Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and several other L.A.-area mayors condemned the ICE raids happening in their region, saying residents are living in fear.

“A week ago, everything was peaceful in the city of Los Angeles. … Things began to be difficult on Friday when raids took place, and it’s important that I begin there because that is the cause of the problems that have happened in the city of Los Angeles and other cities,” Bass said at a news conference today. “This was provoked by the White House.”

Bass slammed the Trump administration for trying to cause “fear and panic,” adding that deploying military and National Guard troops was a “drastic and chaotic escalation and completely unnecessary.”

Other city leaders agreed.

“No one deserves to live in fear simply for seeking a better life or for seeking a better life for themselves or their loved ones,” Ventura Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios said.

Show more

Thirty mayors and city officials stood in solidarity with Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Wednesday during a news briefing. Here’s what some of them had to say about Trump’s immigration actions and the deployment of troops to the area:

Huntington Park Mayor Arturo Flores: “Our communities are not battlegrounds,” Flores said. “Deploying military forces and conducting militarized ICE raids in immigrant neighborhoods is not about public safety, it is about political theater that is rooted in fear.”

Paramount Mayor Peggy Lemons: “For many in our city, this has been one of the most devastating moments in recent memory. Lives have been disrupted, families are too afraid to leave their homes, and the very places that once served as gathering sports for joy, like our beloved Swap Meet, have been marred by fear,” she said. “Some are avoiding going to work… It continues to get worse as these loyal vendors are forced to stay away out of fear of losing their livelihood. For some, it’s the only way they feed their families. To see everyone hurt like this is heartbreaking.”

Ventura Mayor Jeannette Sanchez-Palacios: City officials are “outraged and heartbroken” by ICE’s targeting of immigrant families, she said. “These actions are not only inhumane, but they are also an affront to the values we uphold in Ventura, but also throughout the state of California,” Sanchez-Palacios said, adding that her city, about 68 northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and surrounding communities in Ventura County are largely agricultural and rely on immigrant labor. Local raids affect people on a national level, she said.

Vernon Mayor Judith Merlo: “These recent events have been stressful and upsetting for many in many challenging times, I want to reassure you the people of Los Angeles, southeast Los Angeles and throughout the region, that we are your public servants, your neighbors and your active partners striving to maintain safe and inclusive communities.”

‘Just stay open … make money where we can.’ Protest concerns, curfew hours hit Arts District restaurant

At first, there was a trickle of cancellations at Sampa restaurant in downtown after Friday’s protests over federal immigration enforcement in L.A.

By Sunday, the modern Filipino restaurant in the Arts District had lost more than 50% of its business, with reservations canceled and brunch walk-ins slowed to a halt.

“I think most of our diners travel to us and they get spooked,” said co-owner Jenny Valles. “They get really scared, like, ‘Well, I don’t know if I’m going to get caught up in the protests or the street closures, so we’re just going to stay away.’

“While 99% of L.A. is doing fine and living their lives, people don’t realize that 1% is greatly affected by this.”

On Tuesday evening, when Valles and her business partners — husband Peter Rosenberg and chef Josh Espinosa — learned of downtown’s 8 p.m. curfew, they canceled most of the night’s reservations and closed early to allow staff to return home safely. The restaurant is within the curfew zone.

Now they’re pivoting their business hours, hoping that running the weekend brunch menu on weekdays and starting dinner at 3 p.m. can help them sustain.

“We’re a small business, we can’t afford to close,” Valles said. “Our strategy is just: stay open, make money where we can, make sure we keep our lights on, make sure we keep our staff on.”

Espinosa estimates that the restaurant makes 80% of its revenue between the hours of 6 and 10 p.m.

With L.A. Mayor Karen Bass weighing more curfews, they’re concerned that they cannot afford to close for even one hour between brunch and dinner service.

Gov. Gavin Newsom of California delivered a speech on Tuesday, titled “Democracy at a Crossroads.” The following is a transcript of his remarks as broadcast online and on television channels:

I want to say a few words about the events of the last few days.

This past weekend, federal agents conducted large-scale workplace raids in and around Los Angeles. Those raids continue as I speak.

California is no stranger to immigration enforcement. But instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and people with final deportation orders, a strategy both parties have long supported, this administration is pushing mass deportations, indiscriminately targeting hardworking immigrant families, regardless of their roots or risk.

What’s happening right now is very different than anything we’ve seen before. On Saturday morning, when federal agents jumped out of an unmarked van near a Home Depot parking lot, they began grabbing people. A deliberate targeting of a heavily Latino suburb. A similar scene also played out when a clothing company was raided downtown.

In other actions, a U.S. citizen, nine months pregnant, was arrested; a 4-year-old girl, taken; families separated; friends, quite literally, disappearing.

In response, everyday Angelinos came out to exercise their Constitutional right to free speech and assembly, to protest their government’s actions. In turn, the State of California and the City and County of Los Angeles sent our police officers to help keep the peace and, with some exceptions, they were successful.

Like many states, California is no stranger to this sort of unrest. We manage it regularly, and with our own law enforcement. But this, again, was different.

What then ensued was the use of tear gas, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets, federal agents detaining people and undermining their due process rights.

Donald Trump, without consulting California law enforcement leaders, commandeered 2,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets, illegally and for no reason.

This brazen abuse of power by a sitting president inflamed a combustible situation, putting our people, our officers and even our National Guard at risk.

That’s when the downward spiral began. He doubled down on his dangerous National Guard deployment by fanning the flames even harder. And the president, he did it on purpose. As the news spread throughout L.A., anxiety for family and friends ramped up. Protests started again.

By night, several dozen lawbreakers became violent and destructive. They vandalized property. They tried to assault police officers. Many of you have seen video clips of cars burning on cable news.

If you incite violence — I want to be clear about this — if you incite violence or destroy our communities, you are going to be held to account. That kind of criminal behavior will not be tolerated. Full stop.

Already, more than 220 people have been arrested. And we’re reviewing tapes to build additional cases and people will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Again, thanks to our law enforcement officers and the majority of Angelenos who protested peacefully, this situation was winding down and was concentrated in just a few square blocks downtown.

But that, that’s not what Donald Trump wanted. He again chose escalation, he chose more force. He chose theatrics over public safety. He federalized another 2,000 Guard members.

He deployed more than 700 active U.S. Marines. These are men and women trained in foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement. We honor their service. We honor their bravery. But we do not want our streets militarized by our own armed forces. Not in L.A. Not in California. Not anywhere.

We’re seeing unmarked cars, unmarked cars in school parking lots. Kids afraid of attending their own graduation. Trump is pulling a military dragnet all across Los Angeles, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals. His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day laborers and seamstresses.

That’s just weakness, weakness masquerading as strength. Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities. They are traumatizing our communities. And that seems to be the entire point.

California will keep fighting. We’ll keep fighting on behalf of our people, all of our people, including in the courts.

Yesterday, we filed a legal challenge to President Trump’s reckless deployment of American troops to a major American city. Today, we sought an emergency court order to stop the use of the American military to engage in law enforcement activities across Los Angeles.

If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe. Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.

Trump and his loyalists, they thrive on division because it allows them to take more power and exert even more control.

And by the way, Trump, he’s not opposed to lawlessness and violence as long as it serves him. What more evidence do we need than January 6th.

I ask everyone: Take time, reflect on this perilous moment. A president who wants to be bound by no law or constitution, perpetuating a unified assault on American traditions.

This is a president who, in just over 140 days, has fired government watchdogs that could hold him accountable, accountable for corruption and fraud. He’s declared a war, a war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself. Databases quite literally are vanishing.

He’s delegitimizing news organizations and he’s assaulting the First Amendment. And the threat of defunding them. At threat, he’s dictating what universities themselves can teach. He’s targeting law firms and the judicial branch that are the foundations of an orderly and civil society. He’s calling for a sitting governor to be arrested for no other reason than to, in his own words, “for getting elected.”

And we all know, this Saturday, he’s ordering our American heroes, the United States military, and forcing them to put on a vulgar display to celebrate his birthday, just as other failed dictators have done in the past.

Look, this isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles. When Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard. he made that order apply to every state in this nation.

This is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next.

Democracy is next.

Democracy is under assault right before our eyes, this moment we have feared has arrived. He’s taking a wrecking ball, a wrecking ball to our founding fathers’ historic project: three coequal branches of independent government.

There are no longer any checks and balances. Congress is nowhere to be found. Speaker Johnson has completely abdicated that responsibility.

The rule of law has increasingly been given way to the rule of Don.

The founding fathers didn’t live and die to see this kind of moment. It’s time for all of us to stand up. Justice Brandeis, he said it best. In a democracy, the most important office — with all due respect, Mr. President — is not the presidency, and it’s certainly not governor. The most important office is office of citizen.

At this moment, at this moment, we all need to stand up and be held to account, a higher level of accountability. If you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please do it peacefully.

I know many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear. But I want you to know that you are the antidote to that fear and that anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence, to be complicit in this moment.

Do not give into him.

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An overnight curfew declared for downtown Los Angeles Tuesday resulted in 100 arrests overnight, according to L.A. Mayor Karen Bass.

The curfew, put in place to respond to looting and vandalism that broke out during ICE protests, is likely to return nightly as protests continue, Bass told LAist media partner KCAL News in an interview Wednesday morning.

The mayor said the overnight arrests were tied to breaking the curfew, not for vandalism or other destructive acts.

The curfew was in place from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday. It extended east to west from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway; and from north to south from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge. Although the initial curfew was for one night, when she announced it, Bass cautioned that she would consult with law enforcement and other local leaders on whether to extend the restrictions.

The area under curfew from 8 p.m. Tuesday to 6 a.m. Wednesday. Courtesy KCAL News via City of L.A. )

Bass said she made the decision to impose a curfew after 23 businesses were looted Monday night and other properties were vandalized.

“I think that if you drive through downtown L.A., the graffiti is everywhere and has caused significant damages to businesses and a number of properties,” she said.

Bass also stressed that the area under curfew is a small fraction of the city, she described it as about 1 square mile in a city that’s more than 500 square miles. [Fact check: The area appears to be slightly larger, although still a fraction of the overall city footprint.]

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell warned that non-residents caught within the curfew zone would face arrest.

“If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested,” he said.

The LAPD said it and other local agencies made 203 arrests between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning of people accused of failure to disperse, 17 arrests of people accused of violating curfew, one arrest of a person suspected of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one arrest of a person accused of shining a laser at a police airship.

Catch up on where things stand

The U.S. Attorney’s Office announced Wednesday that two Los Angeles County men had been charged with possessing Molotov cocktails during the protests in downtown L.A. and the city of Paramount. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

One of the defendants is a 23-year-old man from Paramount, who is accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail over a wall and in the direction of sheriff’s deputies during a protest on Saturday in that city. The other is a 27-year-old man from Long Beach, accused of holding a Molotov cocktail and a lighter during a protest on Sunday near federal buildings in downtown L.A.’s Civic Center. Both men are in custody, federal authorities said.

Two other people — a 32-year-old from Anaheim and a 43-year-old from Orange — face misdemeanor charges stemming from protests in Santa Ana. They are each accused of assault on a federal officer according to federal prosecutors. They are accused of throwing objects, including water bottles and beer cans, during the demonstrations in on Monday.

Meantime, the protests continue mostly in small areas of downtown L.A. and Orange County.

California state leaders have asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the military and the National Guard to police Los Angeles and other communities in the wake of immigration raids and the protests sparked as a result.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court. They filed the request Tuesday morning.

The Defense Department asked for 24 hours to file a response, and the court granted that request. Newsom and Bonta will then have a opportunity to respond.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer set a hearing on the state’s motion for Thursday afternoon.

In addition, Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday that focuses on the same issues. Bonta said this week that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully invoked a statute intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous. Local law enforcement, not the military, enforce the law within our borders,” Bonta said in a news release Tuesday. “The President continues to inflame tensions and antagonize communities. ”

About the protests — and White House — response so far

Protesters have confronted authorities in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since Friday over raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tensions continued to rise Monday and Tuesday between protesters and authorities, and between federal and local officials over how to respond. As of Tuesday afternoon, aerial TV news footage showed multiple people being arrested downtown and a crowd of protesters temporarily forcing both directions of the 101 Freeway close.

Last weekend, Trump administration officials announced they were calling up the California National Guard in response to what the White House said were “violent mobs” attacking “ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles.”

Trump indicated he would send more members of the guard to Southern California as well as other military support.

NPR confirmed later that 700 Marines would be sent to L.A. in a support role.

The 60-day deployment of National Guard and Marines to L.A. is expected to cost $134 million, Hegseth and other defense officials told a California congressman Tuesday.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told AirTalk, LAist’s daily news talk program, she had “no idea” what the National Guard troops and Marines heading for L.A. planned to do once they arrived, but she said she was certain they were not needed. She added that the city attorney is considering taking legal action against the Trump administration, similar to what Newsom and Bonta filed, although she doesn’t know yet what the lawsuit would look like.

What we know about the ICE raids to date

At a news conference Monday evening, Bass said she knew of five ICE raids that had occurred across the region, with at least two occurring within the city of L.A.

” ICE does not tell anybody where they’re going to go or when they’re going to be there,” Bass said. “I can’t emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live. It might be their workplace.”

The mayor condemned the actions of the federal agents.

“At the beginning of this administration we were told raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants,” she said.

“But I don’t know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people’s workplaces where they just trying to make a living. It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government.”

The federal immigration sweeps prompted anger, protest and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Outside City Hall on Sunday, Eli Lockwood of Hacienda Heights told LAist she was there for a planned demonstration to protest what she said were “disgusting attacks on our communities.”

“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said.

By Sunday morning, hundreds of National Guard members were on duty in downtown L.A., where two protests — one permitted and one not permitted — converged near the federal detention center.

The growing protest made for a rowdy and tense scene, punctuated by the sound of flash bangs and tear gas.

How are officials responding to the raids and protests?

Newsom on Sunday formally asked that Trump rescind the deployment he had ordered Saturday.

The governor called the plan to take over deployment from the state “a serious breach of state sovereignty,” and “purposefully inflammatory,” adding that it “will only escalate tensions,” and that he’d been in “close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need.”

Bass has said she supports Newsom’s request, adding that she had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from sending in troops.

U.S. National Guard are deployed outside the federal prison in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following a immigration raid protest the night before. Jae Hong / AP )

“The last thing this city needs is civil unrest that is provoked,” she said.

Trump said the move was needed on social media, turning the governor’s name into an insult: “If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

How is law enforcement scaling up?

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the imminent arrival of U.S. Marines would be more of a logistical strain.

“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city,” he said in a statement.

Now, hundreds of more law enforcement officers are also heading to Los Angeles. Newsom said Monday he’s working with partner agencies to send more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles “to clean up President Trump’s mess.”

“Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces,” he said in a statement. “State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region.”

A protester displays a poster as tear gas is used in the Metropolitan Detention Center of downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Eric Thayer/AP / FR171986 AP )

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is now formally requesting the deployment of officers from a range of neighboring jurisdictions, including the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff’s departments in Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

The competing orders came as Los Angeles officials braced for another day of protests against immigration raids that over the weekend became violent and destructive in downtown.

The Los Angeles Police Department said Monday it had arrested 50 people in connection with the protests over the weekend. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it had made five arrests, and California Highway Patrol made 19 arrests.

The LAPD said Tuesday that there were another 113 arrests overnight — 96 on suspicion of failure to disperse in the downtown area, 14 on suspicion of looting, and one each on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, resisting arrest and vandalism.

Several businesses were looted, according to the department, and two officers were injured but have since been released from a local hospital.

What have the protests been like?

In addition to the gathering outside City Hall, a larger crowd assembled outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday, near where Alameda Street crosses over the 101 Freeway. Images showed National Guard troops clashing with some of the protesters.

Police officers eventually moved in to disperse the crowd before police announced that the use of less-than-lethal munitions had been authorized. The LAPD also said on X that officers had reported people in the crowd “throwing concrete, bottles and other objects,” prompting arrests.

The scene in downtown L.A. on Sunday afternoon. Liz Baker / NPR )

Television news footage showed that several Waymo self-driving cars were vandalized, including at least two that were set on fire near Olvera Street, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the air.

Anna Benedict of Echo Park told LAist earlier in the day that the demonstration had been largely peaceful.

“I mean, everybody here wants to be peaceful,” she said. “We’ve been standing here for quite a while, and no one is menacing the National Guard. Everybody is just standing up for their own freedom.”

What’s the role of the National Guard?

Two starkly contrasting pictures of conditions in the L.A. area continued to be offered by Trump and his allies, compared with local and state officials.

While Fox News and other conservative media used captions like “L.A. Riots” and the term “rioters” was trending on X, closer to home, authorities described isolated skirmishes and urged calm. Some national outlets seem to think Paramount, where some violence was reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, whose district includes Paramount, told LAist Sunday morning that she’d been in close contact with the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department, which patrols the area.

“We don’t need additional assistance,” she said. “We have everything under control… the Sheriff’s [Department] in Paramount got everything under control yesterday and LAPD has cleared out downtown last night without the help of National Guard.”

The Sheriff’s Department told LAist that two deputies had been injured Saturday, treated at a hospital and released. It also said people threw bottles and set off fireworks; some were detained.

Bass and other local and state leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying there is no place for violence or attacks on police as people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Barragán said her constituents are upset: “People are angry. … They’re concerned. There’s a lot of anxiety about immigration enforcement.”

The effect ” is terrorizing the community, and now you send the National Guard, you know, against their own people, and that is of course going to escalate the situation, and we’re trying to deescalate. And I think this administration knows what they’re doing. They’re trying to have a distraction.”

What led up to Trump’s action

The conflict in Paramount, a city of about 56,000 residents south of downtown L.A., attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

As the situation there was still developing, L.A. County Sheriff’s Department officials said in a statement that “as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs.”

An anti-ICE protester challenges deputies in Paramount on Saturday. Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images )

At that point, the department said it requested additional resources “countywide.” The statement did not reference the National Guard.

“We will protect your right to peacefully protest,” Sheriff Robert Luna said in an interview included in the statement, “but we will not tolerate violence or destruction of property.”

The Sheriff’s Department also clarified that they were not participating in any immigration enforcement actions, saying: “When federal authorities come under attack and request assistance, we will support them and provide aid. However, this does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations; rather, our objective is to protect them from any violent attacks. Any assault on federal or local law enforcement is unacceptable.”

In Los Angeles by contrast, LAPD officials released a statement at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday calling the day’s protests in the city “peaceful” and commending “all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly,” adding that the department “appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day.”

Later in the evening, LAPD officers ordered protesters in downtown L.A. to disperse and closed Alameda between Los Angeles Street and 2nd Street to both pedestrians and vehicles.

The scene late Saturday in downtown Los Angeles near the central jail. Jordan Rynning / LAist )

What we know about the ICE raids

Initially, ICE officials said 44 people were arrested in the raids, although some news reports placed the number at more than 120 by late Saturday.

“ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles,” ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe said in a statement.

Confrontations between what appeared to be ICE officers and people in the streets of downtown L.A. could be seen in video aired on local television and shared on social media.

At times, uniformed agents or officers could be seen physically moving people who appeared to be blocking the officers and their vehicles.

Reports shared via the social media platform X said ICE was seen in the Garment District area of L.A. Another video showed federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Westlake, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, said her organization estimated there were at least 45 detentions.

Among them was Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta. They said Huerta had been injured and was receiving medical attention while in custody.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger,” Huerta said in a statement released by the union. “This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

Several immigrant rights leaders and activists, along with some city elected officials, attended a large rally Friday evening to share their reactions to the federal operations and call for a stop to them. Later, more than 300 people marched a few blocks toward the federal detention center.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. Jae C. Hong / AP )

Reaction from city officials

Since Friday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has been vocal in speaking out against the ICE raids.

“As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass said in a statement Friday. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.

“My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations,” the mayor continued. “We will not stand for this.”

All 15 members of the City Council released a joint statement that echoed some of the same points the Bass made.

“We condemn this in no uncertain terms: Los Angeles was built by immigrants and it thrives because of immigrants,” the statement read. “We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city.

“To every immigrant living in our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will fight for you,” the statement continued. “Los Angeles will continue to be a place that values and dignifies every human being, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Listen • 0:46 Listen: Immigration sweeps in LA Agents were met with anger and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was not involved in the ICE operations.

“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status,” he said.

After the sweeps, photographers captured several protesters being detained by officers. Addressing a crowd at a rally, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against previous statements by the Trump administration that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals.

“It’s never, ever, ever been the case,” Hernandez said. “Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that.”

Dozens of immigration activists gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest a series of federal immigration operations Friday, June 6, that resulted in several detentions. Frank Stoltze / LAist )

Councilmember Ysabel Jurado noted the timing of the ICE operations, stressing that they happened at a time when families and students are celebrating graduations and the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month.

“What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?” Jurado asked. “The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy.”

Mass deportations

Since Trump was elected, immigrant rights groups in Southern California have been on edge. Trump has promised “mass deportations” of unauthorized immigrants. There have been protests that have shut down freeways and high school walkouts by students protesting the administration.

“Los Angeles immigrant communities and allies have been preparing,” Andres Kwon of the American Civil Liberties Union told LAist in February.

The ACLU is part of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant rights, legal and faith-based groups that has a hotline for people to report ICE activity and to seek help after a raid.

CHIRLA and other groups have hosted workshops that teach undocumented immigrants how to assert their constitutional rights, as well as how to prepare for worst-case scenarios. They’ve been telling people they don’t have to allow a federal agent into their home without a warrant and don’t have to reveal their immigration status.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began distributing “red cards,” also known as “Know Your Rights” cards, to help people assert their rights and defend themselves if they encounter federal immigration agents.

The effort came as the Trump administration announced it would allow ICE to conduct arrests in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, dismantling policies dating back to 2011 .

Before L.A., ICE conducted high-profile enforcement actions in Chicago and Boston. Last week, an ICE raid on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood resulted in multiple arrests. While the raid was taking place, crowds gathered outside the restaurant where many people protested the action, filming the officers on their cellphones and surrounding their vehicles.

Detentions under Biden

Removals of immigrants by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol in the L.A. area were on the rise before Trump came into office. But the Washington Post reported earlier this year that ICE had struggled to boost arrest numbers despite an infusion of resources.

ICE/CBP removals in the L.A. Area of Operations, which includes much of Southern California, increased by more than 180% between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, according to ICE data. More than 3,551 people were removed in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.

Detentions also rose, according to the data.

While national detentions remained fairly constant over the past four years, L.A.-area detentions increased by 155% from 2022 to 2024, when 3,857 people were detained.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chris Newman, legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said earlier this year.

While in office, former President Joe Biden was under increasing political pressure to address illegal immigration.

“The Biden administration was focused on recent arrivals and people with criminal history,” Newman said.

From 2023 to 2024, the L.A. area had significant increases in detentions (432% increase from 217 to 1,154) and removals (547% increase from 223 to 1,443) of people who had not been convicted of crimes.

How we’re reporting on this

Many reporters, editors and producers have been contributing to this story, which first published on Friday, June 7, with Frank Stoltze’s byline, Dana Littlefield edited. Stoltze who was at the scene of the initial news conference and also reported from downtown L.A. over the weekend with Jared Bennett. Among other key contributors in the days since: Jordan Rynning, Josie Huang, Dañiel Martinez, Destiny Torres, Fiona Ng, Jason Wells, Ross Brenneman, Matt Ballinger, Erin Stone, Makenna Sieverston and Megan Garvey.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.