San Francisco journalist grabbed, pepper-sprayed by federal agents

Eddie Kim, a reporter for the Gazetteer San Francisco, was grabbed by the throat, pushed and sprayed with a chemical irritant while reporting on protests outside an immigration court in San Francisco, California, on Aug. 20, 2025.

Protests in California began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. While concentrated in Los Angeles, protests have continued throughout the state, centered around operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

In an account for the Gazetteer, Kim wrote that he arrived at the San Francisco Immigration Court at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 20 after he was alerted that a detainee was being transferred.

“By the time I got there, a melee was already unfolding among law enforcement agents, protesters, drivers, and passersby,” he wrote. “With agents hitting bikes with batons, cars honking, a bus stuck in the road, and pedestrians filming and shouting, tensions were through the roof.”

Kim identified himself to the agents as a member of the press and was wearing visible press credentials, but recounted that a Customs and Border Protection officer shoved him with a baton while he was filming from the street.

Seconds later, Kim recounted, an agent with ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations team “grabbed me by the throat, pushing me onto the sidewalk.”

As demonstrators continued their attempts to block the ICE transport vans from departing, federal agents responded aggressively, a stark change from the law enforcement response June 24 when protesters had gathered at ICE’s San Francisco headquarters and Kim reported agents had adopted a more defensive approach.

“The language and behavior was more aggressive and, in many cases, preemptive,” Kim wrote. “Several protesters were thrown to the ground. Some people were pepper-sprayed without provocation.

“One of those people was me.”

Kim wrote that he was following a loose formation of federal agents as they walked away once ICE transport vans were able to successfully leave the area. While several people on the sidewalk began shouting “Shame!” and insults at the agents, he said it seemed that the action had slowed.

A lone ICE agent then grabbed a protester’s bike, attempting to yank it away. As Kim moved forward to film the interaction, the agent retrieved his pepper gel — a concentrated form of chemical irritant — and sprayed the protester and then Kim in the eyes.

“The searing pain came as quickly as the attack itself. I fell to the ground near Sansome and Pine streets, more surprised than seriously hurt,” Kim wrote. “I felt the thick liquid smearing on my face as I attempted to wipe away as much of it as possible.”

He added that multiple people nearby came to his aid, flushing his eyes with water. Kim reported that he wasn’t able to see properly for 20 minutes.

“What happened to me, the cyclist protester, and others is a sign that individual federal agents are now willing to proactively employ brute force against people who are not attacking them or even entering their personal space,” he wrote.

Kim did not respond to a request for comment. ICE and its San Francisco Field Office acknowledged receipt when reached via email, but did not respond as of press time.