Reporter pushed by police, threatened with arrest at LA protest

Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter with L.A. Taco, was pushed by police and threatened with arrest while documenting a protest in Los Angeles, California, on March 28, 2026.

The protest followed a “No Kings” demonstration held earlier in the day in LA, one of thousands across the U.S. that organizers said drew more than 8 million people against Trump administration policies.

After the main march, people gathered outside downtown LA’s 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.

Ray told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that shortly after he arrived, people at the protest began kicking and pushing at the gate at the detention center. Federal agents responded by firing pepper balls and tear gas into the crowd, though Ray said he was mostly shielded by his gas mask.

Later in the afternoon, the LA Police Department pushed the crowd away from the detention center and down the street. While walking backward and filming, an officer shoved Ray into a metal gate. At the time, he was among other journalists, clearly marked as press and wearing visible credentials.

Police began making arrests and formed a kettle, a tactic used to surround and control a crowd. Officers instructed credentialed press to leave the kettle and continue documenting from the sidewalk.

“I wasn’t interested in doing that; I wanted to be able to document arrests from inside the kettle, where I could get a better view,” Ray told the Tracker.

In a video Ray posted to the social platform Bluesky, an officer points at him and tells him to leave the area.

“We’re giving you an opportunity for legitimate media to leave, because we’re going to make arrests,” the officer said.

Ray replied, “But you’re not going to arrest media, are you?”

“Yes, we are. We gave you a dispersal order. We asked you to leave.”

The officer ignored Ray’s assertion of his rights as a journalist under California law, which allows members of the press to cover protests and exempts them from dispersal orders. It also protects them from arrest or interference by police while doing so. A federal preliminary injunction against the city is also in place to uphold those protections.

“Either they don’t seem to be clear on the law, or they just ignored it,” Ray told the Tracker. “It didn’t feel like I could move around freely, that I could leave, and I was very clearly told that I was going to be arrested.”

Ray was in the kettle for about a half hour. He was eventually allowed to leave after police negotiated the exit of members of the press with Adam Rose, press rights chair of the LA Press Club. Rose is also deputy director of advocacy at Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the Tracker is a project.

In a written statement shared April 2, LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell said that anyone identifying as “duly authorized” members of the media was contacted, verified and separated from those arrested for engaging in violence and vandalism that endangered the public. The department added 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,” the statement said.

Ray was similarly kettled and threatened with arrest at another protest in January 2026.