Tensions mount in LA, police and protesters clash over immigration raids

Tensions erupted in downtown Los Angeles as riot police clashed with demonstrators protesting a series of federal immigration raids.

The confrontations followed a coordinated operation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

This resulted in dozens of arrests across the city on Friday.

In the early hours of the day, ICE agents conducted widespread raids in various neighborhoods throughout Los Angeles.

Caravans of unmarked vehicles, some resembling military transport, moved across the city, carrying heavily armed federal agents.

According to the Los Angeles City News Service, these raids targeted multiple locations including:

• an apparel store located in the city’s Fashion District,
• a Home Depot in the Westlake area, and,
• a clothing warehouse in South Los Angeles,

The sweeping federal action sparked immediate backlash.

Protesters began gathering outside a detention center where several of the arrested individuals were believed to be held.

Demonstrators also defaced the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, spray-painting anti-ICE slogans on its walls in protest of the raids.

Although the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) did not participate in the ICE operations, their officers were deployed later to manage the growing unrest.

Equipped with batons and tear gas launchers, LAPD officers confronted demonstrators after officials ordered the crowd to disperse late Friday night.

Some protesters reportedly threw chunks of broken concrete at officers, prompting a response from police who fired tear gas and pepper spray into the crowd.

LAPD spokesperson Drake Madison confirmed that the protest had been declared an unlawful assembly, which legally required attendees to vacate the area or face arrest.

However, as of the most recent reports, the exact number of people arrested remains unclear.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass publicly condemned the federal immigration raids, criticizing them for creating fear among local communities and undermining the city’s sense of safety.

She described the operation as an unnecessary disruption to the lives of residents, many of whom already live in fear of immigration enforcement.

Caleb Soto, a representative from the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, reported that between 70 and 80 people had been detained during Friday’s ICE raids.

However, he noted that only three attorneys had been granted access to the detention facility to provide legal counsel to those held.

Soto told Al Jazeera that the disorganized and chaotic manner in which the raids were carried out reflected a deliberate strategy by the Trump administration to incite fear among immigrant populations.

Soto also raised concerns about the legality of the actions taken by ICE agents.

According to him, many of the agents conducted arrests without the judicial warrants typically required under U.S. law.

The law maintains that warrants that must be signed by a judge based on probable cause.

He further alleged that ICE agents specifically targeted job sites known to employ large numbers of immigrant or undocumented workers.

In such situations, if anyone attempted to flee, agents interpreted the act as “reasonable suspicion” of undocumented status and proceeded with arrests.

He called this tactic unconstitutional and described it as a pretext for broader immigration sweeps that unfairly target vulnerable populations.

“They’re showing up at worksites where they know people are undocumented,” Soto said.

“If someone runs, that becomes their excuse to detain everyone nearby.”

The Los Angeles raids are part of a larger pattern of immigration enforcement actions under President Donald Trump’s administration.

Since taking office in January, Trump has aggressively ramped up federal immigration operations, pledging to remove undocumented migrants from the U.S. in record numbers.

In line with this policy direction, the administration announced in late May that it would end the temporary protected status (TPS) of approximately 530,000 individuals.

This decision affects people from several countries, including Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela.

It reportedly placed many at risk of deportation despite having lived legally in the U.S. for years under special protections.

As protests continue and tensions rise, the impact of these federal policies is reverberating through immigrant communities and drawing sharp criticism from local leaders, legal advocates, and civil rights organizations.

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