Among the many neighborhoods affected by protests in LA is Little Tokyo, a popular shopping and living space for many in the Japanese and Japanese-American communities. The violence, looting, and graffiti around Downtown LA have led to a decrease in sales and security measures. As a result, many businesses in the area have boarded up their windows to prevent further damage. Flyers in support of the immigrant community also adorn those walls. One version reads, “Little Tokyo is a community of immigrants. We are residents, restaurant workers, neighborhood kids, mom-and-pop stores, and elders. NO ICE IN LITTLE TOKYO.”

The Los Angeles Press Group and investigative reporting site Status Coup sued the city and LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell Monday over increasing violence against journalists. According to NPR, the complaint alleges that officers patrolling protest areas “are routinely violating journalists’ rights.”

“Being a journalist in Los Angeles is now a dangerous profession,” the complaint stated. “LAPD unlawfully used force and the threat of force against Plaintiffs, their members and other journalists to intimidate them and interfere with their constitutional right to document public events as the press.”

Conflicts between Los Angeles police and the press are not unheard of. In August 1970, Los Angeles Times columnist and KMEX (Univision 34) news director Ruben Salazar was killed during a protest against the Vietnam War when a tear gas projectile flew through a hotel door and struck him in the head.

Citing Salazar’s death, LA Press Club press rights chair Adam Rose told NPR, “This isn’t new here. History repeats itself. The LAPD — and often the L.A. Sheriff’s Department as well — arrest and attack journalists. They will arrest them. They will detain them. And they will cause serious injury as well with these ‘less-lethal’ munitions.”

Since ICE raids began in Los Angeles, the Press Club has established a database for incidents between local journalists and law enforcement. To date, they have recorded over three dozen instances of violence against the press.

On June 9, over 60 news organizations and press rights groups signed a letter to Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, demanding that federal officers and those working under their direction “refrain from any unlawful, indiscriminate, and excessive use of force against members of the press and public who are merely covering events of public concern in the Los Angeles area.”

In a Father’s Day post to Truth Social, President Donald Trump ordered ICE to expand its deportation efforts to “America’s largest cities,” naming Los Angeles, Chicago and New York—all under Democratic leadership. Trump issued the order to “achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”

Chants, signs and flags have filled the LA air since early June, all in response to ongoing ICE raids that have kept communities on edge.

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