Federal judge orders stop to indiscriminate immigration raids in Los Angeles

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A federal judge in Los Angeles ordered the Trump administration to stop carrying out immigration sweeps in which she said federal agents have been indiscriminately arresting people across southern California without reasonable suspicion that they’re in the country illegally.

Since early June, agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the Border Patrol and other federal agencies have been roving Los Angeles and surrounding counties arresting thousands of people in what civil rights lawyers characterized in a lawsuit last week as an unconstitutional and “extraordinary campaign of targeting people based on nothing more than the color of their skin.”

In her order, Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong, of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, said there is “a mountain of evidence” to support the claim that agents are arresting people solely based on their race, accents, or the work they’re engaged in, in violation of the Fourth Amendment’s protection against unreasonable government seizure.

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“The seizures at issue occurred unlawfully,” Frimpong wrote.

She issued two temporary restraining orders — one prohibiting immigration agents from arresting people without reasonable suspicion that they’re in the country illegally, and the other requiring agents to give people they arrest immediate access to lawyers. The orders, which apply to Los Angeles and six surrounding counties, are temporary while the case moves forward. But they could severely restrict the Trump administration’s ability to continue carrying out the raids that have sown fear and terror in immigrant and Latino neighborhoods since they started on June 6.

“It’s an extraordinary victory,” said Mark Rosenbaum, a senior lawyer with Public Counsel, one of the legal advocacy groups that filed the suit. “It is a complete repudiation of the racial profiling tactics and the denial of access to lawyers that the administration has utilized, and it means that the rule of law is back in Los Angeles.”

In a statement, Department of Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin criticized the ruling.

“A district judge is undermining the will of the American people,” McLaughlin said. “America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists — truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. Law and order will prevail.”

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But the ruling is the latest potential roadblock for President Trump as he escalates his immigration crackdown by focusing on large, Democratic-run cities whose leaders he’s accused of trying to sabotage his efforts to carry out his mass deportation plans.

It came a little more than a week after Public Counsel, the American Civil Liberties Union and other groups filed an emergency class action lawsuit alleging that ICE and Border Patrol agents are engaged in widespread racial profiling, arresting people they encounter in public solely because they have brown skin or because they’re doing work often done by immigrants.

Since early June, agents have repeatedly raided known hubs for Latino workers, including car washes, day laborer gathering spots, and street vendor corners. They’ve also pulled people who appear to be Latino out of their cars, and picked them up from bus stops and on sidewalks. They’ve arrested immigrants without legal status and U.S. citizens alike. Many of the arrests have been filmed by bystanders and posted to social media.

In a sworn declaration, the lead plaintiff in the lawsuit, Pedro Vasquez Perdomo, said that on June 18, he and co-workers were sitting at a bus stop waiting for their ride to a construction job when armed, masked agents in plain clothes poured out of several unmarked cars and ran toward them. Vasquez Perdomo said he was afraid and tried to move away. The men grabbed and handcuffed him before ever asking for his identification, he said. He was arrested, detained for three weeks, and while now released, is facing deportation.

He said he was never told why he was being arrested or informed of any warrant against him.

“I think that I was arrested that day at the bus stop because of how I look,” he said. “I was sitting with other workers and we all look Hispanic and were wearing construction work clothes.”

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In a hearing at a downtown federal courthouse on Thursday, ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar argued that pressure to drive up immigration arrests has led agents to disregard legal and constitutional limits on their authority. In order to stop someone in public and arrest them without a warrant, an immigration agent must at least have “reasonable suspicion” that they’re in the country illegally. Federal courts have ruled a person’s appearance alone is not enough.

But Tajsar pointed Judge Frimpong to numerous videos of recent immigration raids, press reports, and sworn declarations from Vasquez Perdomo and other people swept up that he said prove federal agents are detaining people who look Latino on the assumption that they’re immigrants, even though they know nothing else about them.

“They’re engaging in roving patrols in which they’re stopping people first and asking questions later,” Tajsar said. “They’re not going to admit this, but the evidence is clear. They’re looking at race.”

Sean Skedzielewski, an attorney for the U.S. Justice Department, denied that.

“There’s no documented evidence of agents deciding to ignore the law or just pick people up because of race,” he told the judge. “That kind of conduct is just not happening.”

Skedzielewski said agents out on patrol are instead trained to consider “the totality of circumstances,” which can include considering someone’s appearance along with other factors like the location of a stop, their workplace, or whether a person gets nervous when encountering an agent.

“What might seem like an arbitrary stop that comes out of nowhere,” he said, “agents are performing work in the field all the time before these interactions occur. Prior surveillance of the area, of that person, of their interactions – that the person being stopped might be totally unaware of – are informing the agents’ decisions to approach in the first place.”

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Judge Frimpong said during Thursday’s hearing that she was skeptical of the government’s general assurances that immigration agents are not arresting people arbitrarily.

“What they are considering should be things that give them reasonable suspicion that this person does not have status, and I’m not seeing that,” the judge said. She said the government could have been more convincing by explaining the specific reasons that agents arrested Vasquez Perdomo or several other plaintiffs in the case. But it chose not to do that.

In their own declarations, four other plaintiffs, including U.S. citizens, described similar encounters with hard-charging agents who they said detained or arrested them before asking any questions.

Whether immigration agents will scale back their aggressive tactics in response to the judge’s order is unclear. Attorneys for the civil rights groups have said it will be the government’s responsibility to ensure its agents are following the law and the Constitution as they continue their immigration enforcement operations. But lawyers also said they’ll aggressively enforce the judge’s order in court if they think the government is failing to comply.

What to Know Immigrant advocates filed a lawsuit in early July that accuses “unconstitutional” tactics during immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles.

A judge is expected to issue a ruling Friday in the lawsuit, which seeks a temporary restraining order to block the administration from using the disputed tactics.

Attorneys with Public Counsel and the American Civil Liberties Union said the lawsuit is intended to ensure people detained are given their legal right to meet with a lawyer.

The lawsuit also seeks to stop “roving patrols” of agents that the plaintiffs claim are detaining people without warrants or probable cause.

An attorney for the federal government denied the accusations, saying the enforcement activities are based on “reasonable suspicion” and the “totality of the circumstances.”

The federal court ordered DHS to stop immigration round ups based on race and ethnicicty.

A federal judge issued a ruling Friday on a request by immigrant advocates for restraining orders aimed at restricting federal immigration enforcement operations in Los Angeles and other parts of Southern California.

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The federal judge ruled in favor of the immigrant advocates, issuing a temporary restraining order to block the administration from using alleged “unconstitutional” tactics.

Judge Maame E. Frimpong’s order bars the detention of people unless the officer or agent “has reasonable suspicion that the person to be stopped is within the United States in violation of U.S. immigration law.”

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It states the defendant may not base that suspicion solely on apparent race or ethnicity; speaking Spanish or speaking English with an accent; presence at a particular locations like a bus stop or day laborer pick-up site.

The judge also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility. It would also allow confidential phone calls to detainees.

The judge also issued a separate order barring the federal government from restricting attorney access at a Los Angeles immigration detention facility. It would also allow confidential phone calls to detainees.

The White House responded quickly to the ruling late Friday. “No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy — that authority rests with Congress and the President,” spokesperson Abigail Jackson said. “Enforcement operations require careful planning and execution; skills far beyond the purview (or) jurisdiction of any judge. We expect this gross overstep of judicial authority to be corrected on appeal.”

“We strongly disagree with the allegations in the lawsuit and maintain that our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification. Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law and abide by the U.S. Constitution,” wrote U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli on the ruling.

Attorneys with Public Counsel and the American Civil Liberties Union said the lawsuit is intended to ensure people detained in the aggressive enforcement operations are given their legal right to meet with a lawyer. The plaintiffs are also pursuing an end to so-called “roving patrols” of agents they claim are detaining people without warrants or probable cause.

An attorney for the federal government denied the accusations, saying the enforcement activities are based on “reasonable suspicion” and the “totality of the circumstances.”

U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong appeared critical of the government’s arguments in court, saying she wanted to hear more specifics and fewer generalities.

The federal lawsuit filed last week accuses President Donald Trump’s administration of systematically targeting brown-skinned people in an immigration crackdown that has the region “under siege.” The court filing by Los Angeles immigrant advocacy groups in U.S. District Court seeks a temporary restraining order to block the administration from using what they call “unconstitutional” tactics.

Federal agents have violently and indiscriminately arrested people without probable cause while carrying out “immigration raids flooding street corners, bus stops, parking lots, agricultural sites, day laborer corners,” the complaint said.

Witnesses said with little or no warning, agents began detaining people at the Ventura County farm. Gordon Tokumatsu reports for the NBC4 News at 3 p.m. on Thursday, July 10, 2025.

The complaint centers around three detained immigrants, several immigrant rights groups and two U.S. citizens, one who was held despite showing agents his identification. A video taken by a friend June 13 shows Los Angeles resident Brian Gavidia being pushed up against a fence by federal agents as he yells, “I was born here in the states, East LA bro!”

“Armed, masked goons in unmarked cars have descended in our community and have stopped and rounded people up from all walks of life, often at gunpoint and without any justification,” said Mohammad Tajsar, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California.

In addition, the complaint claims that those arrested are held in “dungeon-like” conditions without access to lawyers, pressuring them to sign voluntary departures papers without informing them of their rights.

Families of detainees have relayed reports of horrific conditions inside a detention facility in downtown LA, including inmates who are so thirsty that they have been drinking from the toilets, people sleeping on the ground, and meals consisting of only bags of chips and cookies.

Telemundo 52’s Enrique Chiabra had a one-on-one interview with the Los Angeles mayor exclusively since the federal immigration raids began.

The lawsuit comes days after the Trump administration sued Los Angeles to overturn what it called an illegal sanctuary city law.

Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said in an email that “any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE.”

McLaughlin said “enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence” before making arrests.

“All detainees are provided with proper meals, medical treatment, and have opportunities to communicate with lawyers and their family members,” she said.

Attorneys said they hope to obtain a restraining order that would apply to seven counties across Southern California.

“Today, the Court ruled in favor of the United States Constitution, of American values and decency — this is an important step toward restoring safety, security and defending the rights of all Angelenos,” wrote Mayor Karen Bass.

At a news conference earlier this week, Mayor Bass reiterated comments that Los Angeles is being used as a test case for the Trump administration.

“The city of Los Angeles, along with the county, cities, organizations and Angelenos across LA, is taking the administration to court to stop its clear violation of the United States Constitution and federal law,” Bass said. “We will not be intimidated — we are making Los Angeles the example of how people who believe in American values will stand together and stand united.”

The Trump administration has stepped up efforts to realize his campaign pledge of deporting millions of immigrants in the United States illegally. More than 4,000 California National Guard and hundreds of U.S. Marines have been deployed in Los Angeles since June — against the wishes of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

On Thursday, federal agents were at a farm in rural Ventura County where several workers were taken into custody, according to witnesses.

More than 55,000 migrants nationwide have been taken into ICE custody over the past six months, according to data compiled by NBC News. About 28 percent have criminal convictions with about 25 percent having pending criminal charges. About 47 percent were listed as “other immigration violater.”

California is home to 10.6 million immigrants, more than any other state, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. The Pew Research Center estimates that 1.8 million immigrants in California were undocumented in 2022, a figure that dropped from 2.8 million in 2007.

NBCLA’s Missael Soto contributed to this report.

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A US federal judge has blocked immigration raids in seven California counties, including Los Angeles, after civil rights groups accused the Trump administration of using racially targeted enforcement tactics.

Citing a “mountain of evidence” that federal agents were violating constitutional rights, Judge Maame E. Frimpong issued an emergency injunction from a Los Angeles district court, barring the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from making arrests based on race, conducting warrantless operations, or denying detainees access to legal counsel.

The lawsuit—filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and immigrant advocacy organizations—centers on the detention of three laborers and two US citizens. One plaintiff was allegedly held despite presenting valid identification.

Raids targeted car washes, swap meets, Home Depot parking lots, and other public spaces across Southern California, sparking mass protests. Demonstrations intensified following the deployment of National Guard units and US Marines to assist in enforcement efforts.

The injunction also extends to Ventura County, where agents on Thursday detained dozens of workers at a cannabis farm. The operation triggered clashes with demonstrators and left multiple people injured.

Court filings accuse DHS of enforcing an “arbitrary arrest quota” and engaging in racial profiling. The ACLU cited cases of agents arresting individuals solely for “looking Hispanic,” including day laborers in construction gear.

One incident involved Brian Gavidia, a Latino US citizen allegedly assaulted and detained at a tow yard in a predominantly Latin American neighborhood. ACLU attorney Mohammad Tajsar questioned why non-Latino individuals were consistently overlooked during the sweeps.

The Trump administration quickly denounced the ruling. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson insisted immigration enforcement is an executive power. “No federal judge has the authority to dictate immigration policy,” she stated, predicting the decision will be overturned on appeal.

DHS officials also pushed back. Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin dismissed the racial bias allegations as “disgusting and categorically FALSE,” claiming operations were lawful and based on credible intelligence.

In court, government attorney Sean Skedzielewski defended DHS practices, asserting arrests relied on a “totality of the circumstances,” including prior surveillance and known activity—not race alone. He emphasized that internal protocols and training ensure compliance with Fourth Amendment protections.

The Brief A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to halt what it called indiscriminate immigration raids in seven Southern California counties, including LA and Ventura counties. The ACLU sued to block the raids, accusing immigration agents of using racial profiling and excessive force, and not allowing detainees access to legal counsel. The ruling does not block all immigration raids, but rather requires agents to have reasonable suspicion for stops.

A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to halt what immigrant rights groups are calling unconstitutional raids sweeping across Southern California.

What we know:

Judge Maame E. Frimpong issued the ruling on Friday, blocking raids in seven California counties, including Los Angeles County.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the lawsuit last week, accusing immigration officials of using unconstitutional tactics in raids across the region, like racial profiling, excessive force, and denying detainees access to legal counsel.

According to the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), the decision includes two temporary restraining orders. The first keeps immigration officers from stopping people without reasonable suspicion, or stopping people over their apparent race, whether they speak Spanish, where they work and more.

The second requires the Department of Homeland Security to provide detainees at the federal building in downtown Los Angeles access to legal representation.

The ruling, however, does not stop all immigration raids in the region.

“This is about how, not whether to enforce federal immigration law,” said Jessica Levinson, law professor at Loyola Marymount University. “This is not a judge saying there’s a temporary restraining order on enforcing federal immigration law. There’s a temporary restraining order on how ICE agents are enforcing that law, and specifically what they can and can’t do.”

PREVIOUS: Judge considers blocking immigration raids in Southern California amid ACLU lawsuit

What they’re saying:

“No matter the color of their skin, what language they speak, or where they work, everyone is guaranteed constitutional rights to protect them from unlawful stops,” said Mohammad Tajsar, attorney with the ACLU Foundation of Southern California, in response to Friday’s ruling. “While it does not take a federal judge to recognize that marauding bands of masked, rifle-toting goons have been violating ordinary people’s rights throughout Southern California, we are hopeful that today’s ruling will be a step toward accountability for the federal government’s flagrant lawlessness that we have all been witnessing.”

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also praised the ruling, calling it “an important step toward restoring safety, security and defending the rights of all Angelenos,” calling the raids an “assault by the Trump administration.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom also released a statement saying, “Justice prevailed today — the court’s decision puts a temporary stop to federal immigration officials violating people’s rights and racial profiling. Stephen Miller’s immigration agenda is one of chaos, cruelty and fear. Instead of targeting the most dangerous people, federal officials have been arbitrarily detaining Americans and hardworking people, ripping families apart, and disappearing people into cruel detention to meet outrageous arrest quotas without regard to due process and constitutional rights that protect all of us from cruelty and injustice. That should stop now. California stands with the law, and the foundation upon which our founding fathers built this country. I call on the Trump administration to do the same.”

The other side:

In an email to the Associated Press, Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, said that “any claims that individuals have been ‘targeted’ by law enforcement because of their skin color are disgusting and categorically FALSE,” adding that “enforcement operations are highly targeted, and officers do their due diligence” before making arrests.”

Her full statement read, “A district judge is undermining the will of the American people. America’s brave men and women are removing murderers, MS-13 gang members, pedophiles, rapists—truly the worst of the worst from Golden State communities. Law and order will prevail.”

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli issued a statement on social media saying he strongly disagrees with Judge Frimpong’s ruling, saying that “our agents have never detained individuals without proper legal justification. Our federal agents will continue to enforce the law.”

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The backstory:

Immigration raids have been increasing consistently across Southern California for more than a month now, with officers regularly raiding car washes, Home Depot parking lots and more.

Earlier this week, a swarm of immigration officers descended on MacArthur Park in downtown Los Angeles for an immigration operation, shutting down a children’s camp in the process. No one was arrested in that case.

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Judge Frimpong’s ruling also included Ventura County, where Thursday, immigration agents carried out massive raids at two legal marijuana farms, detaining more than 200 suspected undocumented immigrants.

According to the AP, Border Patrol agents are already kept from arresting people without warrants in a large part of eastern California, after another federal judge issued a preliminary injunction back in April.

What’s next:

This case will now head to a hearing to determine whether a preliminary injunction will be given. From their, either side may appeal the decision.

From 13 Jun 2025 23.23 BST US marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles Marines deployed to Los Angeles detained a civilian on Friday, the US military confirmed to Reuters after being presented with the news wire’s images. This is the first known instance of active-duty troops deployed by Donald Trump detaining a civilian. The incident took place at the Wilshire Federal Building, where marines took charge of the mission to protect the building earlier on Friday, in a rare domestic use of US troops after days of protests over immigration raids. US marines detain a person outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Reuters Share Updated at 00.04 BST

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Video posted on Instagram on Friday gives a sense of the anger in east Los Angeles over sweeps in which federal border patrol agents are stopping people on the streets and forcing them to prove that they are US citizens.

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14 Jun 2025 02.26 BST Trump approves sale of US Steel to Japanese rival he opposed on campaign trail Donald Trump formally approved Nippon Steel’s $14.9bn bid for US Steel on Friday, signing an executive order saying what Trump has called a “partnership” between the companies to move forward if the companies signed an agreement with the treasury department resolving national security concerns posed by the deal. The companies later announced they had signed the agreement, fulfilling the conditions of Trump’s directive and effectively garnering approval for the merger. “We look forward to putting our commitments into action to make American steelmaking and manufacturing great again,” the companies said in the statement, thanking Trump. It remains unclear how the final deal is different from the takeover of the US company by the Japanese one that was blocked by then-president Joe Biden after the 2024 election, and which Trump had promised to stop in elected. The Japanese financial news site Nikkei reported that Trump was simply “paving the way for the Japanese company to finalize its takeover of its American counterpart.” One difference might be that the deal will give the US government a “golden share” in the company, a rarely used practice through which the government takes a stake in company. “We have a ‘golden share’, which I control, the president controls,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday. “If that gives you total control, it’s 51% ownership by Americans.” It was not immediately clear what structural element of the deal Trump was referring to, Reuters noted, but according to Trump the share means that Americans would have a 51% share in the ownership of the steelmaker. Share Updated at 02.50 BST

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Trump’s three golf-focused resorts in the state – Jupiter, Doral and West Palm Beach – plus his nearby private members’ club at Mar-a-Lago, generated at least $217.7m in income, according to the filing. Earlier this week, Massachusetts senator Elizabeth Warren said that Democrats should demand amendments to the Genius Act, a bill to regulate the $250 bn market for stablecoins, including one that would stop Trump “from lining his pockets with shady crypto deals”. Share Updated at 02.48 BST

14 Jun 2025 01.44 BST Video shows border patrol officer asking US citizen detained in LA what hospital he was born in Video posted on Instagram on Friday gives a sense of the anger in Los Angeles over sweeps in which federal border patrol agents are stopping people on the streets and forcing them to prove that they are US citizens. Brian Gavidia, who owns El Guapo Auto Sales, and was wearing a t-shirt with the name of his small business, told Brittny Mejia of the Los Angeles Times that he was stopped and pushed against a fence by a border patrol agent in Montebello, in east Los Angeles county, on Thursday. In video recorded by a friend, who was outraged by the incident and suggested Gavidia’s crime was “walking while brown”, the officer can be heard asking him to prove that he was born in the US by naming the hospital. “I don’t know,” Gavidia said. “I was born here in the states, East LA bro, I just fucking showed you, I got real ID here”. Gavidia told the Times he gave his real ID to the agent who never gave it back to him. On Instagram later, he accused the federal agents of racial profiling. In a series of clips posted on Instagram by Gavidia, some of which were then posted on X by the journalist Pablo Manríquez, the LA native can be heard angrily denouncing the heavily armed federal agents as they swept through the neighborhood, stopping men they suspected on being undocumented immigrants. “I’m American, Motherfucker!”: East Los Angeles Latinos Run ICE Agents Off Their Block After Racial Profiling Incident pic.twitter.com/fbDqvStk4j — Pablo Manríquez (@PabloReports) June 13, 2025 In an Instagram story, Gavidia also posted a clip from the 1985 Cheech Marin music video for Born in East LA, a parody of Born in the USA. In the clip, when an immigration officer demands to know where Marin was born, he replies, I was born in East LA. The 1985 Cheech Marin music video for “Born in East LA”, a parody of “Born in the USA”. On Friday, Marin uploaded the poster for the 1987 movie of the same name that he starred in to his Instagram account. He wrote next to the image: What I wrote as a comedy – ‘Born in East L.A.’ – nearly 40 years ago now feels like a documentary.

Back then, we used humor to spotlight the absurdities and heartbreak of immigration policy. Today, the story is even more real. It continues to affect families, friends, workers, and communities all over the country.

Immigrants have always been the sabor of our nation. Their resilience, culture, and contributions help define what it means to be proudly American.

#BornInEastLA #ProudlyAmerican Share Updated at 03.03 BST

14 Jun 2025 01.07 BST Tennessee lawmaker accuses Trump administration of ‘politicized charges’ against Kilmar Ábrego García Tennessee state representative Justin Jones attended a hearing in Nashville on Friday for Kilmar Ábrego García, the man returned to the US last week after being wrongfully deported to El Salvador. At the hearing, Ábrego García pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of taking part in a conspiracy to smuggle migrants into the United States. In a video statement posted on social media from outside the courthouse, Jones accused the Trump administration of “drumming up these politicized charges to characterize him as dangerous”. “The cooperating witnesses” who testified against Ábrego García, Jones said, are “being offered deals in exchange for their testimony; they have conflicting testimony”. “This trial is a politicized trial and its the weaponization of the government against one man,” Jones added. Ábrego García’s lawyers told the judge that some government witnesses cooperated to get favors regarding their immigration status or criminal charges they were facing, the Associated Press reports. A federal agent acknowledged during his testimony that one witness was living in the US illegally with a criminal record and is now getting preferred status.

“He sounds like the exact type of person this government should be trying to deport,” federal public defender Dumaka Shabazz said. “They’re going to give all these other people deals to stay in the country just to get this one other person.” “If Mr Ábrego García is so dangerous, this violent MS-13 guy, why did they wait almost three years to indict him on this?” Shabazz asked the judge. “Why wait until literally after the supreme court told them they denied him due process and they had to bring him back before they investigate him?” Share Updated at 01.43 BST

13 Jun 2025 00.14 BST Civilian detained and released by marines is US army veteran who says ‘they’re just doing their job’ Marcos Leao, the first detained civilian by the US marines since Trump deployed troops to California, spoke to reporters after he was released. Leao, an army veteran, said he was on his way to an office of the Department of Veterans Affairs when he crossed a yellow-tape boundary and was asked to stop, according to Reuters. The 27-year-old, who gained his US citizenship through military service, said he was treated “very fairly”. “They’re just doing their job,” said Leao, who is of Angolan and Portuguese descent. Share Updated at 00.34 BST

13 Jun 2025 23.50 BST A little more background from Reuters on this unprecedented detainment: The troops are authorized to detain people who pose a threat to federal personnel or property, but only until police can arrest them. Military officials are not allowed to carry out arrests themselves. The Posse Comitatus Act generally forbids the U.S. military, including the National Guard, from taking part in civilian law enforcement. Trump could take a more far-reaching step by invoking the Insurrection Act, which would allow troops to directly participate in civilian law enforcement. Share Updated at 00.02 BST

13 Jun 2025 23.44 BST Reuters wire photos identify the detained man as Marcos Leao, a 27-year-old veteran. It is unclear if he is still in US custody. View image in fullscreen Marcos Leao, a 27-year-old veteran who was detained by US marines in Los Angeles. Photograph: David Ryder/Reuters Share

13 Jun 2025 23.39 BST Reuters images showed US marines apprehending a civilian, restraining his hands with zip ties and then handing him over to civilians from the Department of Homeland Security. The zip ties are visible in the below Reuters photo: View image in fullscreen US marine and California national guard members detain a person outside the Wilshire Federal Building. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Reuters And another angle of the arrest outside the Wilshire Federal Building: View image in fullscreen US marine and California national guard members detain a person in Los Angeles. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Reuters Share Updated at 23.39 BST

13 Jun 2025 23.33 BST When Reuters asked about the incident, US military’s northern command spokesperson said active duty forces “may temporarily detain an individual in specific circumstances”. “Any temporary detention ends immediately when the individual(s) can be safely transferred to the custody of appropriate civilian law enforcement personnel,” the spokesperson told Reuters. Share Updated at 00.04 BST

13 Jun 2025 23.23 BST US marines carry out first known detention of civilian in Los Angeles Marines deployed to Los Angeles detained a civilian on Friday, the US military confirmed to Reuters after being presented with the news wire’s images. This is the first known instance of active-duty troops deployed by Donald Trump detaining a civilian. The incident took place at the Wilshire Federal Building, where marines took charge of the mission to protect the building earlier on Friday, in a rare domestic use of US troops after days of protests over immigration raids. View image in fullscreen US marines detain a person outside the Wilshire Federal Building in Los Angeles. Photograph: Aude Guerrucci/Reuters Share Updated at 00.04 BST