Officer pushes reporter in press vest at LA immigration protest

Mekahlo Medina, a reporter for KNBC, was pushed by a federal agent while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 7, 2025, according to videos posted by the outlet and the journalist on social media.

The protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around Los Angeles of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with Los Angeles 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 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

In the video posted by Medina, the reporter said that at 8:30 p.m. on June 7, a mix of Los Angeles Police Department officers and U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents pushed through crowds of protesters outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held. Medina — who was wearing a press vest — and his crew were shot by pepper pellets and tear gas, and later took cover behind a news truck, he said.

The video shows police officers and federal agents in tactical gear moving forward, shouting “Move!” and “Get out!”

Medina can be heard shouting “We’re all press. Press, press!” as one CBP agent aggressively pushes him.

In the video, Medina told his audience that local journalism organizations have met with the LAPD in the past on how to cover protests and allow the media to exercise its First Amendment right for freedom of the press.

“But as we rewatched the video of officers pushing journalists through, you can see this wasn’t LAPD, those were federal agents,” Medina said.

In an emailed statement to the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees CBP, wrote: “We remind members of the media and journalists to exercise caution as they cover these violent riots. We have seen rioters throwing rocks, Molotov cocktails, setting fires, and other violent acts. President Trump and Secretary Noem are committed to restoring law and order in Los Angeles."

Medina did not immediately return a request for comment.