Print
Close
ICE sweeps through LA businesses as local Democrats cry foul over Trump administration's enforcement actions
By Greg Wehner, Landon Mion
Published June 06, 2025
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) carried out operations at businesses across Los Angeles on Friday, sparking protests and clashes outside at least one location, which resulted in authorities throwing flash bangs in an effort to disperse the crowd.
The Associated Press reported that immigration advocates confirmed nearly 45 people were arrested across seven locations. The locations included two Home Depot stores, a store in the fashion district and a doughnut shop, according to Angelica Salas, the executive director of the Coalition of Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA), who spoke at an afternoon news conference to denounce the actions.
David Huerta, the president of SEIU California, a major labor union, was arrested and charged for impeding a federal agent while protesting, the U.S. Attorney’s office said.
"Let’s be clear: ICE injured and detained the president of SEIU California for peacefully observing," SEIU California wrote on X. "ICE picked the wrong side. The wrong state. The wrong person. and the wrong union. David Huerta stood up. And 750,000 SEIU workers are standing with him."
Angelica Salas, of The Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, speaks outside the Federal Building after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, responded that Huerta is a "respected leader, a patriot, and an advocate for working people" and that "no one should ever be harmed for witnessing government action."
Videos of the operations taken by bystanders and TV news crews showed people being escorted across a Home Depot parking lot by federal agents. The videos also captured clashes between protesters and federal agents at detention sites.
KTLA shared aerial footage of agents outside a clothing store in the fashion district escorting individuals out of a building and toward two large white vans. The individuals were detained and had their hands tied behind their backs. Before being placed into the vans, agents were seen patting the detained individuals down.
One man has already been sent back to Mexico after being picked up at a Home Depot on Friday morning, Yliana Johansen-Mendez, chief program officer for the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, told The Associated Press. The man’s family contacted the organization, and one of their attorneys was waiting for hours to speak to him inside the detention center. Authorities later said he had already been removed, and the man contacted his family to say he was back in Mexico.
Agents executing the operations wore vests bearing FBI, ICE and HSI (Homeland Security Investigations).
In one video, officers were seen throwing smoke bombs and flash bangs onto the street to get people to disperse, so the authorities could drive away in vans, SUVs and military-style vehicles.
TRUMP DHS ISSUES WARNING AFTER ANTI-ICE PROTESTERS ATTEMPT TO DISRUPT ARREST
Law enforcement detain a protester at the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Dozens of protesters gathered Friday evening outside a federal detention center in Los Angeles, chanting "set them free, let them stay!" Other protesters held signs that said "ICE out of LA!" while others led chants and shouted from megaphones.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on the operations executed in Los Angeles on Friday.
HSI spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O’Keefe told the Los Angeles Times that federal agents were executing search warrants relating to the harboring of people illegally in the country.
At the warehouse in the fashion district, agents had a search warrant after a judge found there was probable cause that the employer was using fictitious documents for some of its workers, U.S. Attorney’s Office spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy told The Associated Press.
Still, local and state officials raised issues with the federal agencies’ actions on Friday.
Protesters gather at the U.S. Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
"Our community is under attack and is being terrorized. These are workers, these are fathers, these are mothers, and this has to stop," Salas said while being surrounded by a crowd holding signs protesting ICE. "Immigration enforcement that is terrorizing our families throughout this country and picking up our people that we love must stop now."
CALIFORNIA HOME OF SUSPECT ACCUSED OF DOXXING ICE AGENTS RAIDED AND SEARCHED
While police were spotted on the scene, Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) Chief Jim McDonnell said his officers were not involved in civil immigration enforcement.
"Today the LAPD became aware that federal law enforcement agencies conducted activities in the City of Los Angeles. I’m aware that these actions cause anxiety for many Angelenos, so I want to make it clear: the LAPD is not involved in civil immigration enforcement," the chief said in a statement posted on X. "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."
McDonnell also said a policy in place since 1979 has barred police officers from initiating law enforcement action simply to determine a person’s immigration status.
Instead, he added, the LAPD remains focused on initiatives that improve the quality of life for all city residents, regardless of immigration status.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement on X that as a mayor of a "proud city of immigrants," who she said contributes to the city in many ways, she was "deeply angered" by the actions taken by federal agencies in LA on Friday.
"These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city," Bass said. "We will not stand for this."
Bass also spoke to reporters on Friday, saying, "We are gonna fight for all Angelenos, regardless of when they got here, whether they have papers or not. We are a city of immigrants and this impacts hundreds of thousands of Angelenos."
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., called the ICE raids across Los Angeles a continuation of a "disturbing pattern of extreme and cruel" immigration enforcement operations across the U.S.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"These indiscriminate raids prove once again that the Trump administration cares about nothing but instilling harm and fear in our communities to drive immigrants into the shadows," he said in a statement shared on X. "It will not work. This fearmongering is not going to change the fact that immigrants are valued members of our communities who contribute to our society and economy, and my office will demand accountability for today’s actions."
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-sweeps-through-la-businesses-local-democrats-cry-foul-over-trump-administrations-enforcement-actions