One year of ICE raids in LA: As ‘migra’ sightings pick up again, community advocates say they’re better prepared

Saturday marks one year since the United States federal government initiated its violent campaign of raids and detentions in the City of Los Angeles, ripping families apart and terrorizing Latino and other immigrant communities.

On the morning of June 6, 2025, masked Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) personnel conducted operations using unmarked vehicles at an apparel manufacturer in the heart of the Los Angeles Fashion District and at a Home Depot parking lot near MacArthur Park. 

By the end of that day, over 100 people had been detained in the greater L.A. area, leading to the ongoing mobilization and organizing of community members and local community patrols of groups like Union del Barrio, CHIRLA, the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, the Koreatown Rapid Response Network, the Community Self Defense Coalition and Centro CSO, among many others — an essential and proactive community mobilization that has been ongoing for a year.

Raids have been continuous throughout until now. But this week, after what seemed to be a short hiatus from the numerous arrests taking place day to day, ICE sweeps were confirmed in different parts of the city just days before the one-year anniversary of those initial ICE raids.

On Thursday, two days after thousands of people hit the polls to vote in the primary election, multiple ICE sightings and arrests were confirmed in L.A.

In the early hours of Thursday, June 4, 2026, ICE vehicles were sighted in Inglewood. It was later reported that a woman was detained by federal agents as she was walking near 41st Place and Compton Avenue in South Central L.A. 

Later that day, around 10 a.m., a video shared by Union del Barrio showed a Latino man being arrested and detained by federal agents inside a shopping center in Koreatown, on 8th Street and Vermont Avenue. 

About two hours later, in South El Monte, another operation was caught on video, where a man was being taken into custody. As agents and their cars were not identified, it is unclear if it was an ICE operation.

Outside the city of L.A., ICE operations were also documented in Burbank. At around 10 a.m., a man was taken in a reported ICE raid in the shopping center at Victory Boulevard and Century Boulevard. Mike Van Gorder, who was running for Burbank's City Council, reported that Burger King employees shared with him that there were about 12 agents who jumped out of 10 vehicles to arrest one man. 

On Thursday afternoon, Ron Gochez, organizer with Union del Barrio, told CALÓ News that despite the raids slowing down in number in the last months, “they are picking up now.” But unlike a year ago when ICE sightings began, the community is in a better position to organize against the “new normal” carried out by the Trump administration.

“Today we're continuing to organize, but today we have more. We have people that can respond, and so we know that because of the work in the last year that we've been able to do, the federal agents have changed their tactics,” he said. “Now we see them taking people to the courthouses and things of that nature because they know that they can't do the raids the way that they did them a year ago.”

So far this year, the community has learned to respond to raids by documenting and defending their neighbors, he said. “We can't stop every raid, but we will make sure that in any single neighborhood of L.A. that [federal agents] go into, they will have to know that they will meet resistance. We don't believe in violence and we don't want violence, but they're the ones who start the violence. We hope the raids don't continue, but we're not going to organize or base our work off of hope.” 

Gochez also said he anticipates more ICE sightings in working-class communities as the World Cup makes its way to L.A. on June 12. Los Angeles is set to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood. 

Last month, Department of Homeland (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin confirmed that ICE agents will “be out there every day” to crack down on “counterfeit tickets, human trafficking, drug smuggling [and] counterfeit products.”

L.A. County Sheriff Robert Luna also confirmed ICE presence but said federal agents will only help with security and not immigration enforcement. 

Gochez recommended, regardless of these statements, that the community stay vigilant. 

“We anticipate that there will be an increase in activity, especially with the World Cup coming. Trump wants to terrorize our community during this time because he knows that our community loves soccer,” he said. “We know that there's going to be a second wave of repression, but they also have to know that they're going to meet fierce resistance.”

In May, approximately 11 months into the staging of hundreds of raids in places where Latinos work, shop, eat and live, a hunger strike has also been taking place in various detention centers, including the Adelanto ICE prison in San Bernardino County. 

The hunger strike was launched on May 19, 2026, to protest unsafe and inhumane conditions inside the detention center marked by inadequate medical care, delays in treatment, overcrowding, insufficient food and drinking water along with other violations of ICE’s own detention standards.

Today, striking participants continue to demand the removal of mold, access to clean drinking water and adequate food, with similar demonstrations happening in other detention centers, including Delaney Hall in Newark, New Jersey.

During a congressional visit on June 1, 2026, a petition signed by 150 detained people within the Adelanto ICE prison, which detailed the poor conditions, was given to U.S. Reps. Judy Chu, Pete Aguilar and Jimmy Gomez. 

The following day, those participating in the strike were reportedly zip-tied and threatened with tear gas and transfers to other ICE facilities, while at least two people were put in solitary confinement. 

“People do not put their health, safety and lives at risk lightly. The brave people participating in this hunger strike are demonstrating tremendous courage, and their actions should prompt all of us to ask, 'What conditions would drive someone to take such an extraordinary step?’” said Alvaro M. Huerta, director of litigation and advocacy at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center.

Immigrant rights organizations have previously expressed the way the different branches of government have failed to protect immigrant rights. 

On September 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a 6-3 emergency ruling, made it legal for federal immigration sweeps in Southern California to proceed and permitted ICE to detain people based on factors such as race, Spanish-language usage and location during enforcement actions. 

“A year after the cruel immigration surge that shook all Angelenos, our message is clear: fear did not defeat us, cruelty did not divide us and militarization did not silence us. We remember, we resist, and we recommit ourselves to the struggle for justice, dignity and the humanity of every Angeleno,” said Angelica Salas, executive director of CHIRLA.

On Sunday, June 7, the Boycott Home Depot Coalition will host a “Ban ICE from the World Cup” rally in Inglewood to support union workers as they demand that FIFA ban federal agents from stationing inside or outside the games. The rally will begin at 2 p.m. at 3363 W. Century Blvd., Inglewood, CA 90305.