Federal immigration raids in Los Angeles spark protests and clashes

In the fashion district, agents executed a search warrant at a business where federal investigators and a judge had found probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some workers, said Ciaran McEvoy, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

The operation, part of what officials have described as a broader national ramp-up of immigration enforcement, sparked swift condemnation from local leaders and immigrant-rights advocates. “This activity was meant to sow terror,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said.

Law enforcement detain a protester after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday. (Photo: AP)

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), said those arrested included parents and longtime residents. “Our community is under attack and is being terrorized,” Salas said at a press conference. “These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop.”

Federal officials have defended the enforcement campaign as focused on individuals with criminal records or pending deportation orders. ICE Director Todd Lyons, in remarks earlier this week, said the agency was making about 1,600 arrests a day and emphasized that agents were targeting “dangerous criminals.”

Still, Friday’s events prompted a wave of demonstrations, including outside a federal detention centre in downtown Los Angeles where protesters believed detainees were being held. Chanting “set them free, let them stay,” dozens of demonstrators held signs reading “ICE out of LA!” while others used megaphones and shouted at officers in riot gear.

Officers with helmets and batons used smoke bombs and flash bangs to disperse the crowd, as lines of agents with shields blocked building entrances. At one point, officers moved protesters down the street by slowly advancing in formation. Graffiti was scrawled across parts of the detention centre facade, and objects were thrown as vehicles carrying agents departed the scene.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday. (Photo: AP)

Aerial footage from KABC-TV captured a dramatic moment when a protester attempted to block a white SUV by placing their hands on the vehicle’s hood. The person fell backward as the SUV maneuvered around them and drove off.

At a Home Depot where arrests occurred, video captured bystanders watching as agents led handcuffed individuals across the parking lot toward waiting white vans. Agents, some in tactical gear bearing ICE, FBI, and HSI insignia, used yellow police tape to cordon off the scene.

Immigrant-rights organizations attempted to intervene on-site, using megaphones to inform workers of their constitutional rights and cautioning them not to speak with agents or sign any documents.

Yliana Johansen-Mendez, chief program officer at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, said her team had tracked one individual who was deported within hours of his arrest. The man, picked up at a Home Depot on Friday morning, had already been removed to Mexico before legal representatives were able to speak with him. “One of our attorneys waited for hours to meet with him at the detention center,” Johansen-Mendez said. “Authorities later said he was no longer there.”

DHS SHOOTING TEAR GAS AND LESS LETHALS AT PROTESTERS OUTSIDE DETENTION CENTER

ALL EYES ON LA 👀 https://t.co/pytqiStGDm pic.twitter.com/qhuWFnRHxy

— People’s City Council – Los Angeles (@PplsCityCouncil) June 7, 2025

Among those affected was 18-year-old Katia Garcia, a US citizen, who left school early after hearing her father may have been detained. “We never thought this would happen to us,” Garcia said. Her father, Marco Garcia, 37, is undocumented and has lived in the US for two decades, she said.

One person was also arrested for obstruction during Friday’s events, said Pitts O’Keefe. The California branch of the Service Employees International Union reported that its president was among those detained while observing law enforcement activity.

The enforcement actions and the resulting unrest come amid a renewed national crackdown on undocumented immigrants.

(With inputs from AP and New York Times)