Photographer kettled, arrested while covering LA protest

Independent photographer Santiago Restrepo was kettled by police, arrested and cited for failing to disperse while documenting an immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.

The protest followed LA’s “No Kings” demonstration, one of some 3,300 against Trump administration policies that took place that day across the U.S., drawing more than 8 million people nationwide, organizers said.

After the main march, people gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants are held, and the Roybal Federal Building, locations where many demonstrations have centered since sweeping immigration enforcement began in the city in June 2025. The LA Police Department said 75 people were arrested after officers issued a dispersal order and declared an unlawful assembly.

Restrepo, primarily a street and landscape photographer who had covered previous “No Kings” protests, told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he was documenting the March 28 protest at the detention center with two professional cameras.

As he arrived, he saw a crowd outside the center’s fence, and federal agents on the other side. The agents soon started deploying pepper balls and tear gas canisters.

Restrepo retreated, but had to stop photographing because his eyes were tearing up, he was coughing and his skin was burning due to the irritants. He was treated on the street by a medic.

He then went back to the area near the detention center to continue photographing the protest.

At that point, LAPD officers arrived in riot gear and on horseback, forming a barricade at the northern end of the block. The federal agents continued to deploy chemical irritants, and Restrepo said he decided it was time to leave — but the LAPD had also blocked off the other end of the street.

“We didn’t know what to expect. We just knew that we were being corralled and we weren’t being allowed to leave,” he said.

Police initially allowed journalists who had credentials or were wearing gear identifying them as press to leave, Restrepo said, so he also alerted the officers that he was there to document.

“So I had my cameras out. I walked up to the front where they were letting people leave, and I said, ‘Hey, I’m here as a journalist. I’m here documenting.’”

One of the officers asked what outlet he was with, to which Restrepo replied that he was freelance.

“And he kind of just shook his head and told me to go back to where I was standing,” Restrepo recalled. “After that, I was like, ‘OK, well, I’m not getting out of here.’”

However, a September preliminary injunction states that journalists are not required to wear credentials or work for a major media outlet to be considered press, and that carrying professional gear, such as photographic equipment, should be seen as an indicator they are there as journalists. The order also bars LAPD officers from interfering with journalists covering protests, including by arresting, detaining or citing them solely for failing to disperse.

Restrepo said that after about an hour, officers pulled him out of the kettle, zip-tied his hands and took his gear, including his cameras. They then took him in a patrol wagon to a nearby police station, where others who had been in the kettle were being held.

At one point, when he was taken to use the restroom, he again told an officer that he was at the protest to document as press, but they continued to hold him for around four hours, with his hands zip-tied behind his back nearly the whole time.

Restrepo said he was ultimately released with a citation for failing to disperse, with a hearing on May 1. He said all his equipment was returned to him, and he did not believe it was searched in police custody.

In a written statement shared April 2, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that police were responding to acts of violence and vandalism and eventually issued a dispersal order. Anyone identifying as a “duly authorized” member of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those facing arrest for failure to disperse, according to the statement.

McDonnell added that any use of force or allegations of mistreatment, including those involving media members, would be investigated and addressed.

At least a dozen journalists were detained in the kettle that day; some who showed media credentials were allowed to leave, while others who did not have formal credentials were held for longer.