LASD, Federal Police Attack Press Covering ICE Protests

Police and federal agents fired crowd-control weapons at several reporters covering protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Los Angeles County, California.

Journalist and and videographer Sean Beckner-Carmitchel reported that the LA County Sheriff’s Department (LASD) dispersed a protest after an ICE operation in Paramount. Officers deployed tear gas, percussion grenades, and other so-called “less lethal” munitions. Federal authorities shot at protesters, too. 

A tear gas canister, according to Beckner-Carmitchel, hit him in the head. His face was covered in the CS agent, and Beckner-Carmitchel later said that the canister appeared to have been fired by Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents, which are part of ICE. 

LA Daily News reporter Ryanne Mena was struck by the tear gas and hurt. Beckner-Carmitchel and Mena left the protest for the emergency room. Fortunately, there were no severe injuries. Mena said it was the second day in a row that federal agents had targeted them. 

In a separate incident, journalist Ben Camacho of The Southlander shared that the LASD shot him twice at the “Paramount/Compton protest this evening while reporting/photographing.” He had a press pass around his neck. 

“Unsure what hit me both times, but they hit like a sledgehammer and without immediate warning. Elbow is all wrapped with gauze and knee is weak,” Camacho added. Then he thanked the person who helped him leave the scene. “I don't know who you are but I would likely be more injured if you were not there to carry/walk with me.”

Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter for LA Taco, said “federal police” shot him in the finger with a “pepper ball,” and that he was hit “multiple times in the back” with “less-lethal” rounds. 

Video shared by Ray showed a Univision crew and other press scrambling for cover as federal police fired pepper balls. 

LASD even fired on a local news truck and TV camera, allegedly because kids that were “throwing rocks” were hiding.

Adam Rose, the chair of the press rights committee for the Los Angeles Press Club, tracked the incidents that occurred in LA County on June 7. At least 11 incidents were tallied.

“Law enforcement is violently targeting press at protests around Los Angeles, from easily recognizable ‘mainstream’ outlets to freelancers and independents. ALL press have explicit legal protections in California,” Rose posted. He also included “#JournalismIsNotACrime.”

Rose logged an incident involving freelance reporter Nick Stern, who was hit by a "suspected 40mm 'less lethal' munition embedded in his leg." The injury will "require surgery."

It is common for spikes in police incidents against journalists to occur as protests erupt. The Freedom of the Press Foundation’s U.S. Press Freedom Tracker observed large numbers of incidents in 2017 after Trump’s first inauguration, 2020 after George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police, 2021 as Black Lives Matter protests continued, and 2024 as protests, especially student-led encampments, opposed Israel’s war on Gaza. 

The violence against LA residents and the press is likely to escalate, given that President Donald Trump “federalized” 2,000 troops from the California National Guard for deployment to crush those rebelling against ICE. 

Elizabeth Goitein, the senior director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security Program, told the New York Times that no president since President Lyndon B. Johnson had “activated a state’s National Guard force without a request from the state’s governor.” (Though in 1965, the troops were sent to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators, not quell them.) 

Pentagon Secretary Pete Hegseth took the threat of repression a step farther, pledging to deploy “active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton” if ICE continues to face resistance.

“President Trump's deployment of federalized National Guard troops in response to protests is unnecessary, inflammatory, and an abuse of power. By taking this action, the Trump administration is putting Angelenos in danger, creating legal and ethical jeopardy for troops, and recklessly undermining our foundational democratic principle that the military should not police civilians,” declared Hina Shamsi, the director of the National Security Project at the American Civil Liberties Union. 

Shamsi noted that the protests were in response to “dangerous ICE-led immigration raids over the last two days, and the arrest of California SEIU president David Huerta.”

When Trump federalized the California National Guard troops for deployment, he did not invoke the Insurrection Act. Regardless of whether he does or not, it is increasingly likely that the world will observe U.S. military personnel firing weapons at U.S. citizens as they provide “force protection” for ICE. Such violence would also impact the press.

You can support the journalism of Sean Beckner-Carmitchel by looking him up on Venmo or Cashapp under @acatwithnews ; support journalism by Lexis-Olivier Ray by looking him up on Venmo under @lexis-ray ; support journalism by Mel Buer on Venmo or Patreon; and/or support journalism on policing in LA at filmthepolicela.com/support-us