Journalist hit in head with tear gas canister at immigration protest

Freelance journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel was struck in the temple with a tear gas canister fired by federal officers while he documented anti-deportation protests in Compton, California, on June 7, 2025.

The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Demonstrations on June 7 were centered around a Home Depot in Paramount, a predominantly Latino suburb of Los Angeles, after Border Patrol agents were spotted nearby, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Beckner-Carmitchel told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was on assignment for the Los Angeles Public Press covering the raids and protests.

When he arrived in Paramount, Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies were blocking the street while a few activists yelled at them and stun grenades went off in the distance. Beckner-Carmitchel said he showed the deputies his press credentials and was allowed to pass through the line toward the main area of protests on the Compton side of the bridge.

“As I’m walking up, I see more stun grenades, salt and pepper balls being deployed, that kind of thing. As I got closer, I realized that it’s basically a cat-and-mouse game between protesters and HSI,” he said, referring to Homeland Security Investigations, a law enforcement unit of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Beckner-Carmitchel said the back-and-forth — protesters getting close and shouting at the agents, with agents responding by deploying tear gas and other crowd-control munitions — continued for around six hours, at which point it appeared that things were winding down.

“I had taken off my gear and was literally going to basically check out with a few other reporters, because we keep an eye on each other,” he said. Then agents charged into the street and the situation quickly escalated.

“I was running up, was getting ready to put on my respirator and helmet but before that had even happened I got hit in the temple with a tear gas canister,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “Later on, I realized that I was literally covered in chemical irritant, and it had exploded so close that it hadn’t even aerosolized yet: It was literally caked into my jacket.”

He added that at nearly the same moment he was hit, a journalist he was working alongside — Ryanne Mena of the Los Angeles Daily News — was shot in the head with a crowd-control munition.

Beckner-Carmitchel was able to locate Mena as the pair became engulfed in tear gas. He led them around the corner to a safe location where they could rinse out their eyes and document their injuries.

He told the Tracker that Mena drove him to a nearby hospital to be examined.

“When you’re hit in the head, that’s an immediate medical issue,” Beckner-Carmitchel said. “I double-checked to make sure I passed all the concussion protocols, particularly because getting hit with a tear gas canister, there’s a history there of really bad things happening.

“Somehow I passed, I still don’t know how. I’m really lucky,” he added.

While covering demonstrations over previous and subsequent days, Beckner-Carmitchel was shot with other crowd-control munitions, shoved by law enforcement and exposed to chemical irritants.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots,” and added, “President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles.”