Journalist struck with crowd-control munition, press credential damaged

Freelance photojournalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel sued the Department of Homeland Security and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on June 18, 2025, after he was twice assaulted by federal agents during early June protests against federal immigration raids in and around Los Angeles, California.

The suit was filed in federal court on behalf of Beckner-Carmitchel, journalists Lexis-Olivier Ray and Ryanne Mena, several press groups, and various legal observers and participants in the June protests, arguing that “DHS’s excessive and indiscriminate use of force against journalists, observers, and protesters has prevented people, including Plaintiffs, from exercising their constitutional rights.”

On Sept. 10, the plaintiffs won a preliminary injunction placing new restrictions on DHS agents’ violent tactics while policing protests in the LA area.

Beckner-Carmitchel was documenting a protest on June 7 in Compton for the Los Angeles Public Press when he was struck in the temple with a tear gas canister fired by federal officers. A day later, federal agents shot a pepper ball into his press pass, rendering it unusable.

On the day the plaintiffs filed the suit, they also requested a temporary restraining order forcing DHS to stop “indiscriminately and excessively using unnecessary force against reporters, legal observers and protesters at events within the Los Angeles area.”

The court denied the request on June 20, ruling that the plaintiffs had not proven that DHS agents’ alleged constitutional violations had continued after the events outlined in the complaint. It added that the order plaintiffs sought was also too broad.

A month later, the plaintiffs requested a preliminary injunction instead, pointing out that DHS assaults had continued, including on the day the TRO was denied.

In his order granting the injunction, U.S. District Judge Hernán Vera agreed with the plaintiffs that DHS seemed to be retaliating against them for First Amendment-protected behavior, acknowledging that agents’ behavior had included “targeting journalists standing far from any protest activity, launching scorching-hot tear gas canisters directly at people, and shooting projectiles at protestors attempting to comply with dispersal orders.”

The order prohibits agents from dispersing, threatening or assaulting journalists or legal observers without probable cause, using crowd-control weapons and kinetic impact projectiles without threats of imminent harm and before giving two audible warnings, and firing weapons at sensitive areas of the body.

“Under the guise of protecting the public, federal agents have endangered large numbers of peaceful protestors, legal observers, and journalists—as well as the public that relies on them to hold their government accountable,” Vera wrote. “The First Amendment demands better.”

Adam Rose, press rights chair of the Los Angeles Press Club, one of the plaintiffs in the case, celebrated the ruling. “It was a relief to hear Judge Vera acknowledge a ‘mountain of evidence’ as we sat in his courtroom last month,” he said. “This decision affirms our right to be free from violence while doing our jobs.”

Mena, who was assaulted twice during the protests, said, “By granting this relief, the court has affirmed the journalistic duty to our communities and the essential role of a free press.”