The Brief

An overnight curfew for downtown L.A. was extended to Wednesday night, with officials citing heightened tensions between protesters and authorities that have resulted in violence and property damage.

The curfew, confirmed by an official in the mayor's office, will again be in place from 8 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Thursday. It extends east to west from the 5 Freeway to the 110 Freeway; and from north to south from the 10 Freeway to where the 110 and 5 freeways merge.

The LAPD said it and other local agencies made 203 arrests during the first curfew overnight Tuesday of people accused of failure to disperse, 17 arrests of people accused of violating curfew, one arrest of a person suspected of assault with a deadly weapon on a police officer, and one arrest of a person accused of shining a laser at a police airship.

Although the initial curfew was for one night, Bass had cautioned that she would consult with law enforcement and other local leaders on whether to extend the restrictions.

Bass has also stressed that the area under curfew is a small fraction of the city, she described it as about 1 square mile in a city that's more than 500 square miles. [Fact check: The area appears to be slightly larger, although still a fraction of the overall city footprint.]

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell has warned that non-residents caught within the curfew zone would face arrest.

"If you are in the curfew zone during the restricted hours without that legal exemption, you will be arrested. If you assault an officer in any fashion, you will be arrested," he said.

Catch up on where things stand

The U.S. Attorney's Office announced Wednesday that two Los Angeles County men had been charged with possessing Molotov cocktails during the protests in downtown L.A. and the city of Paramount. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years in federal prison.

One of the defendants is a 23-year-old man from Paramount who is accused of throwing a lit Molotov cocktail over a wall and in the direction of sheriff's deputies during a protest on Saturday in that city. The other is a 27-year-old man from Long Beach, accused of holding a Molotov cocktail and a lighter during a protest on Sunday near federal buildings in downtown L.A.'s Civic Center. Both men are in custody, federal authorities said.

Two other people — a 32-year-old from Anaheim and a 43-year-old from Orange — face misdemeanor charges stemming from protests in Santa Ana. They're each accused of assault on a federal officer, according to prosecutors. They are accused of throwing objects, including water bottles and beer cans, during the demonstrations on Monday.

L.A. County District Attorney Nathan Hochman on Wednesday announced the filing of charges in five cases related to the protests. The charges include assault of a peace officer, commercial burglary, grand theft, vandalism and reckless driving stemming from protests over the weekend. If convicted of the charges, the defendants face time in state prison.

Hochman noted that investigators are continuing to gather evidence and more charges could be coming.

"There's a tremendous amount of video out there... ," Hochman said. "For people who have already engaged in this activity, we're coming for you."

Among those charged is a Gardena man accused of passing out commercial-grade fireworks to others at a Sunday protest. Members of the group lit the fireworks and threw them at police officers, Hochman said. An officer was injured by the sparks from one of the fireworks, the district attorney said.

Two other defendants are accused in separate incidents of driving motorcycles into a line of officers in downtown L.A. The incidents happened minutes apart. Several of the officers were knocked down, and one was injured, Hochman said.

Both LAPD Police Chief Jim McDonnell and L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke at the news conference and stressed that their respective departments respect the people's right to peacefully protest, but that officers and deputies would step in when someone breaks the law or puts others in danger.

"What we're talking about are the individuals who don't care about the issue at hand, because we will facilitate all peaceful First Amendment activity," Luna said. "But when you have people that are out here to commit acts of violence against our deputy sheriffs or police officers or just they're destroying our city, we're going to stop it."

Context on the protest response

Meanwhile, the protests continue mostly in relatively small areas of downtown L.A. and Orange County.

California state leaders have asked a federal court to block the Trump administration from using the military and the National Guard to police Los Angeles and other communities in the wake of immigration raids and the protests sparked as a result.

Gov. Gavin Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta are seeking a temporary restraining order in federal court. They filed the request Tuesday morning.

The Defense Department asked for 24 hours to file a response, and the court granted that request. Newsom and Bonta will then have a opportunity to respond.

U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer set a hearing on the state's motion for Thursday afternoon.

In addition, Newsom and Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday that focuses on the same issues. Bonta said this week that President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth unlawfully invoked a statute intended to prevent an invasion or rebellion even though that was not the case in Los Angeles.

“It’s not just immoral — It’s illegal and dangerous. Local law enforcement, not the military, enforce the law within our borders," Bonta said in a news release Tuesday. "The President continues to inflame tensions and antagonize communities. ”

About the protests — and White House — response so far

Protesters have confronted authorities in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since Friday over raids conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Tensions continued to rise Monday and Tuesday between protesters and authorities, and between federal and local officials over how to respond. As of Tuesday afternoon, aerial TV news footage showed multiple people being arrested downtown and a crowd of protesters temporarily forcing both directions of the 101 Freeway close.

Last weekend, Trump administration officials announced they were calling up the California National Guard in response to what the White House said were "violent mobs" attacking "ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles."

Trump indicated he would send more members of the guard to Southern California as well as other military support.

NPR confirmed later that 700 Marines would be sent to L.A. in a support role.

The 60-day deployment of National Guard and Marines to L.A. is expected to cost $134 million, Hegseth and other defense officials told a California congressman Tuesday.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass told AirTalk, LAist's daily news talk program, she had "no idea" what the National Guard troops and Marines heading for L.A. planned to do once they arrived, but she said she was certain they were not needed. She added that the city attorney is considering taking legal action against the Trump administration, similar to what Newsom and Bonta filed, although she doesn't know yet what the lawsuit would look like.

What we know about the ICE raids to date

At a news conference Monday evening, Bass said she knew of five ICE raids that had occurred across the region, with at least two occurring within the city of L.A.

" ICE does not tell anybody where they're going to go or when they're going to be there," Bass said.  "I can't emphasize enough the level of fear and terror that is in Angelenos right now, not knowing if tomorrow or tonight it might be where they live. It might be their workplace."

The mayor condemned the actions of the federal agents.

"At the beginning of this administration we were told raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who have warrants," she said.

"But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. It makes me feel like our city is actually a test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government."

The federal immigration sweeps prompted anger, protest and resistance from onlookers and immigrant rights groups that have braced for this type of action for months.

Outside City Hall on Sunday, Eli Lockwood of Hacienda Heights told LAist she was there for a planned demonstration to protest what she said were “disgusting attacks on our communities.”

“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” she said.

By Sunday morning, hundreds of National Guard members were on duty in downtown L.A., where two protests — one permitted and one not permitted — converged near the federal detention center.

The growing protest made for a rowdy and tense scene, punctuated by the sound of flash bangs and tear gas.

How are officials responding to the raids and protests?

Newsom on Sunday formally asked that Trump rescind the deployment he had ordered Saturday.

The governor called the plan to take over deployment from the state "a serious breach of state sovereignty," and "purposefully inflammatory," adding that it "will only escalate tensions," and that he'd been in "close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need."

Bass has said she supports Newsom's request, adding that she had tried to dissuade the Trump administration from sending in troops.

U.S. National Guard are deployed outside the federal prison in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025, following a immigration raid protest the night before.

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"The last thing this city needs is civil unrest that is provoked," she said.

Trump said the move was needed on social media, turning the governor's name into an insult: "If Governor Gavin Newscum, of California, and Mayor Karen Bass, of Los Angeles, can’t do their jobs, which everyone knows they can’t, then the Federal Government will step in and solve the problem, RIOTS & LOOTERS, the way it should be solved!!!”

How is law enforcement scaling up?

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said the imminent arrival of U.S. Marines would be more of a logistical strain.

“The arrival of federal military forces in Los Angeles — absent clear coordination — presents a significant logistical and operational challenge for those of us charged with safeguarding this city," he said in a statement.

Now, hundreds of more law enforcement officers are also heading to Los Angeles. Newsom said Monday he's working with partner agencies to send more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers into Los Angeles "to clean up President Trump’s mess."

"Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces," he said in a statement. "State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region.”

The Governor’s Office of Emergency Services is now formally requesting the deployment of officers from a range of neighboring jurisdictions, including the California Highway Patrol and the sheriff's departments in Orange, Ventura, San Bernardino and Santa Barbara counties.

What's the role of the National Guard?

Two starkly contrasting pictures of conditions in the L.A. area continue to be offered by Trump and his allies, compared with local and state officials.

While Fox News and other conservative media used captions like "L.A. Riots" and the term "rioters" was trending on X, closer to home, authorities described isolated skirmishes and urged calm. Some national outlets seem to think Paramount, where some violence was reported, was located within the city of Los Angeles.

U.S. Rep. Nanette Barragán, whose district includes Paramount, told LAist Sunday morning that she'd been in close contact with the L.A. County Sheriff's Department, which patrols the area.

"We don't need additional assistance," she said. "We have everything under control... the Sheriff's [Department] in Paramount got everything under control yesterday and LAPD has cleared out downtown last night without the help of National Guard."

The Sheriff's Department told LAist that two deputies had been injured Saturday, treated at a hospital and released. It also said people threw bottles and set off fireworks; some were detained.

Bass and other local and state leaders have urged protesters to remain peaceful, saying there is no place for violence or attacks on police as people exercise their First Amendment rights.

Barragán said her constituents are upset: "People are angry. ... They're concerned. There's a lot of anxiety about immigration enforcement."

The effect " is terrorizing the community, and now you send the National Guard, you know, against their own people, and that is of course going to escalate the situation, and we're trying to deescalate. And I think this administration knows what they're doing. They're trying to have a distraction."

What led up to Trump's action

The conflict in Paramount, a city of about 56,000 residents south of downtown L.A., attracted national attention after protests near a Home Depot extended into Saturday. Those protests appear to have begun when ICE agents were spotted in the area.

As the situation there was still developing, L.A. County Sheriff's Department officials said in a statement that "as the situation escalated, the crowd of protesters became increasingly agitated, throwing objects and exhibiting violent behavior toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs."

An anti-ICE protester challenges deputies in Paramount on Saturday.

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Carlin Stiehl

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At that point, the department said it requested additional resources "countywide." The statement did not reference the National Guard.

"We will protect your right to peacefully protest," Sheriff Robert Luna said in an interview included in the statement, "but we will not tolerate violence or destruction of property."

The Sheriff's Department also clarified that they were not participating in any immigration enforcement actions, saying: "When federal authorities come under attack and request assistance, we will support them and provide aid. However, this does not mean that we are assisting with their immigration actions or operations; rather, our objective is to protect them from any violent attacks. Any assault on federal or local law enforcement is unacceptable."

In Los Angeles by contrast, LAPD officials released a statement at about 7:30 p.m. Saturday calling the day's protests in the city "peaceful" and commending "all those who exercised their First Amendment rights responsibly," adding that the department "appreciates the cooperation of organizers, participants and community partners who helped ensure public safety throughout the day."

Later in the evening, LAPD officers ordered protesters in downtown L.A. to disperse and closed Alameda between Los Angeles Street and 2nd Street to both pedestrians and vehicles.

The scene late Saturday in downtown Los Angeles near the central jail.

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What we know about the ICE raids

Initially, ICE officials said 44 people were arrested in the raids, although some news reports placed the number at more than 120 by late Saturday.

"ICE officers and agents alongside partner law enforcement agencies, executed four federal search warrants at three locations in central Los Angeles," ICE spokesperson Yasmeen Pitts O'Keefe said in a statement.

Confrontations between what appeared to be ICE officers and people in the streets of downtown L.A. could be seen in video aired on local television and shared on social media.

At times, uniformed agents or officers could be seen physically moving people who appeared to be blocking the officers and their vehicles.

Reports shared via the social media platform X said ICE was seen in the Garment District area of L.A. Another video showed federal agents in the parking lot of a Home Depot in Westlake, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, known as CHIRLA, said her organization estimated there were at least 45 detentions.

Among them was Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta. They said Huerta had been injured and was receiving medical attention while in custody.

“What happened to me is not about me; this is about something much bigger," Huerta said in a statement released by the union. "This is about how we as a community stand together and resist the injustice that’s happening. Hard-working people, and members of our family and our community, are being treated like criminals. We all collectively have to object to this madness because this is not justice. This is injustice. And we all have to stand on the right side of justice.”

Several immigrant rights leaders and activists, along with some city elected officials, attended a large rally Friday evening to share their reactions to the federal operations and call for a stop to them. Later, more than 300 people marched a few blocks toward the federal detention center.

Protesters march after federal immigration authorities conducted an operation on Friday, June 6, 2025, in Los Angeles.

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Reaction from city officials

Since Friday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass has been vocal in speaking out against the ICE raids.

"As a mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place," Bass said in a statement Friday. "These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city.

"My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations," the mayor continued. "We will not stand for this."

All 15 members of the City Council released a joint statement that echoed some of the same points the Bass made.

"We condemn this in no uncertain terms: Los Angeles was built by immigrants and it thrives because of immigrants," the statement read. "We will not abide by fear tactics to support extreme political agendas that aim to stoke fear and spread discord in our city.

"To every immigrant living in our city: We see you, we stand with you, and we will fight for you," the statement continued. "Los Angeles will continue to be a place that values and dignifies every human being, no matter who they are or where they come from.”

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said his department was not involved in the ICE operations.

“While the LAPD will continue to have a visible presence in all our communities to ensure public safety, we will not assist or participate in any sort of mass deportations, nor will the LAPD try to determine an individual’s immigration status,” he said.

After the sweeps, photographers captured several protesters being detained by officers. Addressing a crowd at a rally, L.A. Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez pushed back against previous statements by the Trump administration that ICE would focus their efforts on dangerous criminals.

"It's never, ever, ever been the case," Hernandez said. "Because when they come for one of us, they come for all of us. And we have to remember that."

Dozens of immigration activists gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest a series of federal immigration operations Friday, June 6, that resulted in several detentions.

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Councilmember Ysabel Jurado noted the timing of the ICE operations, stressing that they happened at a time when families and students are celebrating graduations and the LGBTQ+ community is celebrating Pride Month.

"What kind of government plans this during our most sacred moments of joy?" Jurado asked. "The footage speaks for itself. This is cruelty disguised as policy."

Mass deportations

Since Trump was elected, immigrant rights groups in Southern California have been on edge. Trump has promised “mass deportations” of unauthorized immigrants. There have been protests that have shut down freeways and high school walkouts by students protesting the administration.

“Los Angeles immigrant communities and allies have been preparing,” Andres Kwon of the American Civil Liberties Union told LAist in February.

The ACLU is part of the L.A. Rapid Response Network, a group of immigrant rights, legal and faith-based groups that has a hotline for people to report ICE activity and to seek help after a raid.

CHIRLA and other groups have hosted workshops that teach undocumented immigrants how to assert their constitutional rights, as well as how to prepare for worst-case scenarios. They’ve been telling people they don’t have to allow a federal agent into their home without a warrant and don’t have to reveal their immigration status.

The Los Angeles Unified School District began distributing “red cards,” also known as “Know Your Rights” cards, to help people assert their rights and defend themselves if they encounter federal immigration agents.

The effort came as the Trump administration announced it would allow ICE to conduct arrests in sensitive areas such as schools and churches, dismantling policies dating back to 2011.

Before L.A., ICE conducted high-profile enforcement actions in Chicago and Boston. Last week, an ICE raid on a restaurant in San Diego’s South Park neighborhood resulted in multiple arrests. While the raid was taking place, crowds gathered outside the restaurant where many people protested the action, filming the officers on their cellphones and surrounding their vehicles.

Detentions under Biden

Removals of immigrants by ICE and Customs and Border Patrol in the L.A. area were on the rise before Trump came into office. But the Washington Post reported earlier this year that ICE had struggled to boost arrest numbers despite an infusion of resources.

ICE/CBP removals in the L.A. Area of Operations, which includes much of Southern California, increased by more than 180% between the 2022 and 2024 fiscal years, according to ICE data. More than 3,551 people were removed in fiscal 2024, which ended Sept. 30.

Detentions also rose, according to the data.

While national detentions remained fairly constant over the past four years, L.A.-area detentions increased by 155% from 2022 to 2024, when 3,857 people were detained.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” Chris Newman, legal director and general counsel for the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, said earlier this year.

While in office, former President Joe Biden was under increasing political pressure to address illegal immigration.

“The Biden administration was focused on recent arrivals and people with criminal history,” Newman said.

From 2023 to 2024, the L.A. area had significant increases in detentions (432% increase from 217 to 1,154) and removals (547% increase from 223 to 1,443) of people who had not been convicted of crimes.

How we're reporting on this

Many reporters, editors and producers have been contributing to this story, which first published on Friday, June 7, with Frank Stoltze's byline, Dana Littlefield edited. Stoltze who was at the scene of the initial news conference and also reported from downtown L.A. over the weekend with Jared Bennett. Among other key contributors in the days since: Jordan Rynning, Josie Huang, Dañiel Martinez, Destiny Torres, Fiona Ng, Jason Wells, Ross Brenneman, Matt Ballinger, Erin Stone, Makenna Sieverston and Megan Garvey.

This is a developing story. We fact check everything and rely only on information from credible sources (think fire, police, government officials and reporters on the ground). Sometimes, however, we make mistakes or initial reports turn out to be wrong. In all cases, we strive to bring you the most accurate information in real time and will update this story as new information becomes available.

Four million acres of California’s wildest backcountry could soon be opened to paving roads and logging.

The Trump administration announced last week that it’s pushing forward with a proposal to scrap a 2001 rule that blocks logging, road building and other construction in parts of national forests. The administration argues repealing the so-called “roadless rule” is key to managing vegetation to better prevent wildfires on public lands.

Environmental advocates and other groups worry rescinding the rule would harm pristine habitat and the wildlife it supports, and open up more public land to industrial activities and human access that can cause more wildfires.

And locals are worried about losing access to some of the last protected natural lands in the region.

“What we're dealing with here in the roadless rule is the protection of the backcountry,” said David Browning, president of the Orange County Mountain Bike Association, “where you can actually go out and be having an experience where you don't hear traffic, where you don't see buildings, where you actually remember what it was like before all of us got here.”

In Southern California, large swaths of the Los Padres, Angeles, San Bernardino and Cleveland national forests would lose protections.

Browning, who spoke with All Things Considered host Julia Paskin on Monday, said he’s particularly concerned about the Santa Ana Mountains, where much of Orange County’s backcountry biking trails exist within a roadless area that could be opened to construction.

“Our mission is to protect and expand trail access, and so our entire agenda is to make sure that in a highly populated county, like Orange, that we have available the outdoors to be able to go and enjoy,” he said.

Browning takes issue with the wildfire argument — he pointed to the 2024 Airport Fire, which was sparked when heavy equipment operated by Orange County employees struck a rock. They were moving large boulders that day to, in part, block vehicles from getting into a dry brush area and potentially starting a fire. Browning said the “roadless rule” prevents such access that could increase the risk of fire. A recent peer-reviewed study supports that, finding that although roads are important for managing a fire once it ignites, they’re also more likely to be a place where a fire starts.

Though addressing wildfires and protecting public lands have become heavily politicized under the Trump administration, Browning thinks most locals probably aren’t as divided.

“ I don't think this is a party issue,” he said. “We want to hold onto the outdoors and protect them as best we can.”

There unfortunately isn’t much respite in sight for heat-weary Southern Californians.

Forecasters say this week’s heat wave is likely to be the hottest so far this summer. Extreme heat warnings will be in effect from the National Weather Service for almost the entire region from Tuesday morning through Friday evening.

Temperatures will peak between Tuesday and Thursday.

Highs in downtown Los Angeles are expected to reach around 100 degrees, and the warmest inland valleys will get up to 112. L.A. County beaches will hit the high 80s.

Forecasters have also issued Red Flag Warnings for the interior mountains and foothills of Los Angeles, Ventura and Santa Barbara counties. Gusty winds and low humidity at higher elevations mean fires could spark and spread quickly.

At lower elevations, humidity continues to make the heat feel more sweltering and make it harder to cool down, especially at night. Nighttime temperatures will only get down to the 70s in most places, including along the coast.

A slight cooldown is expected this weekend, though forecasters say temperatures will stay above normal into next week.

The extreme heat this week poses an especially high risk of heat-related illness for people over 65, young children, people who work or spend a lot of time outside and those without access to air conditioning.

Driving the heat

Several factors are behind this week’s heat wave, many of which have also been behind the rest of this summer’s consistently hot weather.

The main driver is a high pressure air system hovering over the southwestern U.S., trapping warm air, compressing it and warming it further, and blocking cooler air from entering the region.

Offshore winds are also pushing warm inland air toward the coast, preventing cooler onshore winds from blowing inland.

“That blocks our natural air conditioning off the ocean from coming in as early as it normally does,” said Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford. “So as long as that cool air stays offshore, it heats up on land.”

The offshore winds are not strong enough, however, to significantly dry out the air in the L.A. Basin and cut down on the humidity.

“That's probably going to be around for the whole summer because you’ve got all this warm ocean water that's feeding into that,” Wofford said.

Warmer seawater evaporates faster, adding to moisture in the air and increasing humidity across the region, especially along the coasts.

Air quality warnings

Along with the heat this week, many Southern Californians also have smog to worry about.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District issued an ozone advisory on Monday for inland areas of Los Angeles and Orange counties, much of Riverside County and parts of San Bernardino County. It will remain in effect through Friday evening.

The multi-day smog event is in part driven by the heatwave.

Officials say ozone pollution may reach unhealthy levels or higher in the Santa Clarita Valley, parts of the San Gabriel and San Bernardino valleys, and portions of the San Bernardino Mountains.

Under unhealthy levels, it’s possible for anyone to experience adverse health effects like difficulty breathing and throat irritation. Sensitive populations could experience more serious effects.

Levels are expected to be unhealthy for sensitive groups in the San Fernando Valley, Perris Valley, Mission Viejo, Lake Elsinore, Corona, Hemet, Riverside and Pasadena.

Officials advise certain vulnerable groups — including people with heart or lung disease, those with asthma, pregnant women, children and people over 65 — to limit their time outdoors.

Officials predict that ozone levels will be lower along the coast.