A year ago at this time, the streets of Los Angeles and other American cities were the sites of highly visible, large-scale immigration raids. While those scenes have died down, immigration enforcement remains more quietly active.
Federal data show Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained more people in June, at 43,000, than in any month since January 2025. Locally, Los Angeles Police Department officials say June had the highest tally of potential unlawful conduct by federal immigration officers. The 12 incidents investigated mark the most since the department began reporting the data in March.
German Hurtado, LAPD immigration affairs liaison, said in an interview that he noticed the uptick of reported immigration enforcement incidents, but could not say what caused the increase.
In February, Mayor Karen Bass issued a directive requiring the reporting. Police commissioners approved the most recent report at their meeting Tuesday.
Hurtado said the increase seen in June might be reflective of the department’s efforts to capture more of the potential issues.
“We’re finding better ways to improve how to capture these incidents,” Hurtado said. “It could be a combination of everything, but I did see that it was a large increase.”
He said those efforts include changes in how they label calls related to federal immigration enforcement actions and adjustments to the way department computers store the information.
What’s in June’s report
Here’s how that process worked, according to the department’s report:
The LAPD first identified 45 potential federal immigration enforcement actions by searching internal reporting systems for immigration related search terms. The immigration affairs liaison determined 33 of those incidents were unrelated to immigration enforcement.
At the commission's meeting on Tuesday, Lisa Ridoutt, assistant inspector general, explained these incidents included:
- 26 notices from federal agents conducting surveillance in the area
- 2 reports of protests
- 2 medical related incidents
- 1 report of DHS agents executing a search warrant unrelated to immigration
- 1 federal task force meeting
- 1 call reporting someone believed they were pushed from behind by a federal agent. LAPD reviewed security footage and determined no crime had occurred.
The department then looked deeper into 12 enforcement incidents that qualify for reporting under Bass’ executive directive, which asks the LAPD to report when officers document or receive reports of suspected unlawful conduct by immigration officers. Two of those incidents involved an LAPD response in the field, according to the report. The department also says neither resulted in officers being on the scene for an active enforcement action.
The report states the LAPD does not know the overall number of immigration enforcement actions that happened in June.
The 12 reported incidents are a significant increase from previous months. The department reported just four incidents in May, four in April and none in March.
Hurtado said the number of incidents has increased every month since March, potentially because the department is getting better at documenting them.
“It takes a while to teach 8,700 people exactly what to do, so as we are rolling out different training, the officers are now being more observant of it, documenting it more," Hurtado said.
The increase, he added, could also stem from federal authorities communicating with LAPD more. He said federal immigration authorities have not asked LAPD for support during enforcement actions.
What’s in LAPD’s immigration enforcement reports
- June: Details on 45 potential incidents. Read the report >
- 12 met the requirements to report, of those:
- 8 calls came from Department of Homeland Security
- 1 call from LAFD
- 2 responses in the field
- May: Details on 10 potential incidents Read the report >
- 4 met the requirements to report
- 1 investigation at a community police station’s front desk
- April: Details on 13 potential incidents Read the report >
- 4 met the requirements to report, of those:
- 3 field responses
- 1 investigation at a community police station’s front desk
- March: No potential incidents reported Read the report >
The backstory
For decades, the LAPD has refrained from directly enforcing immigration laws. That’s because policing experts say doing so could deter witnesses or victims from cooperating with law enforcement.
State and local laws have codified that policy in recent years and further prohibited California law enforcement from assisting in federal immigration enforcement.
The mayor issued two executive orders last year with instructions for how city departments interact with federal immigration officers.
Executive directive 17 mandates the monthly immigration reports from the LAPD and instructs officers to activate their body-worn cameras whenever they respond to potential immigration-related incidents.
Ridoutt, of the Office of Inspector General, said that while officers did activate body-worn and in-car video systems, the OIG found some recordings were not properly titled or tagged and that some videos or photos from community members were not uploaded to the department’s evidence database as required by department policy.
The Inspector General’s Office reviews the LAPD’s reports to ensure compliance with the directive. Ridoutt said the office will be releasing a more comprehensive report in October or November.
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Calls for increased transparency
At previous meetings, commissioners have asked for more details about what calls for service or incident reports entail.
Hurtado said the executive directive just requires the department to release aggregate numbers.
Shiu-Ming Cheer, deputy director of immigrant and racial justice at the California Immigrant Policy Center, said the directive calls for greater transparency than what the LAPD’s monthly reports currently provide.
The June report, for example, notes that LAPD twice dispatched officers in response to a report of ICE activity, but provides no description of the department’s role once officers arrived. Cheer said the public should know whether officers were responding for crowd control, interacting with federal agents or serving some other purpose.
Cheer said the LAPD’s monthly reports should explain what happened during the incidents the department counts.
Sophia Wrench, an attorney with Public Counsel, agrees.
“A central purpose of Executive Directive 17 was to provide increased transparency and build public trust, but LAPD’s reporting month after month falls short,” she said in a statement. “The lack of information in its monthly reports only creates more confusion in the community, building greater fear and mistrust of the police.”
