Los Angeles anti-ICE protesters harass DHS agents, military members on Independence Day

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Tensions are still high in southern California as immigration enforcement operations continue in the aftermath of the anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement riots last month.

The Department of Homeland Security has deployed additional resources to the region to carry out President Donald Trump’s directive to arrest illegal immigrants despite local resistance.

The unlawful assembly declaration angered the crowd; they claimed it was police who made it unlawful by pushing them into the street.

That resistance did not take a break this Independence Day.

Multiple far-left groups organized protests around Los Angeles County, with protesters mainly focusing on city hall and the federal building nearby. Waving Mexican flags and upside down American flags, the anti-ICE and anti-Trump crowd spread out to the front and the back of the federal building where U.S. Marines, National Guardsmen, and DHS agents were stationed to protect the facility.

Many in the crowd berated the service members for protecting the building that rioters had targeted barely a month ago. One agitator threatened to “knock” their teeth in because he did not care about going to jail.

Toward Friday evening protesters gathered behind the federal building to prevent federal vehicles from going in and out of the complex. This forced DHS agents and military members to come out to clear a path for the vehicles, which the crowd sometimes attacked.

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  Image source: Julio Rosas/Blaze Media  

An unlawful assembly was declared after agents briefly clashed with the crowd and rioters threw bottles at the police line. With help from Los Angeles Police officers, DHS agents and military members pushed the dwindling crowd away from federal building. The unlawful assembly declaration angered the crowd; they claimed it was police who made it unlawful by pushing them into the street.

While the protest was supposed to last until midnight, the upset crowd was forced away from the federal building by 8 p.m. Blaze Media did not observe any arrests during the course of the day.

Democrat Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass used Independence Day to call for an end to the federal immigration enforcement operations.

“This July 4th, let’s remember what patriotism really means: defending our values, our people, and our Constitution. Send the troops home. Stop the raids. Stand for freedom,” she said on X.

Once Trump signed the Big Beautiful Bill, the mayor again voiced her frustration with the federal government enforcing immigration laws.

“Instead of investing in housing, jobs, or health care, they’re funding fear — tearing families apart in our neighborhoods. These raids must end,” she added.

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