LOS ANGELES—President Donald Trump’s response to a day of peaceful protests at the Metropolitan Detention Center Monday was to send in the U.S. Marines. The day before, mounted police in riot gear faced off against crowds of protesters in downtown Los Angeles, expressing their outrage over ICE raids targeting workplaces, schools, and immigration offices.
The raids—part of a nationwide escalation under Trump’s renewed offensive—drew thousands into the streets, with demonstrators engaging in civil disobedience by blocking detention vans, linking arms in front of armored vehicles, and chanting “¡Aquí estamos, y no nos vamos!” (“We’re here, and we’re not leaving!”). Protesters left one bus stop near the detention center covered in anti-ICE and anti-fascist slogans, while an identical bus stop one block away was shattered by police bullets.
At the heart of the resistance were teachers, workers, artists, seasoned activists, and youth, many of whom have never protested before but are now ready to risk arrest to protect their communities.
“Even though it was a little bit last minute, imagine when we actually plan and strategize how much community we can mobilize to guarantee safety for our community,” one demonstrator named Crystal told People’s World from atop the steps of City Hall. Just below where she stood, a firing line of mounted police blocked the smoke-filled intersection below.
A local teacher, Crystal was serene as flash bangs popped within spitting distance. “You just gotta show up. Whatever you’re feeling in your heart, just show up. Wear the most comfortable clothes you can, throw on your bunny shoes if you have to, be ready to march, be ready to use your voice, and be ready to be heard.”
For Jada Marie, a Black queer musician from New York, the raids hit close to home. “My best friend’s mom is undocumented, one of my building neighbors is here from Tijuana just building her career, and to have that stripped away from her… They’re tearing families apart for no reason.” She criticized the city’s uneven enforcement: “Cops arrest people over TAP cards [public transit passes] but don’t care about ICE destroying lives.”
Efram, a Guatemalan worker, emphasized the economic toll of the roundups. “They’re not just going after criminals; they’re targeting people who work. All we want is a better life.” Though resigned to the risks (“If we’re next, we shouldn’t be afraid”), he urged solidarity: “If you can’t come out, pray for safety.”
A desire for greater organization and leadership has been a distinctively common thread among those who talked with People’s World. A Guatemalan-American flag he’d just picked up from a street vendor waved overhead as Efram lamented: “The people who come to this country don’t have organized power. Today, we check Facebook, TikTok, this is where people go to see what’s happening and how we can support each other. But when it comes to organizing something like this [spontaneously mass resistance], there’s nothing.”
“We’re all trying to figure out exactly what the plan is, but we know it’s a battle,” Crystal explained. “It’s a push-and-pull, and we know when we push, they push back harder, but we gotta keep pushing and let them know we are not standing for this. They’re not gonna come into our schools and take our kids.”
While organizational support for the street protest at first remained visibly sparse over the weekend, a “Stand up, Fight back” community assembly and rally was planned for Monday, June 9, to call for the release of Service Employees International Union-United Service Workers West (SEIU-USWW) President David Huerta. The union leader was tased, injured, and arrested while observing law enforcement activity Friday.
Flyers concerning his detention shared on social media read, “We will not be intimidated. We will not be silenced.” They demanded “humane treatment and access to legal counsel for detainees, an end to raids that devastate communities and families, and the immediate release of Huerta and other unjustly detained individuals.”
U.S. Rep Jimmy Gomez defended Huerta, a friend and constituent, noting on X, “This isn’t just an overreach– it’s a nationwide pattern of suppression.”
Huerta was released from federal custody on Monday on a $50,000 bond after a hearing in court, where he was charged with “conspiracy to impede an officer.”
Helene, a longtime activist, massage therapist, and L.A. resident was compelled by Trump’s escalation and targeting of leaders like Huerta to show support, accompanied by family and friends. “Calling in the National Guard just amped everything up. I wasn’t planning on coming out today, but it’s like…well they’re turning it into a big thing, so we gotta come out and let them know L.A. is for due process and for our undocumented neighbors.”
When asked about the effect of military presence in the community, Helene smiled.
“Frankly, it brings us together. If they wouldn’t have called in the National Guard and really turned up the volume, there wouldn’t be this many people here. We’d be standing outside the detention center chanting ‘Let them go’ and it would be very mellow.”
She continued, “It makes me feel like more a part of the community. Just thinking about undocumented people in my family, my neighbors, it actually encourages me to get out and support them.”
Pride celebrants from a march earlier Sunday slowly intermingled with the protest, compounding an atmosphere of solidarity and collective defiance with dance, songs, and festivity.
Despite Trump administration plans to continue the quota-driven escalation in ICE raids on working communities, Crystal is assured that resistance is just beginning. “This is not the last time we’re gonna be out here, I feel it, it’s not. We’re only gonna get stronger and more prepared.”
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