Some protesters have accused federal agents of using excessive force against them in Paramount.
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Carlin Stiehl
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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Topline:
As crowds protested the sudden presence of Immigration Customs and Enforcement and other agencies in Los Angeles, law enforcement officers responded in some cases with tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets.
Some protesters accused federal law enforcement of excessive force, but seeking accountability for a federal agency is challenging.
What experts say: People can lodge complaints with ICE, but they may never learn the results. It’s also hard to identify individual agents because they wear masks and uniforms without their names. Sometimes, the uniforms only read "Police." Even if they could be identified, it’s nearly impossible to sue individual federal agents, experts say.
What is the Department of Homeland Security saying? LAist reached out to federal authorities for comment on this story. The department has not responded. However, a DHS spokesperson said previously that the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, "not rioting," and that anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their duties would face consequences, including arrest.
The videos are everywhere.
They show federal immigration agents on the streets of downtown Los Angeles, Paramount and communities across L.A. County, masked and in tactical gear, facing off with demonstrators.
As crowds protested the sudden presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other agencies on the streets of Los Angeles, law enforcement officers responded in some cases with tear gas, pepper balls and rubber bullets.
Some protesters reported injuries and accused federal law enforcement of excessive force.
But seeking accountability for a federal agency is challenging.
“These incidents involving federal agents just essentially go into a black hole,” said Michael Gennaco, a former federal civil rights prosecutor who now consults with law enforcement on reforms.
He said people can lodge complaints with ICE, but they’ll never learn the results.
It’s also hard to identify individual agents. They wear masks and uniforms without their names. Sometimes, the uniforms only read: "Police."
At a news conference last week, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass questioned whether some of the masked men were even federal agents.
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Protesters say federal agents hit them with rubber bullets and tear gas. What happens to their complaints?
“Who are these people?" Bass asked. “And frankly, the vests that they have on look like they ordered them from Amazon. Are they bounty hunters? Are they vigilantes? If they're federal officials, why is it that they do not identify themselves?”
LAist reached out to the Department of Homeland Security for comment on complaints and its response to the protests. The department has not responded.
Peter Eliasberg with the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California said he doubted the federal government would take calls for accountability for agents accused of excessive force seriously, given recent comments from President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
" Even if there are oversight mechanisms built in, I just have a hard time believing that Secretary Noem or President Trump has any interest in using those oversight mechanisms," Eliasberg told LAist. "They seem to equate protests with something illegal that needs to be tamped down, but in fact, it is a fundamental constitutional right."
Demonstrators in Paramount describe excessive force
Alyson Barragan said she was at least 100 feet away from agents and protesting peacefully when they started shooting tear gas and projectiles at the crowd. At the City Council meeting, she lifted her shirt to reveal a large purple bruise on her lower back.
Several people in the audience gasped.
"I was shot running away from the violence inflicted by the agents," she said.
Alyson Barragan says federal agents shot her in the back with a rubber bullet while she was peacefully protesting their presence in Paramount.
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Alyson Barragan
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Abraham Flores told the council federal agents shot him in the head with a non-lethal projectile, landing him in the hospital with a brain bleed and concussion.
"Everyone was being peaceful," he said. "And it wasn't until those trigger-happy ICE agents started shooting at people that the chaos happened."
Vicki Martinez said she was driving to Home Depot for a flower pot when she was caught up in the protest that Saturday morning. She choked on tear gas as it streamed into her car.
"I feel like I have PTSD," she said.
Sara Aguilar, a medical assistant, said she saw two demonstrators with head wounds at the protest that day.
"It's just excessive force — it's brutality,” Aguilar told LAist about federal agents at the scene. “I think that they should be accountable for that. [You are] shooting your rubber bullets at unarmed civilians. And that's not OK."
Federal policy issued in 2023 instructs officers to identify themselves and issue a verbal warning "when feasible" before using force.
In a video from the Paramount protest, demonstrators appear to be some distance away from a cluster of federal agents in tactical gear when the agents start throwing flash bang grenades, sending demonstrators running. No verbal warning can be heard in the video.
The members of the Paramount City Council have said that the city has no authority over federal agencies' actions.
No civilian oversight for Homeland Security
Local agencies, including the Los Angeles Police Department and county Sheriff’s Department, responded to the protests, too, and have faced accusations of excessive force. The difference is they have some level of oversight.
The Los Angeles Police Department has a five-member civilian commission that holds weekly meetings and reviews cases of serious use of force by officers.
The county Sheriff’s Department has an 11-member civilian advisory board where the public can air complaints.
The Department of Homeland Security has no such body. The federal agency oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Customs and Border Protection, Citizenship and Immigration Services and more.
The department did not respond to questions from LAist about accusations of excessive force. It said previously that ICE officers have experienced a 500% increase in assaults against them, but the agency did not provide data that supports that claim.
A spokesperson said "anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties will face consequences," including arrest.
Gennaco, the law enforcement expert, said Congress has the authority to investigate federal law enforcement agencies, and has looked into ICE detention facilities. But he said such investigations are rare.
Individual agents are hard to identify — and nearly impossible to sue
It can be hard to identify a federal agent who fired a rubber bullet or pepper ball.
"Those federal agents had to be the Department of Homeland Security or ICE," said Gabriel Garcia, who said he was at the protest in Paramount. "They were full-on wearing camo suits. They had gas masks on, they had military ballistic helmets on."
A 2021 law passed in the wake of the George Floyd protests requires federal military and civilian law enforcement personnel responding to a “civil disturbance” to wear visible personal identification and the name of the government entity employing them.
California lawmakers have introduced a bill that would ban most law enforcement officers from covering their faces while working.
But even if they could be identified, it’s nearly impossible to sue individual federal agents, according to UCLA Law Professor Joanna Schwartz, an expert on police misconduct litigation.
A 1971 Supreme Court case allowed individuals to sue federal officials for violating their constitutional rights, specifically when those rights are violated under the color of law. But over the years, the court has slowly chipped away at that right.
“The Supreme Court’s decisions have narrowed this right to sue so dramatically that it only covers only a few very narrow circumstances,” she said.
Lawsuits against Homeland Security
Suing the U.S. government is still an option. And that's what some organizations and people are doing.
The L.A. Press Club and others filed a lawsuit last week against the Department of Homeland Security, accusing federal agents of using "retaliatory violence" against protesters, legal observers and journalists at protests across the region.
Eliasberg, with the ACLU, is representing the Press Club. He said a legal doctrine known as "qualified immunity" makes it much harder to sue law enforcement. It protects government officials from liability unless they've violated "clearly established" constitutional rights.
The Press Club lawsuit seeks an injunction that would require Homeland Security officers to only use force in response to specific threats and not target journalists.
"Doing crowd management, policing First Amendment activity and protest – that's not what they're trained to do," Eliasberg said of the federal agents. "You're not supposed to use excessive force and generally indiscriminate force."
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that the First Amendment protects speech and peaceful assembly, "not rioting."
"Anyone who actively obstructs law enforcement in the performance of their sworn duties will face consequences, which could include arrest," the statement reads.
Barragan, who was hit in the back by a projectile at the Paramount protest, said she plans to file a lawsuit against ICE and Homeland Security.
Her lawyer, Robin Perry, said litigation is one of the only routes available to Angelenos outraged by what they've seen on their city's streets.
" There's no meaningful oversight of ICE with this administration," Perry said.
A comment from the Trump administration last week indicates how it feels about efforts like Barragan's.
"President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles and around the country," Homeland Security said in an email. "No lawsuit, this or any other, is going to change that."
First artifacts installed in LA museum's expansion
Makenna Sievertson
has been covering space shuttle Endeavour's journey at the California Science Center since December 2023.
Published November 18, 2025 4:08 PM
The first of many artifacts have been installed in the Kent Kresa Space Gallery, including a space shuttle main engine (right) and a solid rocket booster segment.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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Topline:
The California Science Center unveiled Tuesday the first of many launch vehicles, engines and other artifacts set to be installed in the museum’s 200,000-square-foot expansion coming to Exposition Park.
Why it matters: Jeff Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said the $450 million expansion is California’s biggest “endeavor” yet that will inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.
Why now: The first artifacts in the expanded museum were placed in the Kenta Kresa Space Gallery, including a three-story-tall Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab in Long Beach.
The backstory: It’ll be the only place in the world where visitors can see an authentic space shuttle in its “Go for Stack” position, which is what museum officials called the process of moving each of the space shuttle components into place.
What's next: Officials expect to announce next year an opening date for the expansion.
Read on ... for a peak inside the expansion coming to Exposition Park.
The California Science Center unveiled Tuesday the first of many launch vehicles, engines and other artifacts set to be installed in the museum’s 200,000-square-foot expansion coming to Exposition Park.
Once complete, the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will include multi-level galleries built around a towering centerpiece — the space shuttle Endeavour — displayed in its 20-story vertical launch position.
It’ll be the only place in the world where visitors can see an authentic space shuttle in its “Go for Stack” position, which is what museum officials called the process of moving each of the space shuttle components into place.
Museum admission will be free.
Jeff Rudolph, president and CEO of the California Science Center, said the $450 million expansion is California’s biggest “endeavor” yet to inspire the next generation of scientists, engineers and explorers.
“The enthusiasm that people have when they come in and see this stuff and get excited about it will hopefully lead to many more people, young and old, but particularly young people wanting to pursue more education in science,” Rudolph told LAist.
Museum officials expect to announce next year an opening date, according to Rudolph.
A look inside the center
The Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center will feature three main galleries: the Samuel Oschin Shuttle Gallery, the Korean Air Aviation Gallery and the Kent Kresa Space Gallery.
Guests will be guided through hundreds of exhibits and authentic artifacts focused on the exploration of the universe — including rocket ships that carried humans into space and telescopes used to view stars and galaxies beyond our reach.
A real Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab in Long Beach spans several stories tall in the Kent Kresa Space Gallery.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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The first artifacts in the expanded museum were placed in the Kenta Kresa Space Gallery, including a three-story-tall Electron launch vehicle from Rocket Lab in Long Beach.
Adam Spice, chief financial officer of Rocket Lab, told LAist the Electron helped lower the cost of getting to space by sending satellites in smaller, cheaper rockets. The new center is an opportunity to get up close and personal with an Electron for the first time outside of a factory.
Spice said he hopes it’ll show visitors their dreams can become a reality.
“They can be part of something much bigger than probably they ever thought they could,” he said.
The first artifacts installed in the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center include a solid rocket booster segment. Kenneth Phillips, aerospace curator, shows the scale of the piece, which has flown into space several times.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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The solid rocket booster segment will become a walk-through interactive experience in the Kent Kresa Space Gallery.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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A segment of a solid rocket booster that flew into space several times is laid on its side on the second floor of the gallery.
Kenneth Phillips, the California Science Center’s aerospace curator, told LAist it’ll be turned into an interactive exhibit with audio, video and educational graphics.
“It's 12 feet in diameter, so people can actually walk through it and learn about the function of it from the inside out literally,” Phillips said.
Visitors will be able to get up close and personal with a space shuttle main engine.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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A detailed model of a space shuttle main engine is set up next to the solid rocket booster. Three of those main engines helped boost space shuttles into orbit by providing about 20% of their power, Phillips said.
What's next
Construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center started more than three years ago and is on track to be completed in the coming weeks, according to museum officials.
With construction of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center weeks away from completion, crews have started to put in landscaping around the outside of the expansion.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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The exterior of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center as of Tuesday.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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The remaining exhibits and artifacts will then be installed over "many months," Rudolph said. Officials expect to announce next year an opening date for the expansion.
The California Science Center also is looking to raise about $70 million more for the $450 million project before it opens. You can learn more about its “EndeavourLA” fundraising campaign here.
Matt Dangelantonio
directs production of LAist's daily newscasts, shaping the radio stories that connect you to SoCal.
Published November 18, 2025 3:58 PM
The Westwood Village Theater will be operated and programmed by American Cinematheque when it opens
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George Rose
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Getty Images
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Topline:
The group of directors restoring the Village Theater in Westwood are tapping film nonprofit American Cinematheque to program and run the venue when it opens.
Why it matters: American Cinematheque also programs the Aero Theatre in Santa Monica, the Egyptian Theatre in Hollywood and the Los Feliz Theater, making it a visible and active film arts nonprofit in the industry.
The backstory: The nearly century-old movie palace went up for sale in 2024 before Village Directors Circle bought it in February. The group is comprised of more than 30 notable filmmakers. They're led by director Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno) and their ranks include Guillermo del Toro, Alfonso Cuarón, Lulu Wang, Chloé Zhao, Christopher Nolan and Ryan Coogler.
What's next: VDC says it's eyeing a 2027 opening for the Village Theater, and is currently in the quiet phase of a capital campaign to raise $25 million to restore and remodel the Village Theater into a more than 1,000-seat venue.
For January fire survivors looking for fresh start
Gillian Morán Pérez
is an associate producer for LAist’s early All Things Considered show.
Published November 18, 2025 3:46 PM
Residents embrace in front of a fire-ravaged property after the Palisades Fire swept through in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles on Jan. 8.
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Etienne Laurent
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AP
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Topline:
The city of Long Beach has launched a new jobs program to help people affected by January’s fires.
Who is it for? The initiative will provide paid career opportunities and financial assistance to people looking for a fresh start in Long Beach.
To start, 10 people will get up to 300 hours of paid work experience with local employers. Another five people also will get training scholarships of up to $7,500 in high-demand fields like health care and information technology.
Who's paying for it? The initiative is funded by a $130,000 federal act called the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
How to apply: Anyone interested in applying can contact Nakawa Shepherd, Career Center manager, Economic Development and Opportunity, at Nakawa.Shepherd@longbeach.gov or visit the LBWIN Adult Career Services Center.
How to participate: Long Beach’s Economic Development and Opportunity office also is looking for local employers to provide on-the-job training for applicants.
Jacob Margolis
covers science, with a focus on environmental stories and disasters.
Published November 18, 2025 2:51 PM
This undated photo provided by the U.S. Attorney's Office shows Jonathan Rinderknecht, who has been accused of setting a fire that led to the Palisades Fire.
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U.S. Attorney's Office
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Topline:
The man accused of igniting a fire that led to the deadly and destructive Palisades Fire in January will remain in custody without bond, U.S. Judge Rozella Oliver decided Tuesday in Los Angeles. Jonathan Rinderknecht has been in custody since his arrest in Florida on Oct. 7.
Where things stand: Rinderknecht was indicted by a federal grand jury in October and is charged with one count of arson, one count of timber set afire and one count of destruction of property by means of fire. Rinderknecht pleaded not guilty in mid-October and faces anywhere from five to 45 years in federal prison if convicted. His trial is set to begin April 21, 2026. His lawyers recently asked the court to allow him out of custody as he awaits trial.
Argument against release: In a filing on Monday, prosecutors said Rinderknecht is a flight risk because of his familial ties to France, as well as a danger to the community. The filing states that Rinderknecht threatened to burn down his sister’s home and that he purchased a gun and threatened to kill his brother-in-law. Prosecutors also raised the fact that a judge determined in October that the suspect’s mental health had declined.
The allegations: Authorities allege Rinderknecht set fire to brush near the Skull Rock Trailhead in the Santa Monica Mountains at around midnight Jan. 1, starting the Lachman Fire. Though the fire was held to just 8 acres and was believed to have been extinguished, authorities say it flared up once again amid strong, dry winds a week later. That fire grew into the Palisades Fire, which killed 12 people and destroyed more than 6,800 structures.
