No Kings protests sweep all across Southern California in response to mass deportation raids

On June 14, numerous nationwide protests erupted in the streets of Southern California, as well as different cities in the U.S. like San Francisco, Philadelphia, Chicago and New York–all coinciding with the nationwide televised parade of the president’s birthday. 

As for Los Angeles, the protests were far from small, which was to be expected. 

According to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, 30,000 people attended “to exercise their constitutional right to peaceful protest.”

These thousands of attendees marched the streets of downtown Los Angeles holding giant hand-made anti-Trump signs and references, as well as anti-Trump attire and inflatables that can be seen from miles away. 

The shouts of angry Angelenos and tension created for those in favor of the Trump administration was heard and felt loud and clear. 

Downtown Los Angeles was not the only part of Southern California where residents participated in No Kings. From different cities in Los Angeles County such as Long Beach, Whittier, El Monte and Anaheim, each crowd roared in distaste for the administration in support of immigrants. 

On June 6, a series of raids by federal agents from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) began in the streets of downtown Los Angeles. Workers flooded the streets in fear and disruption as multiple locations and workplaces were raided in search of suspected undocumented immigrants, targeting highly Latino-populated areas. 

Since then, ICE agents have been spotted across different cities across Southern California, often travelling in unmarked armed vehicles and SUVs as they conduct their mass search for “illegal” immigrants, even targeting green card and U.S. visa holders.

Numerous stories have since come out of families being separated as a result of these raids, which ignited mass outrage amongst Los Angeles residents.

As a result, multitudes of peaceful protests have taken place across Los Angeles County in advocacy and protection of the undocumented immigrants in the country being attacked, causing LAPD to call these protests acts of “unlawful assembly” threatening arrests amongst demonstrators and firing at them with tear gas and rubber bullets. 

Alongside the ICE raids, President Trump deployed members of the National Guard without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom, as well as threatening to arrest him for resisting the federal immigration crackdown. 

Newsom announced that he’d be suing the Trump administration for the deployment of the National Guard.

Through social media posts that have spread awareness and resources widely, many have since reported their most recent sightings of ICE agents for the sake of making sure undocumented folks avoid the areas for their safety. 

Leading up to his 79th birthday, President Trump planned a military parade in Washington on June 14 in commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. 

Shortly before the event, the No Kings protests were planned to coincide that same day.

No Kings is a theme started by the 50501 Movement consisting of a series of mass protests all across the U.S. as an outcry against the Trump administration and policies from the beginning of her second presidential term. Various cities in Southern California had slots with times and locations for the protests to take place, meant to take away the attention from the President’s birthday celebration. 

The significance of the theme No Kings is supposed to symbolize the refusal for being in a dictatorship, or being ruled by a king with a focus on advocating for a democracy in the U.S. 

Before No Kings, many acts of protests since the beginning of this second presidential term have been notably made in the media in response to the policies ordered by the Trump administration. 

One of those was the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show performed by Kendrick Lamar, containing multiple references to current politics and media censorship for the sake of continuing the narrative of the American Dream.

Days prior to the No Kings protests, Mayor Bass proclaimed a citywide curfew in the downtown Los Angeles area between 8:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m. the following day in an effort to stop the escalating protests, violence and looting arising by agitators. 

Folks who don’t live or work in downtown Los Angeles were instructed to avoid the area and follow law enforcement instructions.

The curfew was still in effect the day of the No Kings protests. 

But even though a good majority of the community gathered in unison for the sake of fighting the cause, it was all seemingly a peaceful protest with no evidence of violence from demonstrators. 

Chaos suddenly ensued when LAPD began ordering demonstrators to clear out from the area surrounding the Downtown Federal Building, causing tense altercations between demonstrators and law enforcement. These altercations were met with the deployment of tear gas and flashbangs from LAPD. 

The mass deportation raids being made against undocumented immigrants has become a widespread topic all across the U.S. that is only getting more widespread. 

Today, the conversation on immigration and the impact of immigrants in the U.S. has only grown more prevalent as different industries are placed under attack.

For Los Angeles, a city known for its rich melting pot of cultures, welcoming opportunity and work, it has been a safe haven for Latinos and generations of immigrant families for decades.