Photographer detained at LA immigration, workers’ rights protest

Independent photographer Angel Perez was detained by police while covering a workers’ rights and immigration protest in Los Angeles, California, on May 1, 2026.

Thousands rallied in downtown LA for International Workers’ Day as part of nationwide “May Day Strong” demonstrations that also called for an end to the war in Iran and the immigration raids that have swept the city since June 2025. Later, demonstrators gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are being held.

Perez told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that during that evening, he was documenting demonstrators outside the detention center when LA Police Department officers ordered people to leave the area, and quickly surrounded, or kettled, a group of mostly journalists, as well as protesters and bystanders.

As people tried to comply with the dispersal order, officers advanced on the group and prevented them from leaving. Perez was not carrying his press credential, but was wearing his professional camera equipment. He added that several other journalists inside the kettle who were wearing credentials were also prevented from leaving.

“We were telling them we were press, and we should be let go,” Perez said. “They had said, ‘If you stay in the kettle, and you proceed to still document what’s going on, we are going to arrest you.’”

Perez was detained for more than a half hour, when officers eventually released him and other members of the press individually, without explaining why they were detained in the first place. At least six other journalists were either detained or arrested in the kettle.

The LAPD did not return a request for comment from the Tracker, but in a statement posted on May 1, it wrote: “The Los Angeles Police Department fully supports the rights of individuals to peacefully assemble and exercise their First Amendment rights.”

In an earlier statement following the March 28 “No Kings” rally — which resulted in more than two dozen press freedom violations — Chief Jim McDonnell said that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment involving media members would be investigated and addressed.

“The LAPD recognizes the media’s right to cover events and makes reasonable efforts to accommodate, with those efforts consistent with our primary duty to maintain public safety and order,” that statement said.