Reporters affected by chemical irritants, coverage impeded at LA protests

Demonstrations broke out in January 2026 in Los Angeles, California, against escalating federal immigration raids, along with similar protests nationwide, including in Minnesota, where federal officers shot and killed two U.S. citizens.

In LA, sweeping immigration enforcement began in June, and many demonstrations since then have centered around the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown, where immigrants are being held. Police and federal officers have deployed tear gas, pepper spray and impact projectiles to disperse the crowds.

Reporters on the ground described being exposed to the various chemical irritants, as well as being impeded from doing their work, much like what occurred during June protest coverage. Although these January incidents do not constitute official press freedom violations under the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker’s criteria, we’ve provided a roundup of them below, organized by date (our reporting on the formal press freedom violations we cataloged in LA during January is here, and see our coverage of the lawsuits filed against the LA Police Department and Department of Homeland Security over its treatment of journalists).

This roundup will be updated as additional incidents are verified. To date, law enforcement agencies have not responded to multiple requests for comment.

To learn more about how the Tracker documents and categorizes violations of press freedom, visit our FAQ page.

Jan. 10, 2026

• After the LA Police Department issued a dispersal order for protesters near the detention center, officers directed independent journalist Sean Beckner-Carmitchel and other media to move to a designated “safe zone,” instead of letting them continue reporting from their location. In a video Beckner-Carmitchel shared on the social media platform Bluesky, an officer can be heard making the announcement over a megaphone: “Any member of the media, you have been warned, a dispersal order has been given. If you have ‘press’ on your helmet, ‘press’ on your vest, you have been issued a dispersal order. There is a safe zone for you here if you are a member of the press.”

Jan. 27, 2026

• California Post reporter Jamie Paige was peppered with insults by individuals who disrupted a police commission meeting, the outlet reported. People attending the meeting at LAPD headquarters tried to physically block her camera from filming, refused to answer questions and yelled at her.

Jan. 30, 2026

• Moon Mandel, a freelance photojournalist, was exposed to chemical irritants by federal officers while documenting protests in downtown LA. “When the Department of Homeland Security started utilizing pepper bullets and tear gas, I lost the ability to see and vomited at least four times,” Mandel told the Tracker. Also that day, they were hit twice with a baton by an LA police officer.
• CNN correspondent Veronica Miracle was affected by pepper spray as she covered downtown protests. “There’s so much of the pepper spray still in the air and so, so many people around us coughing and gagging, including us,” she said in a segment for CNN’s “OutFront.” And while reporting live from protests that day, she was shot in the leg with a pepper ball fired by a federal agent.
• Photographer Anna Moltke told the Tracker she was affected when police fired chemical irritants while she was reporting from a downtown protest. The residue seeped into her clothes and caused her to cough, even after she left the area. Also that day, she was pushed to the ground by an officer.
• Student photojournalist Griffin O’Rourke told the Tracker he was engulfed in tear gas fired by federal officers at a protest. The irritant seeped behind his goggles and forced him to wash out his eyes. “I was practically blind from the tear gas,” he said. Also that day, he was struck in the knees with crowd-control munitions.
• Dexter Thomas, an independent journalist, said he was affected after federal agents doused a crowd of protesters with pepper spray. “I came home with my skin burning,” Thomas told the Tracker.
• L.A. Taco reporter Lexis-Olivier Ray was tear-gassed by federal officers while covering a protest. He also felt the effects of chemical irritants in his throat and lungs, and a lingering fiery sensation on his arms. “It was certainly a very chaotic scene,” he told the Tracker. “I got hit with a significant amount of pepper spray, so I do question whether or not they were just aiming at me directly.” Also that day, he was shoved by police.

Jan. 31, 2026

• Reporter Alexandra Datig was heckled by people at a protest who called her a “propaganda journalist” and accused her of being a right-wing influencer. “We don’t want you here,” someone can be heard saying in a video posted to X, while another yells, “Just leave!” Datig later posted on Instagram about the experience, saying, “I’m really, really disgusted and outraged that these people would target me as a journalist. To target anybody who is out there taking video of a protest and target them for being on the ‘left’ or the ‘right’ is ridiculous.”

• Freelance photojournalist Moon Mandel told the Tracker they were exposed to tear gas while documenting a protest. They were also struck with multiple pepper balls fired by federal officers that day and detained by police. “Multiple shots to the body, hand, and then they hit me in the ear, which hurt a lot,” Mandel said.
• Lexis-Olivier Ray, a reporter with L.A. Taco, told the Tracker he was pelted in the legs with pepper balls fired by police at a protest. Also that day, he was threatened with arrest while detained in a police kettle.