards. In May, Pérez presented L.A. TACO with a journalism award at the Latino Spirit Awards.

Torres's side

"I have no idea what they are talking about. I have never refused accountability about anything," Torres told L.A. Material. A source close to him told the Post he would never let anyone else write under his byline, and claimed executives knew about the relationship by February and used it as a pretext amid disagreements over immigration coverage.

No one has shown that Pérez wrote any of Torres's stories, and both deny it. But by the outlet's own account, one of the best-known chroniclers of ICE raids in Los Angeles was let go after months of fights over basic journalistic standards, and the politician at the center of the questions is a Democrat whose work he was covering.