Student journalist bruised by projectiles at LA immigration protest

Student journalist Delfino Camacho was struck twice in the leg with crowd-control munitions while documenting a protest against immigration raids in Los Angeles, California, on June 8, 2025.

Protests began June 6 in response to federal raids in and around LA of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with LA law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Camacho was taking pictures and reporting for California State University’s Long Beach Current, as well as the university’s bilingual publication ENYE. He was near the Metropolitan Detention Center, where immigrants were being held, when wind carried chemical irritants into the air, affecting him and others.

Later, the LA Police Department began pushing people away from the detention center toward City Hall. Officers positioned themselves on the front line, with sheriff’s deputies on horseback behind them. The police then started firing large foam rounds into the crowd in repeated bursts, littering the street with the projectiles.

“It was just a free-for-all,” said Camacho, who took cover.

Two people in front of Camacho were struck in the face and bleeding. Camacho, who was carrying a large camera and wearing media credentials and a helmet marking himself as press, briefly stood to take pictures of officers firing into the crowd.

At that moment, an officer quickly turned and aimed before firing at him, striking him twice on his upper thigh. Camacho stumbled backward, then took cover again until the pain subsided.

“He was aiming for me the moment that I wasn’t fully taking cover,” Camacho said. “It’s clear we were press, just sitting down, taking photos. and then they would aim at us and start shooting.”

The impact left bruising, light scratches and a bump on his leg.

When reached for comment, the LAPD directed the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker to the department’s social media accounts. In a statement posted to social platform X, the department said it had worked through the night to restore public safety. It did not address the use of force against members of the press.