Lawsuit: DHS Officers Accused of Assaulting Protesters During L.A. Immigration Raids
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is being sued for alleged assaults on anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters in Los Angeles, California, as federal agents were conducting illegal immigration sweeps.
The complaint was filed on Thursday by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Southern California on behalf of several protesters, journalists, and legal observers, the Daily Beast reported Friday.
The violent protests broke out in the Los Angeles area as leftists tried to stop ICE agents from doing their jobs, and anti-Trump “No Kings” protests happened days later.
WATCH — Trump: “We Stopped Tremendous Destruction and Death” in Los Angeles:
The recent complaint reads:
On June 6, 2025, the Trump administration began an ongoing series of indiscriminate and terrifying immigration raids across Southern California. DHS officers have come in masks, wearing heavy paramilitary gear and without visible identifying information, brandishing rifles, and abducting community members from churches, local business, and courthouses where they seek their constitutionally protected right to due process.
Protests began almost immediately.
…
At each protest, DHS officers have unnecessarily and indiscriminately targeted, assaulted, tear-gassed, pepper-sprayed, and shot protesters exercising their right to assemble to voice their disagreement with the government, reporters covering these events, and legal observers seeking to document the government’s conduct. DHS is abusing militarized weapons in ways that needlessly imperil everyone present—and that federal courts have repeatedly prohibited—to deter people from reporting, observing, and protesting. As promised by Secretary of DHS, Kristi Noem, and President Trump, they have used the violent spectacle created by DHS as a reason to commandeer the National Guard and send the United States Marines into California, which in turn has generated more widespread protests.
It is important to note that ICE agents are facing a 500 percent increase in assaults as they work to find and arrest illegals across the nation, DHS data obtained by Breitbart News showed, the outlet reported Thursday.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told Breitbart News, “Just this week, an ICE officer was dragged 50 yards by a car while arresting an illegal alien sex offender. Every day the men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.”
McLaughlin added, “Make no mistake, Democrat politicians like Hakeem Jeffries, Mayor Wu of Boston, Governor Tim Walz, and Mayor Bass of Los Angeles are contributing to the surge in assaults of our ICE officers through their repeated vilification and demonization of ICE. From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is despicable. This violence against ICE must end.”
Following the eruption of the violent rioting in Los Angeles, Noem said during a press conference that assaulting a law enforcement officer is not acceptable.
“If you assault a law enforcement officer we are going to come after you and we are going to arrest you, prosecute you, and put you away,” Noem said.
Anti-ICE leftists have been disrupting illegal immigration raids while also doxing the identities of federal agents, which puts their lives in danger, Breitbart News reported in February.
The outlet also reported this week that “the vast majority of the illegal aliens arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the first 100 days of President Donald Trump’s presidency were criminal illegal aliens with convictions or pending charges, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) clarified on Monday.”
