Photo Essay: ICE in L.A.
Co-published by Economic Hardship Reporting Project, The American Prospect, and The Puffin Foundation.
For more than a month, Los Angeles has been under siege from federal operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE detained over 1,600 people just in a 16-day stretch in June, inspiring alternating bouts of anger, fear, and protest. President Trump deployed the National Guard and even U.S. Marines to counter demonstrations supporting the city’s immigrants, but community members have not stopped speaking out and confronting ICE raids when they see them.
Rian Dundon is a photographer who spent several days on the ground in Los Angeles taking pictures of scenes throughout the city: the protesters, the Marines, and the vibrant culture of Los Angeles that has shined through in these demonstrations. We present them as a snapshot of life in a city under authoritarian attack by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller.
A security PSA featuring U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem screens in the arrivals hall of LAX on June 19, 2025. In early June, DHS initiated an escalating program of immigration arrests in Los Angeles, sparking protests and creating a climate of fear in affected communities. “We’re going to stay here and build our operations until we make sure that we liberate the city of Los Angeles,” stated Noem on June 12 (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
Onlookers watch a fire destroy the Lucky Ave Wholesale Center in Downtown L.A., June 19, 2025. The federal campaign to deport undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles began in early June when ICE agents arrested workers at a nearby garment factory. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Protesters gather outside Dodger Stadium after the team was accused of allowing federal agents to use their parking lot to process detainees, Los Angeles, June 21, 2025. R: A handwritten memorial marks the site where three people were arrested in an immigration sting a few hours earlier, Pasadena, June 21, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Protester on Sunset Boulevard, June 21, 2025. R: U.S. Marines, deployed to protect federal agents and assets during protests against the immigration raids, idle outside the Wilshire Federal Building in West L.A., June 22, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
Musicians play during a protest outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where people arrested in the current immigration crackdown are being housed, June 20, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
An empty intersection in Downtown L.A.’s Wholesale District, where recent immigration raids have precipitated a chilling effect on business, June 19, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
Outside the Federal Building, Westwood, June 23, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Activist outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where people arrested in the current immigration crackdown are being housed, June 20, 2025. R: Families gather outside their homes the morning of an ICE sting in their neighborhood, in which three people were arrested, Pasadena, June 21, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Protesters rally outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, June 19, 2025. R: Crucifixes for sale in Downtown L.A.’s wholesale district, June 20, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Local businesses signal their resistance to recent immigration raids, Pasadena, June 21, 2025. R: Protest outside the Wilshire Federal Building, June 22, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
L: Pro-monarchist Iranian Americans—one toting an effigy of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei—rally outside the Wilshire Federal Building to celebrate the U.S. bombing of nuclear sites in Iran, June 23, 2025. Several Iranian nationals in Los Angeles have since been detained as part of ICE’s ongoing deportation campaign. R: A cameraman films at a protest on Sunset Boulevard, June 21, 2025. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
An empty sidewalk in Downtown L.A. the morning of a nearby immigration sting in the Fashion District, where escalating raids have caused business to slow, June 24, 2025. The federal program to deport undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles began when ICE agents arrested workers at a garment factory in early June. Since then, more than 1,600 people have been detained. (Rian Dundon/EHRP/Magnum Foundation)
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