LA Times photojournalist detained in police kettle, released without charges

Jason Armond, a photojournalist for the Los Angeles Times, was detained in a kettle by police while documenting an anti-deportation protest in Los Angeles, California, on June 9, 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.

Armond told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and his colleague, reporter Rebecca Ellis, had been documenting protests throughout the night of June 9. The protests were centered around the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown LA’s Little Tokyo neighborhood.

After the Los Angeles Police Department declared the protests an unlawful assembly, Armond said he and Ellis were following the remaining demonstrators when officers began herding the crowd.

“We got to a point where the police were able to surround the area and kind of kettle us in,” he said. “Once they surrounded us, they started picking people out one by one to then arrest.”

While officers started with the demonstrators, Armond said, one then called Ellis over.

“She was talking to them for a minute and then all of a sudden they had her turn around,” he said. “She was just panicking.” Ellis later confirmed to the Tracker that she was not cuffed, just had her hands held behind her back.

“I thought that they were going to let press out, because The New York Times was there — basically all the press was there — and we were in talks with them,” Armond said. “But one side wasn’t communicating with the other.”

He said that the lack of communication left them no choice but to assume they were also under arrest.

“It was stressful,” Armond said. “When you’re in the kettle and then you’re initially talking with them, and then they have you put your hands behind your back: It’s like, what? Am I being arrested or am I being let out?”

Armond told the Tracker he was in the kettle for around 90 minutes, as he wanted to continue photographing the arrests of demonstrators. When he left the kettle, officers directed him to place his arms behind his back. Two officers escorted him out, each holding him by the wrist. After they confirmed his press credentials, Armond said he was released.

“My only gripe is that they could have just been up front and been like, ‘Hey, for our safety, we need to have you put your hands behind your back. We want to make sure you don’t have anything in your hands as we walk you back, and then we’ll let you out,’” Armond said. “They didn’t say any of that until they basically scared us in the process.”

When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. But in a June 10 news release posted on social platform X about the previous evening’s arrests, the LAPD did not address the detainments and removal of journalists caught in the kettle.