Federal agents raided the California home of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao on Thursday morning.
The FBI served a warrant on Maiden Lane in the city’s Lincoln Highlands neighborhood around 5:30 a.m. It remains unclear what prompted the federal raid.
“The FBI is conducting court authorized law enforcement activity on Maiden Lane. We are unable to provide additional information at this time,” according to an FBI statement.
Local media outlets captured video of federal agents as they carried out boxes, trash bags, and plastic bins from the home. It is unclear what items were seized. Local media also reported that the mayor was escorted from her home.
NTD News reached out to Ms. Thao’s office for a response to the raid and was told to direct the inquiry to the FBI.
The mayor was scheduled to attend a press conference about affordable housing on Thursday but did not show up to the event.
The raid occurred just two days after the Alameda County Registrar of Voters announced that a petition to recall the mayor had gathered more than 40,000 signatures and qualified for the ballot. She now faces a recall in November.
Ms. Thao has been criticized over several major issues, including local crime rates and the city’s financial issues, according to the Recall Sheng Thao website.
The mayor previously served as an Oakland City council member. She was later elected mayor and started her mayoral term in January 2023. If the recall vote ballot fails in November, she will serve her current term through 2026.
Ms. Thao is the first Hmong American mayor of a major city in the United States. A social media account describes her as a “renter, mom, and daughter of Hmong refugees.”
Local media outlets reported that other locations were also raided by federal agents including the residence of Andy Duong, the director of the city’s garbage vendor California Waste Solutions.
His father, David Duong, is the president of the waste contractor and his home was also raided, according to local outlets. Footage captured law enforcement officials wearing U.S. Postal Inspection uniforms and police vests were seen outside a property tied to David Duong.
Since 2020, the city’s independent watchdog agency, the Oakland Public Ethics Commission, has been investigating the recycling company over alleged campaign contributions to the mayor and other officials.
PEC Enforcement Chief Simon Russell told The Epoch Times that the case involving Andy Duong and California Waste Solutions is still under investigation.
Seneca Scott, with the Oakland United to recall Shen Thao (OUST) told the Epoch Times via a text message: “OUST has maintained since we started our movement to recall Thao that she is incompetent and corrupt. Today, we learned that things are possible much worse than we feared.”
A protest sprung up outside the mayor’s home on Thursday evening to demand for the resignations of Ms. Thao and City Council President Nikki Bas from 5 p.m. until 6:30 p.m.
Lear Zhou contributed to this report.
From NTD News