Student journalist pepper-sprayed at LA immigration protest

Jake Crandall, a student photojournalist for Santa Monica College’s The Corsair, was pepper-sprayed by a federal officer while documenting an anti-deportation protest in downtown Los Angeles, California, on June 6, 2025.

It was the first of a series of protests in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas where immigrant day laborers gathered in and around LA, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. After demonstrators clashed with local law enforcement officers and federal agents, President Donald Trump called in the California National Guard and then the U.S. Marines, despite objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass.

Crandall told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker that two groups of demonstrators initially gathered separately, one outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, the other near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building, just a short distance away. The groups eventually converged, and tensions with Department of Homeland Security officers began to rise. On the side facing the detention center, people began vandalizing a toll booth at a nearby parking structure. In response, DHS officers fired crowd-control munitions.

As Crandall photographed the scene, a DHS officer pepper-sprayed him and another photojournalist, hitting them directly. He captured the moment with his camera and continued working. At the time, Crandall was clearly identified as a member of the press, wearing a hat and displaying a badge and patch on his backpack.

Later, Crandall was accidentally sprayed a second time — this time by someone using bear mace. He said the individual was aiming at law enforcement officers behind him, and Crandall was caught in the crossfire. That blast, he recalled, was the most painful he experienced all day.

Shortly afterward, Crandall was hit by a pepper ball, which was likely fired by law enforcement. It’s unclear whether he was deliberately targeted in that instance. In the days that followed, Crandall was detained by police and struck by a stinger grenade, a device that releases rubber pellets.

“I definitely feel like I’m a target when I’m out there — on both sides of things now — and it is very concerning,” he said.

In a statement emailed to the Tracker, Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin urged journalists to be cautious while covering what she characterized as “violent riots” and added that President Trump and Secretary Kristi Noem “are committed to restoring law and order.”