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Fired Los Angeles journalist Memo Torres is fighting back against allegations that California state Sen. Sasha Renee Perez helped ghostwrite his stories, calling the accusations a “complete lie” as his ugly split with LA TACO erupts into a public war of words.
Torres, 46, acknowledged in a new Substack post that he briefly dated the Democratic lawmaker in early 2026 but flatly denied she ever wrote or controlled his reporting, calling the accusations, “a smear campaign on my name, my work, my ethics, and my integrity.”
“At no time did Senator Perez write any article under my byline, nor did she ever have access to edit, submit or publish any of my articles or Daily Memos,” Torres wrote.
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The immigration reporter claimed LA TACO’s top brass knew about the romance from the start.
Owner and co-founder Alex Bloomingdale and Editor-in-Chief Javier Cabral were both aware of the relationship, Torres said, and the outlet reviewed his stories to ensure he wasn’t giving Perez preferential treatment.
Torres also cited a written message from Bloomingdale following an internal review.
“we did an internal investigation and found that nothing inappropriate happened, no coverage was altered, etc,” Torres claimed Bloomingdale wrote to him.
The fiery defense follows LA TACO’s decision to fire Torres over what the publication described as repeated violations of its policies and journalistic standards.
The outlet’s internal process reportedly followed nearly five months of discussions, according to LA Material.
Torres also blasted claims that he refused to take responsibility, accusing sources close to his former employer of lying and arguing that Perez was being unfairly dragged into the controversy.
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He said his decision to leave ultimately centered around what he claimed was a choice by the outlet to scale back coverage of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids across Southern California — something LA Taco denies.
“Despite what they say to the public, they absolutely wanted to lessen ICE reporting, something I actively voiced I was not happy about,” Torres wrote.
“The rumor that we’ve turned our back on ICE coverage is a lie. And a dangerous one,” the publication said Saturday.
Torres, whose reporting has focused heavily on ICE activity, said the controversy threatens to distract from work he considers urgent as the midterms approach.
He described the ICE surge as worse than ever and insisted the reporting cannot wait.
