DHS agents shoot anti-ICE protesters with less-lethal weapons over Labor Day weekend
Homeland Security agents deployed less-lethal weapons at anti-ICE protesters at the Metropolitan Detention Center in the evening following a Labor Day sit-in at City Hall, resulting in eight arrests, one person requiring an ambulance, and multiple injured protesters and journalists.
“This is fascism on display,” said Joe Harmon, a teacher who Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents arrested at the protest. “You have people, the most vulnerable people in our society, including a lot of my students, being affected by all the Trump nonsense. And these guys are here (National Guardsmen), willingly or not, defending it.”
According to Harmon, he was arrested for failing to comply with an order; an agent told him to move from a bollard on the sidewalk and he refused, remarking that it was a public sidewalk. The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Special Response Unit responded by swarming Harmon, firing less-lethal rounds into the crowd as he fled.
The sound of projectile launchers and federal agents yelling conflicting orders disoriented the space. Protesters ran as rubber bullets flew by and pelted people on the head.
Kea Lane, who claims ICE is “kidnapping and disappearing” her community members, said this occurrence is common. Lane is an activist who routinely attends the 24-hour protest at the detention center.
“They target specific protesters they deem to be threats, regardless of what they’ve done. They make untruthful claims and charges against people,” Lane said.
Since June, DHS — with National Guardsmen on standby — has skirmished almost nightly with protesters outside the detention center, a migrant-holding facility, in response to mass deportation efforts in Los Angeles County.
In response, some protesters started Occupy ICE LA, a 24-hour protest collective set up across the street from the detention center, which documents and accosts DHS agents throughout the day.
Protesters haven’t left the encampment in weeks despite almost nightly skirmishes with DHS and multiple removals by the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD).
According to LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell, the LAPD doesn’t assist with immigration enforcement and hasn’t since 1979. In a June press statement, McDonnell reiterated the policy to “make it clear.”
Since then, the LAPD has regularly dispersed anti-ICE protests, including at ICE immigration raids. DHS started mass deportations sweeps in Los Angeles County by arresting 44 migrants on June 6; this was followed by additional raids targeting farm workers, day laborers and street vendors. ICE is also appearing at schools, churches, and mandated immigration check-ins at federal facilities.
Occupy ICE LA held a sit-in at City Hall at 4 p.m. before marching through downtown. Activists delivered speeches on the lawn regarding ICE, the Palestinian genocide in Gaza by Israel, as per the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and the struggle of Indigenous people.
According to Trisden Shaw, a professor of ethnic studies at Santa Monica College, these topics are interlinked through colonialism. Shaw said the U.S. dominates the world through colonization, which is why the country is militarily involved in different places.
On the South Lawn, an activist who has been involved in the Abolish ICE movement since 2018 said during a speech, “I have never seen the amount of aggression that I’ve seen at these protests.” He called them “mercenaries” and demanded ICE to “get the fuck out of L.A.,” before telling the crowd they should be concerned.
“Even if you’re not directly affected by it, it is your problem. It’s your issue because this is more than just an immigration issue; this is a human rights issue,” he said. “People’s human rights are being violated left and right.” This protester was later arrested.
After the speeches, protesters spilled onto west First Street in front of the LAPD Headquarters. Protesters displayed their signs, waved flags and danced alongside the road.
People on motorcycles dashed around the street, performing burnouts and wheelies to a crowd of cheering protesters. Incoming traffic honked and drivers raised fists in solidarity as they drove by. Protesters chanted and marched towards the detention center around 7 p.m.
A few people banged, kicked, and rattled the newly installed black, metal, anti-climb fence at the detention center, but most just shouted from the street. One protester shot a firework, while another kicked the gate until it opened. People cheered and mocked as DHS approached, but most maintained their distance, and no one stepped onto federal property.
According to Shaw, “a peaceful protest can be deemed violent very quickly. Repressive and violent actions from police could spiral out of control quickly. Organizers have to ensure that people aren’t reacting, but human beings are human beings. One action is enough to deem it a violent protest; when that label comes, it opens the floodgates for tear gas, rubber bullets.”
A man holding a Mexican American flag helped close the gate. Then, a DHS agent fired a pepper ball, a hard plastic sphere filled with a chemical irritant that bursts on impact, into the fence, covering protesters in irritant.
Protesters fled, seeking cover, but they returned to the gate, yelling “peaceful protest.”
After a DHS agent fired a pepper ball, two protesters jumped on the fence, catching agents’ attention, and raised their middle fingers in opposition before spray-painting “Fuck ICE” under fire. Protesters threw water bottles from the crowd as pepper bullets exploded off the fence, with some pepper balls making it through and hitting non-protester cars idling in traffic.
DHS and ICE’s Special Response Team then moved onto the sidewalk to commence dispersal tactics on the other side of the fence. Most protesters retreated and journalists wearing “PRESS” markings moved forward, waiting for action. Before coming out, one federal agent stuck his arm out of the gate and pepper-sprayed the vicinity, including identifiable journalists.
Protesters threw stink bombs at the agents’ feet as they exploded out of the gate, ambushing people and shooting less-lethal rounds into the crowd.
“They were shooting at innocent protesters, innocent civilians, who came up to document them violently detaining and snatching people off the street,” Lane said. “This should be far past the point of alarming.”
Protesters managed to lift a fence panel off its hinges and lay it on the floor during a skirmish. A person with a megaphone then jumped on top of the panel and said, “Look at this shit, they couldn’t even get a better fucking fence.”
DHS and protesters skirmished for hours. Agents would explode out of the gate and swarm the crowd, tackling people and creating mass panic before retreating. Women with megaphones walked up to the DHS skirmish line and called agents “cowards,” “slave catchers,” and “human traffickers.”
LAPD arrived before 10 p.m. and declared an unlawful assembly. Officers set a perimeter on the intersection of North Alameda and East Aliso Street, then formed a rolling police line, carrying plastic handcuffs and 40-millimeter sponge round launchers. They pushed protesters towards East Temple Street, away from the detention center, shouting “move,” as they stepped in unison.
Protesters yelled, “You’re not supposed to be helping them,” “The bad guys are behind you,” and “Why don’t you care about them shooting us?”
LAPD officers shouted at protesters and threatened to arrest journalists for not complying with the dispersal order, despite a still-standing temporary restraining order (TRO) granting increased protections to journalists.
According to federal U.S. District Judge Hernan Vera’s order, “the likelihood of repeated confrontations” coupled with the LAPD’s “sustained pattern of conduct,” merited the TRO. LAPD can’t restrict journalists’ movement, shoot them with less-lethal weapons or obstruct, assault or arrest journalists during protests.
William Gude, known online as Film the Police LA, recorded an LAPD sergeant disregarding the TRO. Gude later identified the sergeant as Jose L. Vazquez from the Hollenbeck Division after he refused to identify himself and didn’t have it displayed on his helmet.
Gude reminded Vazquez of the court exemptions for journalists. Vazquez said, “It doesn’t matter right now,” and threatened to arrest Gude.
The confrontation caught the attention of an LAPD captain, who corrected Vazquez after he refused to let Gude talk to a superior officer.
“You’re absolutely right,” the captain said to Gude. Vazquez protested before waving off the captain and walking away.
Most protesters left around 10 p.m., but some people stayed across the street. Both parties stood still, facing off on different street corners. And in quick, random bursts, a dozen officers sprinted across the corner and arrested people.
In one instance, police chased a man who evaded them. While returning, an officer found an older woman huddled in a dark alleyway. Officers swarmed and arrested her. They later arrested another protester who smiled and laughed as LAPD officers escorted him away.
According to the LAPD’s Central Division X account, the LAPD arrested eight people for “various offenses,” and no one was injured during the unlawful assembly. LAPD and the officials at the detention center declined the Corsair’s request for comment.
The freedom of protest is the right to assembly and petition. These are guaranteed protections under the First Amendment in the United States, but it “Doesn’t always play out that way,” according to Shaw. Sometimes protesters don’t get what they want.
On Sept. 8, the Supreme Court issued a pause on the lower courts’ TRO, allowing for roving immigration stops based solely on race, career, location or language.