The Brief

Masked, plain-clothed agents are grabbing people they believe are undocumented immigrants off the streets, pulling them into unmarked vehicles and swiftly detaining them.

In other cases, masked agents are running checkpoints in the middle of Washington, D.C., and in L.A., and questioning people in their cars.

And in some situations, agents are smashing the windows of those cars in order to pull a person out.

Immigration agents are often given wide latitude in their work. That means a lot of what the public has been witnessing since President Trump took office — and may be shocked by — is likely legal.

But what is allowable is becoming more unclear as these tactics test the limits of the law, according to immigration law experts. 

"In that sense it is a very confusing time for lawyers and the public alike," says Ahilan Arulanantham, co-director of the UCLA School of Law's Center for Immigration Law & Policy.

NPR asked immigration law experts to explain what we know is and isn't legal when it comes to immigration enforcement.

Q. Federal law gives immigration officials power to arrest and question immigrants. What are those powers? Can they make arrests without warrants?

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency in charge of immigration enforcement, was created after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Congress gave the burgeoning agency wide power to question, search and arrest immigrants, or those believed to be immigrants, without a warrant.

In the past, that has looked like investigative police work and arresting specific targets in specific locations, says Nithya Nathan-Pineau, a policy attorney and strategist at the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, a nonprofit that advocates for immigrants' rights.

The Immigration and Nationality Act states that in order to arrest someone without a warrant, officers must have cause, or reasonable suspicion, to believe that a person is in the U.S. illegally and likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained.

"Leaving aside border checkpoints, immigration officers have power to consensually question anyone, just like a police officer does; but to detain someone even briefly they require individualized suspicion that the person is violating the immigration laws," UCLA's Arulanantham says.

In the past, immigration officers would look for specific people who had, say, a final removal order issued against them or someone who was convicted of a crime – something that would render an individual deportable, Arulanantham says.

Now, in some cases immigration officers are executing major dragnets and arresting large groups of people and then determining if each person is in the U.S. illegally by interrogating them after they've been stopped.

That happened in Los Angeles this summer, when immigration agents stopped people based on their perceived race or ethnicity, according to a lawsuit filed by ACLUSoCal, among others. The plaintiffs argue these actions violate the Fourth Amendment's right to privacy against unreasonable searches and seizures.

A federal court agreed, ruling that agents can't rely on factors such as race, speaking Spanish, wearing workman-like clothes, and location (being present at places such as carwashes or Home Depot parking lots) to meet the standard of "individualized suspicion."

What is supposed to happen and what is happening are two different things, however.

"In the last few weeks it seems that immigration enforcement officers appear to be flouting the judge's order, perhaps because the case is now at the Supreme Court," Arulanantham says.

ICE didn't respond to NPR's questions on how it addresses the individualized suspicion metric.

Q. Are immigration enforcement agents allowed to wear masks or otherwise refuse to identify themselves? 

Immigration agents conduct an operation at a car wash on Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, in Montebello, Calif.

(

Gregory Bull

/

AP

)

The widespread masking of immigration agents in the streets and even in federal courthouses has stoked fear among immigrant communities and strong objections from civil rights groups. But acting director of ICE, Todd Lyons, has said it's a necessary response to what he describes as efforts to dox and threaten these agents and their families. ICE has said there has been a dramatic increase in the doxing of agents but has not said how many cases there have been or provided any details. The agency has not provided any information to support their assertion of an increase in agent doxxing.

But Nathan-Pineau says this violates a federal requirement that immigration agents identify themselves as agents as soon as it is "practical" and "safe" to do so during an arrest. (They are not, however, required to provide their personal names.) She says the regulation is interpreted as agents are allowed not to identify themselves during emergency situations where they have to work fast. But she says she doesn't think the current situation constitutes an emergency that would justify agents not identifying what agency they work for.

At the time of publication ICE had not responded to NPR's question on how the "emergency" element had been defined previously, or whether it has changed, or whether agents not identifying themselves is consistent with policy.

While ICE leadership has endorsed agents' use of masks, and the federal law doesn't mention the use of masks explicitly, there are efforts by lawmakers across the country to bar federal agents from hiding their faces outside of medical or tactical reasons or for undercover work. But there are no current laws requiring agents to show their faces.

Q. Where can officers make arrests? Can they arrest people in their home or a private business?

Immigration officers must have a warrant to arrest people at private businesses or homes. However, there are areas outside homes or in and around apartment buildings and businesses that can be considered public spaces. Immigration agents can, and have, made arrests in those types of areas, such as the lobby of an apartment building that's open to the public or parking lots.

Private businesses have the right to decline entry to ICE.

However, ICE agents have used deceptive practices to gain entry into a person's home or business to make arrests without a warrant, according to a lawsuit filed in 2020 against DHS. This has included ICE agents wearing vests that say "POLICE" and misrepresenting themselves as police or probation officers to trick people into allowing them into their homes or businesses. Four years later, a federal court ruled against this practice called 'knock and talk,' putting a stop to it.

Adding to the confusion, by both subjects of investigations and bystanders, is the fact that ICE agents occasionally take part in broader criminal investigations Similarly, there are rules governing law enforcement's right to search and question a person.

At border checkpoints, like at airports or land crossings, agents have wide latitude to ask questions, search people and detain individuals, Arulanantham says. Otherwise, it's important to understand the difference between a consensual encounter with immigration agents, where people have the right to leave the conversation, and actual detention.

People hold signs warning drivers of a checkpoint in the northern part of Washington on Aug. 30, 2025.

(

Mark Schiefelbein

/

AP

)

"The first question anyone should ask if they feel uncomfortable when approached by any officer is 'Am I free to leave?' If the officer says they are, then they should exercise their right to leave," Arulanantham says. "If the officer tries not to answer, the individual should repeat the question until they get a response."

"If the officer says 'No,' then the person should not resist, but need not cooperate in any other way," he continues. "So they need not answer any questions."

In general, a person doesn't need to cooperate in any search if officers do not have a warrant, Arulanantham says.

Q. What are the rules on use of force?

Immigration agents are allowed by law to use force when they have "reasonable grounds to believe that such force is necessary," according to DHS policy.

However, the law states an immigration officer should "always use the minimum non-deadly force necessary to accomplish the officer's mission and shall escalate to a higher level of non-deadly force only when such higher level of force is warranted …"

And DHS policy encourages agents to use de-escalation techniques, less-lethal force and less-lethal devices, such as pepper spray and flashbang grenades, in achieving their goals. And they are to only use force that is "objectively reasonable."

It's unclear what the agency considers "objectively reasonable," says Nathan-Pineau.

There have been dozens of recorded instances where agents have smashed car windows in order to pull out suspects. ProPublica reported nearly 50 such instances across the country in the first six months of President Trump's second term.

The government keeps "no relevant statistics" on how common this tactic was previously, according to the outlet. ICE had not responded to NPR's question on this tactic or questions on whether their use of force policy has changed.

"The tremendous use of force that is being used to arrest people is honestly really disturbing to watch," Nathan-Pineau says, citing the incidents of window smashing and agents tackling people in public.

And it's been difficult to determine whether ICE has made changes in its use-of-force policy, she says. "Because the most recent policy that we can find certainly says that the type of force that we're seeing is for emergency situations." Nathan-Pineau says it's helpful that bystanders are increasingly recording these interactions with immigration authorities, but she has seen that immigration officers are intimidating and even arresting these public observers of raids.

That is happening, Arulanantham says, even though federal law allows bystanders the right to record "so long as they are not interfering with the arrest."
Copyright 2025 NPR

Starting Saturday, Nov. 7, the 63-year-old Vincent Thomas Bridge will shut down until at least March 2028 for major construction. Workers will replace its deck, which has become “severely deteriorated” from thousands of vehicles driving across it daily.

The Vincent Thomas, which connects San Pedro to Terminal Island, is the state’s fourth-longest suspension bridge. It handles an estimated 53,000 vehicles — including 4,600 heavy trucks — each day.

The bridge is often the quickest route between San Pedro and Long Beach. Detours along Anaheim Street or Pacific Coast Highway could double many people’s commute times.

Tate Allen and his San Pedro neighbors have begun referring to the closure as “Harborgeddon.”

The Vincent Thomas Bridge will close to traffic starting Saturday, Nov. 7 in San Pedro, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.Allen, with help from Claude AI, even put together a website bearing that name that has a countdown clock and a map of suggested detours.

Caltrans’ official detour recommends that drivers from San Pedro use the 110 Freeway to access Harry Bridges Boulevard, then take the 47 Freeway at Henry Ford Boulevard or the 710 Freeway.

That’s likely the route most truck drivers entering and exiting the Port of Long Beach will take, Allen said, and commute times could vary widely depending on the time of day.

He currently travels from San Pedro to his downtown Long Beach office three days a week. Once the bridge closes, his 15-minute drive will likely take 30-45 minutes, Allen estimated.

Ahead of the bridge closure, Los Angeles City Councilmember Tim McOsker, who represents District 15 including San Pedro and Wilmington, pushed for road improvements along the detours to prepare them for increased traffic.

In Wilmington, those efforts included “slurry sealing along Alameda Street and Harry Bridges Boulevard, with concrete repairs in some locations,” Sophie Gilchrist, the councilmember’s spokesperson, wrote in a statement.

McOsker is also asking the Los Angeles Department of Transportation to monitor traffic on Anaheim Street after the bridge closes and identify short-term and long-term fixes “if problems arise,” Gilchrist wrote.

Why is this happening now?

Caltrans began forming this plan after a 2021 inspection found that the bridge deck condition had dropped from “fair” to “poor” in part because of heavy truck traffic from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

That ultimately led to the $750 million bridge deck replacement project, which will also replace the center median, railing, fencing and install new seismic sensors and utilities on the bridge.

Caltrans officials say a full bridge closure was the most palatable of several unsavory options. Plans to just close the bridge at night would have stretched construction to 48 months. A mix of weekend and overnight closures to keep one lane open ranged between 25 and 32 months.

What does this mean for locals?

Business owners in San Pedro are worried that lengthy detours will frustrate potential customers and lead to a dip in sales.

Stephanie Crawford, who has owned Creative Pet Supply in San Pedro for the past 26 years, said construction on the 47 Freeway off-ramp just up the road from her business has already hurt.

Lately, she’s had “quite a few” customers from Long Beach asking how they’ll be able to visit her store once the bridge shuts down.

She’s been telling customers: “We’ll still be open, if you can get to us.”

The Vincent Thomas Bridge will be closed for repairs for over a year, starting Saturday, Nov. 7, in San Pedro, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.The closure might also be a headache for the historic Warner Grand Theatre in downtown San Pedro, which is just finishing up renovations of its own, albeit at an inopportune time, said Liz Schindler Johnson, executive director of the Grand Vision Foundation – a nonprofit arts organization that markets the theater’s events.

On average, roughly 10-15% of their audience comes from Long Beach, Schindler Johnson said. She’s hoping they won’t be put off by the longer drive, especially because the shows primarily take place on weekends.

Two of her eight employees typically commute over the bridge to their San Pedro office and are bracing for added drive time, she said.

“We don’t want to go back to remote work if we can help it,” Schindler Johnson said.

Meanwhile, Allen is trying to stay positive. The longer drive, he said, will give him an excuse to catch up on audiobooks and check out a new grocery store — the Northgate Market along Pacific Coast Highway in Wilmington.

The city of L.A.'s current sales tax is 10.25%. But after the region’s stretched firefighting services became visible during the devastating 2025 fires, voters solidly approved Measure FD this week, increasing the rate to 10.75%.

It’s expected to raise nearly $350 million yearly for the L.A. Fire Department to hire more firefighters, purchase vehicles and upgrade fire stations.

How and when the increase will trickle down to you

L.A.'s sales tax will go up to 10.75% after the passing of measure FD.

(

Julia Kozlov

/

Getty Images

)

It’s likely you won’t start paying the additional sales tax until spring. The exact date is difficult to predict: The measure says the tax will be collected on “the first day of the first calendar quarter commencing more than one hundred ten (110) days after the adoption of this Ordinance” by the L.A. City Council. The L.A. County Registrar-Recorder has until Dec. 3 to certify county elections.

Until then, the City of L.A.’s 10.25% sales tax won’t change. Then it will go up to 10.75%.

(It’s important to know that money doesn’t all go to the city. The state of California has a base sales tax of 7.25% to which cities add.)

A $1,000 laptop, for example, would carry $102.50 in sales tax. But the sales tax increase would raise that sales tax by $5 on that computer.

Under state law, the municipal sales tax will be charged on merchandise such as furniture, giftware, toys, antiques, clothing and restaurant food.

Grocery food and medicine are exempt, however.

How L.A.’s increased sales tax compares to elsewhere

Highest:

• 11.75%: Palmdale and Lancaster (highest in the nation)
• 11.5%: Santa Fe Springs
• 11.25%: Azusa, Bell Gardens, Calabasas, City of Commerce, Compton, Covina, Culver City, Gardena, Glendora, Irwindale, Lynwood, Pico Rivera, San Marino, South Gate, Santa Monica
• 10.25%: Bell, Beverly Hills, Bradbury, Cerritos, City of Industry, Claremont, Diamond Bar, Hermosa Beach, Hidden Hills, La Habra Heights, La Mirada, Maywood, Palos Verdes Estates, Rancho Palos Verdes, Redondo Beach, Rolling Hills, Rolling Hills Estates, Rosemead, San Dimas, Santa Clarita, Walnut, West Covina, Westlake Village

Lowest:

• 7.75%: Tustin, Huntington Beach, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano
• 7.25%: Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, Camarillo

Outside of California:

• 10.4%: Seattle
• 10.5% : Chicago
• 8.25%: Dallas
• 8.875%: New York City

Next time you get sticker shock after you swipe your card or phone to pay for something, remember that cities turn around and use that money to pay for water, trash collection, police and emergency services with that money.

Construction of the green metal fence around MacArthur Park will begin Monday, Nov. 16, with work scheduled to continue through fall 2027.

The city announced the start date Nov. 4, saying crews will install an 8-foot fence around the park’s perimeter. Nearby residents and businesses can expect some noise, dust and vibration during construction, although the city said mitigation measures will be in place.

Crews will work Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and the park will remain open while crews are working. 

The fence is the city’s latest attempt to tackle longstanding problems at MacArthur Park, including drug use, homelessness and crime.

The city first approved plans for the fence in October 2025, and the proposal has since drawn both support and criticism from residents and community groups.

Some say they hope the fence will make the park safer, while others question whether it will actually improve conditions there. Police and city officials say the fence will give them more control over the space and make it easier to enforce the law.

Ana Luz Vazquez, a street vendor near MacArthur Park, said her main concern about the fence is what will happen to the unhoused people who stay in the park throughout the day and whether the city plans to address that issue directly.

She is also concerned that construction during the day could affect her ability to work because of traffic, less parking availability and loud noise.

Vazquez said she would prefer construction to take place at night so it would have less of an impact on street vendors.

“If they’re working in the day then how are we supposed to come here and who is going to help us survive,” Vazquez said.

Construction will happen in two phases

Phase 1

• Alvarado St. from W. 6th St. to Wilshire Blvd.
• S. Park View St. from Wilshire Blvd. to W. 6th St.
• Wilshire Blvd. from Alvarado St. to S. Park View St.

Phase 2

• Alvarado St. from Wilshire Blvd. to W. 7th St.
• S. Park View St. from W. 7th St. to Wilshire Blvd.
• Wilshire Blvd. from S. Park View St. to Alvarado St.
• W. 7th St. from Alvarado St. to S. Park View St.

Existing trees will be protected and monitored during the work, according to the Department of Recreation and Parks. Traffic control measures will be in place during work hours, and crews will post temporary “No Parking” signs near active work areas in advance.

Services at the park are expected to remain the same throughout construction. The schedule could change because of weather or other unforeseen circumstances, according to the city.

The city has allocated $2.3 million for the project, but officials have not said whether that will cover the full cost.

After the fence is installed, the city plans a second phase focused on adding decorative elements. Officials have said residents will have an opportunity to provide input on the design.

Residents with questions or concerns about the project can contact Recreation and Parks at RAP.PublicInfo@lacity.org or (213) 202-2700.

The post MacArthur Park fence construction to begin Nov. 16 appeared first on LA Local.

The California Coastal Commission voted Thursday to allow transportation authorities to build a quarter-mile-long seawall just south of San Clemente State Beach to protect the coastal railroad from rising sea levels and coastal erosion. The plan also includes a major influx of sand for local beaches.

Why this matters

The tracks that carry passengers on the Pacific Surfliner between Orange County and San Diego have shut down frequently in recent years due to rising sea levels and erosion. Rail authorities have dumped thousands of tons of boulders on the beach to buttress the tracks. Now, they’re hoping a seawall will buy them time to come up with a more permanent solution. Not everyone is happy about the plan. Critics say seawalls cause waves to refract and dig deeper, ultimately stripping away even more sand in the long run.

What else do I need to know?

Environmental groups and local tribal authorities say the emergency work has already ruined the beach. To mitigate the negative effects, authorities will haul in close to 700,000 cubic yards of new sand to San Clemente beaches over the coming year.

What's the official reaction?

Orange County Supervisor Katrina Foley released a statement hailing the decision. “Today’s unanimous approval from the California Coastal Commission marks a major milestone to save our critical coastal rail corridor and restore San Clemente’s iconic beaches following decades of erosion and inaction,” Foley said. “The placement of 690,000 cubic yards of sand represents the region’s largest beach nourishment effort in decades and demonstrates our commitment to long-term coastal resilience."

She added: “Wide sandy beaches provide a natural buffer for our rail corridor while protecting our coastline, expanding public access, and supporting our local economy. Through continued collaboration with our state, regional, and local partners, we will advance lasting solutions that protect our beaches and preserve this vital transportation corridor for future generations.”