Incident details
- Date of incident
- June 8, 2025
- Location
- Los Angeles, California
- Targets
- Joey Scott (Freelance)
- Equipment searched or seized
- Status of equipment
- Searched without seizure
- Search warrant obtained
- No
Equipment Search or Seizure
Law enforcement at a immigration protest in downtown Los Angeles on June 8, 2025. Freelance journalist Joey Scott had his equipment bag searched while covering the protest.
Freelance journalist Joey Scott had his equipment bag searched by a sheriff’s deputy while covering an immigration enforcement protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.
The weekend 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 over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.
Scott told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that he and another reporter, Lexis-Olivier Ray of L.A. Taco, were attempting to cross a law enforcement skirmish line to escape tear gas and flash-bang grenades when they were stopped by a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department deputy. Although other journalists were allowed to pass, the deputy insisted on searching their bags, Scott said.
Scott said both he and Ray displayed their press badges — Scott’s issued by the Industrial Workers of the World Freelance Journalists Union — but still had to show the contents of their bags to cross. In videos the pair posted to the social platform X, the deputy, who identified himself as a sergeant, can be seen shining a light into Ray’s bag.
He told the Tracker he feared refusing the search would have resulted in being forced back into the tear gas, his devices being seized or his detention or arrest. Scott, who has covered numerous protests over the past five years, said this experience was among the most intense.
The trauma of these encounters builds over time, he said. “You go out and the thing that goes through your mind is: Is this the night that I get arrested? Is this the night that I get severely hurt?”
In a statement emailed to the Tracker June 10, the Sheriff’s Department said it prioritizes maintaining access for credentialed media, “especially during emergencies and critical incidents.”
“The LASD does not condone any actions that intentionally target members of the press, and we continuously train our personnel to distinguish and respect the rights of clearly identified journalists in the field,” a public information officer wrote. “We remain open to working with all media organizations to improve communication, transparency, and safety for all parties during public safety operations.”
The U.S. Press Freedom Tracker catalogues press freedom violations in the United States. Email tips to [email protected].
