A series of surprise U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement sweeps in downtown Los Angeles on Friday prompted fierce pushback from protesters and officials who decried the actions as “cruel and unnecessary” and said they stoked fear in the immigrant community.
Tensions remained high in downtown into the evening. The Los Angeles Police Department declared an unlawful assembly and ordered about 200 protesters who remained gathered by the Los Angeles Federal Building to disperse around 7 p.m.
The use of so-called less-lethal munitions was authorized at 8 p.m. following reports of a small group of “violent individuals” throwing large pieces of concrete at officers, police said. A citywide tactical alert was issued shortly afterward.
The Coloma family, including children ages 4 and 12, stands in front of a police skirmish line off Alameda Street on Tuesday to protest the ICE raids.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Jonathan Amado, 30 holds a Bible with the words “Love Your Immigrant Neighbor” written on the inside pages during a prayer vigil at Grand Park on Tuesday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Flowers lie at the feet of National Guard members blocking the entrance of the Roybal Federal Building on Tuesday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
At dusk, protesters and police clash in downtown Los Angeles on Monday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Police officers direct anti-ICE protesters down Los Angeles Street, away from the Federal Building, on Monday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
A sign in front of the Superior Court building in downtown L.A. is vandalized.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Protesters start a dumpster fire in the middle of Main Street on Sunday night.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
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Los Angeles police officers shoot tear gas as they advance on demonstrators who formed a makeshift barricade downtown during a protest against immigration raids on Sunday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
Protesters clash with police downtown near a VA outpatient clinic on Sunday.
(Luke Johnson / Los Angeles Times)
Waymo taxis burn on Los Angeles Street.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
California Highway Patrol officers shield themselves from rocks thrown by demonstrators on the 101 Freeway downtown on Sunday.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
Protesters shut down the 101 Freeway as they clash with law enforcement in downtown Los Angeles amid the immigration raids in L.A. on Sunday.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Members of the National Guard are stationed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on Sunday,
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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A protester rides on a dirt bike in front of a burning car at Atlantic Avenue and East Alondra Boulevard in Compton on Saturday.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
A protester waves the Mexican flag in front of law enforcement during a protest in Compton on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Protesters continue to march toward a law enforcement line Saturday as Los Angeles residents push back against the ICE raids in Compton.
(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)
Los Angeles County sheriff’s officers control the perimeter of a fire that was ignited along Alondra Boulevard on Saturday in Compton.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Times)
Demonstrators protest outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and the Metropolitan Detention Center in response to ICE raids in Los Angeles.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
LAPD officers clear the streets and check on a man who fell down as protesters gather in response to ICE raids.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
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An anti-ICE protester throws back a tear gas canister at Los Angeles County sheriff’s officers on Saturday in Compton.
(Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times)
A protester carries the Mexican flag during a protest in Compton on Saturday.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
L.A. police clear the street outside the Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday.
(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)
Department of Homeland Security police arrest a demonstrator during a protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in response to ICE raids.
(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)
Two immigrant rights activists walk past new graffiti denouncing the police while joining a protest over multiple immigration sweeps across Los Angeles by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at the Metropolitan Detention Center.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Demonstrators protest outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and the Metropolitan Detention Center.
Jason Armond is a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times. A native of North Carolina, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he received a bachelor’s in media and journalism. His work as a photographer and videographer has been recognized by the Hearst Journalism Awards, the White House News Photographers Assn. and the North Carolina College Media Assn. As a freelance visual journalist, his work has been featured in several publications before joining The Times.
Myung J. Chun has been a photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 1999. He started as a still photographer and then moved to videography from 2007 to 2018. Chun won an Emmy in 2011 for his work on a multimedia project about innocent victims of gang violence. He previously worked for the Los Angeles Daily News, a position he started in 1988 while attending Cal State Northridge.
Gina Ferazzi grew up in the small New England town of Longmeadow, Mass. She has been a staff photographer with the Los Angeles Times since 1994. Her photos are a part of the staff Pulitzer Prizes for Breaking News in 2016 for the San Bernardino terrorist attack and for the wildfires in 2004. She’s an all-around photographer covering assignments from Winter Olympics, presidential campaigns to local and national news events. Her video documentaries include stories on black tar heroin, health clinics, women priests and Marine suicide. A two-sport scholarship athlete at the University of Maine, Orono, she still holds the record for five goals in one field hockey game.
Luke Johnson is a photojournalism intern for the Los Angeles Times. He has bachelor’s degrees in journalism and in cinema and television arts from Elon University, where he graduated in 2023. He is currently pursuing his master’s in new media and photojournalism from George Washington University. His work has appeared in USA Today, the New York Times, the Washington Post, Sports Illustrated and the Associated Press, among others. You can find his portfolio at www.lukergjphotography.com. When not on assignment, Johnson enjoys spending time outside exploring and getting lost.
Genaro Molina is an award-winning staff photographer for the Los Angeles Times. He has worked in journalism for more than 35 years starting at the San Francisco Chronicle. Molina has photographed the life and death of Pope John Paul II, the tragedy of AIDS in Africa, the impact of Hurricane Katrina, and Cuba after Castro. His work has appeared in nine books and his photographs have been exhibited extensively including at the Smithsonian Institute and the Annenberg Space for Photography.
Carlin Stiehl is a second-generation Romanian-Israeli and American photojournalist from Los Angeles and a staff photographer at the Los Angeles Times. He has worked intimately in communities of different value systems across the United States, from metropolitan centers to the outreaches of rural society. He has covered issues on human-environmental relationships in the Chesapeake, youth gun violence and immigrant housing in New England, drug addiction in Appalachia and more. He received his bachelor’s degree in film and television with a concentration in marine sciences from Boston University, where he specialized in narrative documentary storytelling, and is currently completing his master’s at Ohio University’s School of Visual Communication. Previously, he worked in media production in Ethiopia, the Chesapeake Bay Program, MLive and the Boston Globe.
