June 13, 2025 - News on protests over Trump’s immigration crackdown

We’ve wrapped up our live coverage for the day. You can read more about the protests and Trump’s immigration crackdown here.

A flower is placed in front of members of the National Guard as they confront protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Friday.

Senior US District Judge Charles Breyer’s ruling barring President Donald Trump from taking over the California National Guard last night was swiftly blocked, but that fact doesn’t erase the searing messages he sent on the First Amendment and militarization of America’s streets.

During the Los Angeles protests, Trump, White House staffers, Cabinet members and GOP allies have all repeated claims they are an “insurrection” or “rebellion” against the United States.

Breyer wasn’t having it.

“Even accepting the questionable premise that people armed with fireworks, rocks, mangoes, concrete, chairs, or bottles of liquid are ‘armed’ … the Court is aware of no evidence in the record of actual firearms – there is little evidence of whether the violent protesters’ actions were ‘open or avowed,’” he wrote.

First Amendment liberties are also at stake.

“[I]ndividuals’ right to protest the government is one of the fundamental rights protected by the First Amendment, and just because some stray bad actors go too far does not wipe out that right for everyone,” Breyer, a Bill Clinton appointee, wrote. “The idea that protesters can so quickly cross the line between protected conduct and ‘rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States’ is untenable and dangerous.”

Going further, the judge suggested some changes on the ground.

“Federal agents and property may actually well be served by de-militarization and a concurring de-escalation of the situation,” Breyer wrote.

“Plaintiffs and the citizens of Los Angeles face a greater harm from the continued unlawful militarization of their city, which not only inflames tensions with protesters, threatening increased hostilities and loss of life, but deprives the state for two months of its own use of thousands of National Guard members to fight fires, combat the fentanyl trade, and perform other critical functions,” he said.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals did not comment on the legality or reasoning behind Breyer’s order when it paused it Thursday night, but his rhetoric should be expected to be seen as the legal battles continue.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said he assured the federal government “We got this” when asked about the possible deployment of National Guard troops to protests expected across the city over the weekend.

The city’s police department is well-prepared to handle protests, Adams said at a Friday afternoon news conference. He said the city was coordinating closely with federal partners.

“We expect large numbers of New Yorkers to be out in our streets, and the 34,000 members of the New York City Police Department, led by our team, will be protecting everyone,” he said. “We want to keep all New Yorkers safe, whether protesting or going about your everyday life.”

New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch stressed violence or lawbreaking at protests would not be tolerated.

“For those who intend to commit crimes tomorrow, for those who are coming to incite violence, to cause property damage, to attack our cops, you will be met with the full strength and determination of the greatest police department in the world,” Tisch said.

“Do not turn your exercise of cherished First Amendment rights into criminal conduct,” she went on. “Because my orders are clear: If individuals at the protest tomorrow are committing crimes, they will be arrested.”

“Attacking our officers or police property will not be tolerated and will be met with a swift and decisive response,” she added.

LAPD officers arrest protesters who failed to disperse after an "unlawful assembly" was declared in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

As Los Angeles entered its third night of curfew, authorities made over three dozen arrests in downtown, according to the LAPD.

A breakdown:

During the crowd control situation, numerous less-lethal munitions were used, the LAPD said.

Remember: Los Angeles is under a nighttime curfew lasting from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Pacific Time. The curfew aims to “stop bad actors who are taking advantage of the President’s chaotic escalation,” LA Mayor Karen Bass wrote in a post on X this week, adding “Law enforcement will arrest individuals who break the curfew, and you will be prosecuted.”

Approximately 200 active-duty Marines will begin protecting federal property and personnel in Los Angeles Friday amid protests in the area, according to Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman.

The two Marine companies, part of the full battalion of 700 Marines mobilized on Monday in response to the protests, will take over the role of protecting the Wilshire Federal Building, where National Guard troops had been posted, at 12 p.m. Pacific Time, Sherman told reporters on Friday.

They “will focus on the protection of federal property and personnel,” Sherman said, and will not be performing law enforcement activities. The Marines will also be equipped with “standard crowd control gear, which includes a helmet, their face shield, a shield, baton and gas masks,” he added.

The National Guard members who were protecting the Wilshire Federal Building will transition to protecting federal agents once the Marines take over, Sherman said.

Sherman, who oversees the 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Maries called by the Trump administration to Los Angeles, said none of the Marines or Guard troops have detained anyone. The military members are authorized to do so temporarily when all other de-escalation efforts fail, until law enforcement officials can arrive on scene to make an arrest.

Remember: The Marines have been undergoing training in recent days in preparation to be sent into Los Angeles, CNN has reported. Their training includes “a comprehensive review” of the Standing Rules for the Use of Military Force, or SRUF training, led by Marine Corps JAG officers, Sherman said, as well as de-escalation techniques.

Sen. Alex Padilla is removed from a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday.

The League of United Latin American Citizens National President Roman Palomares called the forcible removal of Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference on Thursday, “a calculated strike against the fundamental right to question government power.”

LULAC officials called for a full congressional review of the incident, in a press conference on Friday. Palomares emphasized he doesn’t believe Padilla was “trying to instigate.”

“He was trying to ask questions, and that was the proper forum,” he said.

Palomares said ongoing ICE raids “are not immigration enforcement,” calling them “state sponsored trauma, being inflicted on peaceful working individuals and communities.”

“What happened to Sen. Padilla mirrors what is happening to our families. The image of security agents dragging a Latino senator from a public event, is shockingly similar to what our community individuals are enduring around the country,” Palomares added.

“When Latino communities are criminalized and electoral officials are assaulted, for demanding answers - every American should see the writing on the wall and speak up,” the LULAC president said, recommending that this weekend’s anti-ICE protest happen peacefully. “Violence is not going to get us anything.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents stand guard outside Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey on Thursday.

Four detainees have escaped from a federal immigration detention center in Newark, New Jersey, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

The detainees were held at Delaney Hall, a privately owned 1,000-bed facility that Immigration and Customs Enforcement uses as a detention center.

McLaughlin said additional law enforcement partners “have been brought in to find these escapees and a BOLO has been disseminated.” She also encouraged the public to call 911 or the ICE Tip Line: 866-DHS-2-ICE with any information that may lead to finding the escapees.

Some context: This is the same facility where federal and local police officers responded to reports of a fight that had broken out after detainees were allegedly fed insufficient lunch after going more than 20 hours without food, CNN reported last night.

Last month, several Democratic politicians protesting the facility’s opening clashed with federal agents. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for trespassing and held in custody for several hours.

Video shared by an immigrant advocacy group showed demonstrators trying to gather around vehicles leaving Delaney Hall last night:

Protesters try to block vehicles at Newark immigration detention facility

00:22 • Source: CNN

Protesters try to block vehicles at Newark immigration detention facility

00:22

Video Credit: NJ Alliance for Immigrant Justice

Could the Trump administration mobilize the National Guard and Marines in other US cities?

CNN correspondent Priscilla Alvarez explains why the administration’s move to call in the National Guard and the Marines to respond to anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles was a long time in the making – and could be a playbook that’s repeated in other cities.

Listen to the latest episode of the CNN Political Briefing podcast.

Portland police made 10 arrests during a Thursday night protest near the city’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement building.

During the protest, officers “developed probable cause for various criminal acts,” which included setting fires near the building, according to a news release from the City of Portland.

Others were arrested and booked for disorderly conduct, interference with a peace officer, assault to a public safety officer, arson and harassment, the release said.

Two officers suffered minor injuries and one protestor, who was arrested, reported to a Portland Fire and Rescue medic he was injured – but declined medical treatment.

Three people were arrested at a protest outside the same building on Wednesday, after a lit flare was placed against the building, the city said.

ICE is stepping up workplace immigration enforcement sweeps.

ICE, racing to fulfill President Donald Trump’s goal to increase deportations, has increasingly targeted work sites for immigration sweeps in recent weeks. The escalation is creating a chilling effect on the businesses that rely on immigrant labor and the workers themselves, with some staying home out of fear.

Undocumented immigrants make up 4% to 5% of the total US workforce, but 15% to 20% or more in industries such as crop production, food processing and construction, according to Goldman Sachs.

United Farm Workers President Teresa Romero told CNN that she’s been getting calls from concerned farmworkers across California about ICE crackdowns in the state. Despite the threat of deportation, migrant workers often can’t afford to stay home, Romero said.

“They’re terrified, but they have a family to support,” she said.

Trump appeared to acknowledge Thursday that his immigration policies are straining farmers and businesses.

“Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace,” Trump said on Truth Social. “We must protect our Farmers, but get the CRIMINALS OUT OF THE USA. Changes are coming!”

Continue reading here.

Members of the Western States Carpenters Union board up buildings in the Little Tokyo Mall in Los Angeles on Wednesday.

As protests continue in Los Angeles in response to the Trump administration’s immigration raids — many of which targeted workplaces — business owners told CNN they are grappling with fewer customers and employees who may be afraid to turn up to work.

Amid tensions over the raids, curfew and fear over continued demonstrations, the scene now is marked by low foot traffic, locked storefronts, and boarded up businesses in a downtown area that’s typically buzzing with customers, vendors and tourists.

“All you need to do is walk the streets and you can see what’s happening, the general sentiment of the fear that that lives in our community right now,” said Anthony Rodriguez, President and CEO of the LA Fashion District Business Improvement District.

In Little Tokyo, less than half a mile from the Metropolitan Detention Center, the epicenter of the protests, most businesses face restrictions due to the one square mile curfew downtown.

“Business is almost nonexistent,” said Don Tahara, owner of The Far Bar, a headquarters for Dodgers fans which now sits empty.

Tahara said members of the Western States Carpenters Union and the Los Angeles City Council District 14 offered to board up his business. While it doesn’t create the most welcoming environment for customers, it helps to protect the store from vandalism.

“We’re boarded up, so it looks like we’re closed. If you drive by, you see all these boarded up businesses and you’re going to be hesitant about parking your car and patronizing one of the businesses. So that’s going to impact us, but it’s a necessity,” Tahara added.

In LA’s Flower District, the vibrant colors of the flowers stand out next to the bare streets.

Erik Gil, a flower vendor says he was born in Los Angeles, but seeing his colleagues go through uncertainty has been painful.

“A lot of people worried, you know, but they’re practically precautious about what’s going on because they don’t wanna go back. They came over here for a better life, but I guess that’s coming to an end because what Trump is going on,” said Gil.

Gil said he might have to go home today with an empty pocket, like many of his colleagues in the Flower District.

“I usually I sell like good amount of money, but today I haven’t sold anything. It hasn’t been nothing today. It’s been slow.”

A flower lies next to members of the National Guard as they stand guard during a protest in Los Angeles on Thursday.

California National Guard will remain under federal control after an appeals court late Thursday paused a ruling ordering US President Donald Trump to return control of the force to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it was putting on hold the ruling, issued earlier Thursday by senior US District Judge Charles Breyer, “pending further order.” The appeals court scheduled a hearing in the matter for Tuesday.

Meanwhile, protests in Los Angeles against Trump’s immigration raids stretched into their seventh night. LA Mayor Karen Bass said the 1-square-mile downtown curfew — which has now been in place for three nights — will likely continue for a “a few more days.”

Here’s what else you need to know.

LAPD officers arrest protesters who failed to disperse after an "unlawful assembly" was declared numerous times outside the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in Los Angeles on Thursday night.

Los Angeles police took several people into custody Thursday night for failing to leave the roughly 1-square-mile zone under curfew starting at 8 p.m.

Curfew was in place for a third night in a row for part of Downtown, as protests against President Donald Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement actions reached their seventh night.

CNN’s Nick Watt saw officers detain several people after curfew and load them onto police buses. But protests held Thursday were mostly peaceful. Even before curfew kicked in, there were many more law enforcement officers in the area than there were protesters, Watt reported.

In an X post shortly before curfew, the LAPD said it had authorized the use of non-lethal crowd control munitions after some demonstrators started throwing concrete and “commercial-grade fireworks.”

The LAPD made about a dozen arrests Thursday, according to CNN affiliate KCAL, which also reported the towing of several protest-related vehicles from the curfew zone. CNN reached out to the LAPD for details.

Officers with the Department of Homeland Security also detained protesters near the federally operated Metropolitan Detention Center after objects were thrown, Watt reported.

Mayor Karen Bass said Thursday the curfew will likely continue “a few more days,” saying she hopes by then “people will get the message that we are serious.”

On Saturday several “No Kings” protests against the Trump administration are planned in Los Angeles, including one event at City Hall. They’re part of more than 1,900 “No Kings” events scheduled across the US that day, according to organizers.

US Senator Alex Padilla, Democrat from California speaks during a news conference with immigration experts, DACA recipients, and Dreamers to mark the 13th anniversary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program in Washington, DC on June 11, 2025.

Democratic Sen. Alex Padilla urged people to “peacefully protest” President Donald Trump after law enforcement forcibly removed him from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s news conference Thursday.

“I’m okay,” he said in a video posted to X. “But the big lesson here is if we’re willing to do that to me — a US senator with a question, doing my job on behalf of the people of California and our country — what are they doing to a lot of the folks that are out there when the cameras are not on?”

“We’re going to continue our job of oversight and to hold Donald Trump accountable because what we’ve seen here cannot be normalized,” Padilla said.

“For folks who are inspired to continue to speak up, to demonstrate, to march, to protest, please peacefully protest because you don’t want to give Donald Trump what he wants,” he added.

“He wants us to be quiet, he wants us to look away. And we’re not going to let him.”

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin alleged on X after the incident that Padilla was “pushing and shoving law enforcement officers to get his way back to the podium” and that “no one knew who he was.” Videos of the episode show Padilla saying, “I am Senator Alex Padilla” while officers restrained him.

On X, Noem said she met with Padilla for 15 minutes afterward. “We probably disagree on 90% of the topics,” Noem said, but noted the two agreed to “continue to talk,” adding, “that is the way it should be in this country.”

Harry Litman, a former US attorney, said Thursday’s pause by an appeals court “restores the status quo” after a US district judge initially declared US President Donald Trump’s use of National Guard in California to be illegal.

“What has just happened, after all of this maneuvering, is we’re back to where we started,” Litman told CNN’s Laura Coates.

On Thursday, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals paused a ruling issued earlier by senior US District Judge Charles Breyer “pending further order.” A hearing is scheduled for Tuesday.

“As of tonight and this minute, those National Guardsmen have again been re-federalized, are under the control of the federal government,” Litman said.

Ultimately, the final ruling on the matter — either by the 9th Circuit or by the Supreme Court if the case gets there — will depend on whether the courts thinks it’s for the President to say if there’s a rebellion, or if, like Breyer argued, it should be up to judges, Litman said.

“If the courts or especially the US Supreme Court says ‘we don’t get into this, we defer to what the President thinks’ then Trump is going to win and have a real path to unreviewable power,” Litman said.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents guard outside Delaney Hall, a migrant detention facility, while anti-ICE activists demonstrate on Thursday night in Newark, New Jersey.

Dozens of federal and local police officers responded to a federal immigration detention center in Newark after reports a fight had broken out inside, according to an advocate at the facility.

Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, said she heard from family members of detainees inside Delaney Hall that the commotion began Thursday after the detainees had been fed insufficient lunch after going more than 20 hours without food.

Delaney Hall is a 1,000-bed facility that is owned by private prison company Geo Group and operated by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Last month, several Democratic politicians protesting the facility’s opening clashed with federal agents. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for trespassing and held in custody for several hours.

Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver was charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal law enforcement officers – a rare federal charge against a sitting member of Congress – and indicted by a grand jury Tuesday. McIver says the charges are baseless.

Torres said police from Newark and Essex County arrived at the facility around 5 p.m. but were not allowed inside. About two and a half hours later, federal officers arrived wearing gas masks and heavy-duty vests.

Newark police referred CNN to ICE for comment on the situation. CNN has reached out to ICE, the Essex County Sheriff’s Office, and the Geo Group for comment.

Videos taken by Torres show protesters surrounding what she claims was an unmarked ICE van leaving the facility. Torres said she and other protesters have been “intermittently smelling pepper spray.”

Baraka said in a statement to X early Friday that he is “concerned about reports of what transpired at Delaney Hall this evening, ranging from withholding food and poor treatment, to uprising and escaped detainees.” CNN has not confirmed reports of detainees escaping.

“This entire situation lacks sufficient oversight of every basic detail,” he went on. “This is why city officials and our congressional delegation need to be allowed entry to observe and monitor, (and) why private prisons pose a very real problem to our state and its constitution.”

McIver said, “I have serious concerns about the reports of abusive circumstances at the facility” in a statement posted to X Thursday.

“Even now, as we are hearing reports from news organizations and advocates on the ground about a lack of food and basic rights for those inside, the administration appears to be stonewalling efforts to learn the truth,” she wrote, adding that her office had reached out to ICE but had not hear back.

A federal appeals late Thursday paused a ruling that required President Donald Trump to return control of members of California’s National Guard to the state.

The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals said it was putting the ruling issued earlier Thursday by senior US District Judge Charles Breyer on hold “pending further order.” The appeals court scheduled a hearing in the matter for Tuesday.

Breyer, of the federal district court in San Francisco, had already put his ruling on hold until 12 p.m. PT Friday to give the Trump administration time to appeal to the 9th Circuit.

The panel of appeals court judges who issued the so-called administrative stay of Breyer’s ruling included two Trump appointees and an appointee of former President Joe Biden.

California Attorney General Rob Bonta in California on April 16, 2025

California Attorney General Rob Bonta called the federal judge’s ruling against Trump an early success, but said “it’s far from the end of the road.”

The Trump administration has asked the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit to block US District Judge Charles Breyer’s ruling that declared its use of the National Guard in California to be illegal.

“If the Ninth Circuit acts between now and tomorrow at noon, and either rejects their request, that’s one scenario, that would mean that at noon, Governor Newsom has command of the National Guard,” Bonta said during a virtual news conference on Thursday.

“But if they grant their stay, then it means that the order is temporarily stayed and it does not go into effect at noon.”

“So we’ll just have to wait and see,” he added.

While the decision isn’t final and doesn’t yet address the deployed Marines, it’s still a significant development that marks progress in efforts to defend community safety and rights as the legal case moves forward, Bonta said.

A curfew has come into effect in parts of downtown Los Angeles for the third night in a row, lasting from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. Pacific Time.

Shortly before the curfew went into effect, throngs of law enforcement officers on horseback congregated on some downtown Los Angeles streets. The Los Angeles Police Department’s Central Division reported people in the crowd throwing bricks, concrete and commercial grade fireworks.

“Less lethal munitions have been authorized,” LAPD said in a post on X minutes before the curfew went into effect.

What to know: The curfew for pockets of downtown LA only covers an area of about 1 square mile, impacting fewer than 100,000 of LA’s nearly 4 million residents, according to authorities.

A lone demonstrator draped in a U.S. flag stands outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles on Thursday.

Protesters gathered outside LA’s Metropolitan Detention Center have been cleared after Department of Homeland Security police declared an unlawful assembly and gave a warning “on behalf of the federal government,” according to a CNN team on the ground.

DHS police threatened to arrest people and deploy non-lethal munitions if protesters didn’t comply. Earlier, Customs and Border Protection officers pulled a protester out of the crowd and into the detention center. CNN reached out to DHS and CBP for comment.

LAPD officers were also on the ground calling for protesters to disperse.

The Metropolitan Detention Center is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the Department of Justice.