At Least 71 People Faced Criminal Charges After LA Protests Over ICE Raids

This article was first published by the nonprofit newsroom LA Public Press on August 18, 2025 and is republished here with permission.

The Los Angeles County District Attorneys Office and the Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office charged at least 71 people with crimes allegedly committed during recent protests against federal immigration enforcement.

LA Public Press analyzed 52 cases corresponding to charges against 62 people. All but one person pleaded not guilty at the start of their cases. Many could see their lives upended because of the charges.

The cases stem from downtown Los Angeles protests almost all in June, with one case in July, where 75 people are accused of throwing rocks, fireworks, beer cans and water bottles at officers, driving motorcycles into police lines, and spray-painting “Fuck ICE” on a building. Others face allegations of looting stores during the demonstrations. Charges range from failing to disperse to assault on police officers.

Three people were charged with animal cruelty, all related to alleged scuffles with horses, including those ridden by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies and other law enforcement.

At least fifty people, including two juveniles, have been charged with felonies by District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office and at least 21 with misdemeanors by Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein-Soto’s Office. LA Public Press could not analyze the cases involving juveniles, because juvenile court records are sealed. Feldstein-Soto’s Office only provided information on the cases of 14 of the 21 people. Of the 62 adults whose cases LA Public Press analyzed, 61 pleaded not guilty at the start of their case. Five of those people later pleaded no contest to some or all of their charges, which means they did not admit guilt but also did not contest the charges. Six people are now participating in some type of diversion program.

Defense attorneys and public defenders representing the dozens of defendants charged say they are working to challenge the allegations by presenting additional evidence and context. Attorneys say that even being charged with a crime can be devastating and life-altering–and they’re concerned that people involved in recent protests against ICE raids face particular challenges navigating the legal system.

One woman among those charged died in custody while detained at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center, shortly after she attended a hearing on June 17 during which she pleaded not guilty to 14 charges, 10 of which carried enhancements under California’s Three Strikes Law for prior felony convictions. During that hearing, she was remanded to custody and had bail set at $1.33 million. Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Lieutenant Daniel Vizcarra told LA Public Press that she was found hanging in a cell lockup, later that day. The coroner pronounced her dead just before 4 a.m. the next morning, on June 18, 2025.

Many defendants remain jailed for weeks or months, unable to work or care for families. Those who can afford bail bonds often face crushing debt.

“The process is the punishment,” said Elizabeth Howell-Egan of the National Lawyers Guild.

The organization’s legal observer program deploys volunteer lawyers in neon green hats to document what happens during demonstrations to help people defend themselves against charges. The guild has also been helping people navigate the system and deal with the aftermath of arrests and criminal charges.

Federal raids prompted hundreds of people to protest in defense of neighbors, family and friends against federal immigration officials – who were often masked and unidentified – detaining and arresting immigrants and U.S. citizens at Home Depots and businesses, and taking people from bus benches and parking lots.

For many defendants, this may be their first encounter with many of the “well-known harms of the carceral state that are in play,” Howell-Egan said.

“A big thing is remembering that just because someone was charged with something doesn’t mean they actually did it or are guilty,” Howell-Egan said.

However, prosecutors’ allegations against people can be circulated publicly by the mainstream media, and are often repeated “at face value,” Howell-Egan said. In reality, prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants committed the alleged crimes.

The experience can be “traumatic,” Howell-Egan said, particularly for people simultaneously dealing with what she called the “double trauma” of confronting the state as it detains and deports their family members and neighbors.

The LA DA’s office declined to comment, citing pending litigation. Spokesperson Greg Risling added that the pretrial conditions are set by a judge.

“To clarify and generally speaking, a judge sets pretrial conditions based on the evidence in each case,” he said. “Our office may file motions regarding bail, detention and other matters, but ultimately the decision is left to the judge.”

The City Attorney’s Office did not respond to requests for information and comment about the cases it filed.

High bail amounts keep many defendants in custody

Judges may keep some defendants in custody over concerns they might be a “flight risk or a danger to society,” according to LA County Assistant Public Defender Haydeh Takasugi.

Without such concerns, Takasugi says her office believes it is unjust for defendants to remain in custody before trial, “when we all know that the charges that are brought against them are simply that – charges, and there hasn’t been a determination whether or not they’re guilty of anything.”

Takasugi said their office believes that keeping people in custody, sometimes for weeks to months, ”doesn’t serve the community in any way.” It prevents their clients, many of whom are “indigent,” from being able to continue to live their lives outside as they wait for their cases to move through the system, she said.

Takasugi says her office questions the value of money bail in ensuring defendants return for hearings.

High bail amounts can compromise the fairness of the legal process. Takasugi says defendants should base their decisions on the merits of their case and potential penalties, not on their understandable wish to avoid jail time while awaiting trial.

Alex Trantham, second vice president of the public defender’s union, says immigrants and those with undocumented family members face additional challenges. ICE agents have been known to target court houses, typically considered a sanctuary against immigration enforcement, to make arrests. At the time of the interview at the end of July, Trantham and others had said that had not occurred with one of their clients.

But those fears were realized last Wednesday, when men identifying themselves as federal immigration officials were filmed outside the Clara Shortridge Foltz courthouse in downtown LA taking away a client of the Alternate Defender’s Office.

Trantham said that people have a better chance of convincing a judge that they can be released if their family members show up to their court hearings to vouch for them. But that can be difficult with clients whose family members may be undocumented, she said

“Right now, a lot of people who went to the protest, they have family or friends that might be undocumented who are terrified right now to leave their house because of what’s happening with these ICE raids,” Trantham said. “So when a family member then picks up a case, it can be hard to have family support in court because they’re terrified of being in court and appearing for them because they don’t know if ICE is going to be there.”

Many cases also carry sentencing enhancements that increase potential penalties. Trantham says in her experience these enhancements, which often cite prior felony convictions as grounds for increased sentences, have become more common since District Attorney Nathan Hochman took office. The DA’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.

Based on an analysis by LA Public Press, the District Attorney tried to increase penalties in the cases of 13 people, including Three Strikes enhancements for prior convictions, and special allegations of alleged great bodily injury and deadly weapon use.

The District Attorney applied 47 enhancements to the charges of 13 people. Twenty of the enhancements, or just over 40%, applied to the defendant who died in custody. That person had pleaded not guilty to the charges against her during a June 17, 2025 hearing.

The remaining 27 enhancements were applied to 12 other defendants. Some have now had their charges, along with the enhancements dismissed. For example, one person had two weapon-related enhancements dismissed—one through a plea deal, the other after pleading no contest to a firearm possession charge.

“It makes our job a lot harder if the charges are more serious because we’re fighting these more serious cases that the judges are just assuming are serious based on the charges, as opposed to if they were charged more appropriately for the conduct that was committed, then it might be easier to keep them out and maintaining their, you know, jobs, school, family life,” Trantham said.

Enhanced charges can influence defendants’ decisions. Takasugi says judges should consider people with criminal histories within the context of the immigration protests.

Judges need to get a more “nuanced” understanding of defendants’ situations, she said, considering the federal immigration enforcement taking place in Los Angeles that prompted people “to express their frustration with a system that they cannot change.”

“I hope that people will understand the situation in which the individual found themselves, and the context of the protest and how they feel about what is happening to their communities,” she said.