The United States federal government's violent campaign of raids and detentions during the summer of 2025 in Los Angeles set the stage for similar and subsequent abuses in cities around the country, Human Rights Watch said today. Then and now, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials stalk and seize people they suspect lack authorization to be in the country, separate families, and terrorize communities.
Since late May, ICE, Customs and Border Patrol (CBP), and other federal law enforcement agencies have staged hundreds of raids in and around Los Angeles at places where Latino people work, shop, eat, and live, with violence and disregard for human rights. ICE agents have arrested food vendors and their customers. They have targeted car washes and other businesses that have Latino employees, and raided Home Depot parking lots where individuals look for work. Federal officials acknowledge agents consider a person's perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin as key factors in deciding whom to detain.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is carrying out similar campaigns in other cities throughout the United States. The July 2025 federal budget bill for the coming year allocates a previously unheard of $170 billion for border enforcement, detention, and deportations.
"These raids, mostly targeting Latino communities, have inflicted devastating harm on the people of Los Angeles and have continued and even expanded their tactics as they have spread to other US cities," said John Raphling, associate US program director at Human Rights Watch. "They tear apart families, cause people to live in fear, and showcase the cruelty of the Trump administration's immigration policies."
These widespread raids followed the late-May exhortation by Stephen Miller, President Donald Trump's deputy chief of staff, that immigration officials should substantially increase the numbers of undocumented people arrested for deportation. President Trump posted on Truth Social at the time that he intended to "liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion."
Human Rights Watch analyzed videos, photographs, and written accounts in news and social media and interviewed 39 people, including those detained and released, families of those detained and deported, witnesses, people who provide services to Latino communities affected, and a Los Angeles County official.
Human Rights Watch analysis of ICE arrest data, excluding arrests by CBP or other agencies, confirms that from May 28 through July 28, ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations officers dramatically increased arrests, primarily of people without violent or even any US criminal history. The agents almost invariably incarcerated people arrested in ICE detention facilities pending deportation proceedings. Some individuals interviewed said officials have inappropriately pressured people to agree to "voluntary departures." Data suggests ICE agents detain people based on their perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin.
The raids Human Rights Watch documented from June to September occurred without warning, as agents arrived in unmarked vehicles, jumped out, and swarmed people they targeted. News and social media reports of other raids confirm a consistently similar approach.
Witnesses described and videos confirm agents usually carried military-style weaponry, sometimes dressed in civilian clothes or military outfits and often wearing masks hiding their identities and projecting a dangerous, lawless aura. There have been incidents of agents using excessive force and smashing car windows and pulling people from their cars.
Arrested people and their relatives said they and their loved ones experienced abusive treatment while being transported and in detention. They said those arrested were shackled for extended periods, denied food and water, forced to sleep on floors, and refused contact with family and lawyers.
Family members reported substantial harm of those arrested, including emotional and physical pain caused by separation from their loved ones, financial crises, and difficulty paying for childcare, elder care, and care for family members with disabilities.
The raids have constrained and discouraged many Latino people from participating in public life in Los Angeles. Immigrants interviewed almost uniformly confirmed the raids made them fear appearing in public, leading to them missing graduation ceremonies, medical appointments, and work.
People in Los Angeles have protested, advised people of their rights, filmed federal agents, implemented networks to warn of raids, and cared for people in hiding.
"The US government is inflicting abuse and putting Latino communities in a state of terror," Raphling said. "Dramatically increased funding for ICE at a moment when its abuses are going totally unchecked will cause untold harm."
Widespread Raids
Beginning in late May, federal officials saturated the Los Angeles region with teams of agents who conducted rapid raids where Latino people work or congregate. These raids have targeted Home Depot parking lots and other locations where people seek day laborer jobs; car washes, swap meets, and shopping centers; restaurants, food trucks and street vendor stands; and commercial farms. Agents have arrested workers, customers, vendors, and students.
Federal agents conducted the raids-in most cases documented and observed through social media and news coverage-by converging on a targeted person, group of people, or business in unmarked vehicles, then grabbing people, handcuffing them, and sometimes loading them into their vehicles without trying to determine their immigration status.
Agents frequently covered their faces and wore civilian clothes or military-style uniforms. Their clothing often did not identify their agency. In most videos Human Rights Watch observed and in witness descriptions, agents carry firearms, including military-style rifles. Agents arrest some of the people they detain in this way then incarcerate them in a detention facility.
Data available to Human Rights Watch extends only through the end of July, but interviews documented raids through September. At the time of publication, social media and news coverage indicates the Los Angeles raids are ongoing.
Human Rights Watch analysis of the data confirms the sharp increase in arrests during the surge in raids from May 28 through July 28, the last day of available data. During this period, ICE alone-the data does not include arrests by CBP or other agencies in Los Angeles at the time-arrested 540 people per week on average. That is an increase from the 139 people per week on average from President Trump's inauguration until the surge in raids began, and the 87 per week in the 16 months before Trump became president.
Witnesses said ICE and CBP agents detained people and took them into custody without appearing to know who they were in advance. They said agents detained all Latino people in a particular location who were selling food or looking for work, without asking for identification. These actions suggest the agents were choosing whom to detain based on assumptions about their immigration status due to their perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin or their presence in a location or occupation the agents believed made them more suspicious.
Latino people-nearly half of Los Angeles' population-are heavily concentrated in certain occupations, especially construction labor, food services, agricultural work, and clothing production.
Federal agents detained some US citizens or people with lawful authorization to be in the US, further evidence agents did not have reliable criteria for detaining people.
Federal officials have acknowledged in court proceedings they are detaining people based on their perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin, their location or occupation, and/or their use of the Spanish language. A Los Angeles federal district court on July 11 issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting government officials from making investigative stops based on these factors alone. The DHS, in their application to the Supreme Court to stay enforcement of the district court order, said forbidding their reliance on only these factors would "thwart … enforcement of the immigration laws in [Los Angeles]." On September 8, the Supreme Court stayed the order, giving ICE a free hand at least until the court makes a final decision.
ICE data does not directly indicate whether agents detained anyone based on a warrant or previous knowledge of a person's status. Data analysis suggests ICE did stop many people based on observations they deemed suspicious, including a person's perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin, spoken language, location and occupation.
Prior to late May, on average 50 percent of people arrested by ICE agents had administrative or judicial orders for removal, meaning officials knew they were deportable. From May 28 through July 28, that percentage dropped to 25. This data does not include people detained and then released because they had legal status.
Immediately after the temporary restraining order came into effect, arrest numbers plummeted 64 percent, from 104 arrests per day to 38, further suggesting stops based on the characteristics cited in the restraining order were central to the operation.
June 6 Ambiance Apparel Raids
On the morning of June 6, federal agencies, including ICE and the FBI, conducted a series of raids near downtown Los Angeles, including at two facilities of the clothing company Ambiance Apparel. Dozens of agents stormed the locations in tactical gear with military-style weaponry, many wearing face masks. They detained and arrested over 40 workers, shackling them and forcing them into unmarked vans. Family members of those arrested said officials took the workers initially to a lock-up at the federal courthouse, then to one in Santa Ana, and then to the Adelanto ICE Processing Center, operated by the private company Geo Group.
The acting US Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli said the agents had a judicial warrant to search for "fictitious business documents." Family members said federal officials had been to the location some weeks earlier so officials may have identified people to target.
Human Rights Watch spoke to 10 family members of people detained and arrested during the Ambiance Apparel raids and one person who was arrested and later released. They described abusive conditions, especially being held shackled in crowded, extremely cold vans for many hours; not receiving food or water for extended periods; not being allowed to use the toilet for many hours; being forced to sleep on floors for several days; and being denied communication with family and lawyers.
Several told their family members of coercive efforts to get them to sign documents waiving their rights to contest deportations. One detained person signed and was rapidly deported.
One person arrested has lived in the United States for decades, working at Ambiance Apparel for many years. He raised his children, all born in the US, and is his family's primary source of financial support. His son watched masked federal agents shove him into a van then handcuff other workers and push them into vans. His son said his father reported being kept handcuffed in the van, with cold air blasting and no chance to use the toilet for almost eight hours. The authorities denied him communication with his family for five days, even after moving him to Adelanto.
Another man said he has lived in the United States for over 20 years, working at Ambiance Apparel for the last several years. On June 6, federal agents closed off the entrances to the business, trapped him and others inside, handcuffed them, and kept them seated on the floor for several hours. Agents then forced them into a van and held them inside shackled by their hands, feet, and waists overnight with the air conditioner running. Officials refused to remove the handcuffs to allow him to use the toilet. They moved him to the lock-up in Santa Ana and then to Adelanto. He slept on floors until June 9 when they gave him a bed, though others did not get beds until the next day. After two weeks, they released him with an ankle monitor.
A third man has lived in the United States for over twenty years, working at Ambiance Apparel for five. One of his daughters said his family had no communication with him for over a day after his detention. He told his daughter that agents yelled at him, demanding he sign papers, but he refused. He remains in detention, and his family is in distress because he is their main source of income and emotional support. His daughter said another one of his daughters has been unable to hold food down due to the distress.
All family members of people detained in the Ambiance Apparel raids described financial difficulties and emotional distress. Many described being overwhelmed with fear and not leaving their homes, especially as raids continued.
The data analyzed reveals a considerable increase in detentions following arrest while deportation proceedings are pending by the Trump administration, especially during the surge in Los Angeles arrests. During the Biden administration, 74 percent of the people ICE arrested in Los Angeles who did not have a criminal history were released while immigration proceedings occurred. Since the Trump administration began, immigration officials have incarcerated nearly everyone ICE has arrested in Los Angeles, including those with no criminal history.
Human Rights Watch data analysis also indicates a substantial increase in "voluntary removal" during the surge of enforcement. Those figures are cause for alarm in light of reports from some family members of pressure to waive rights to contest deportation.
Raids at Home Depot Parking Lots
Human Rights Watch documented nine raids at Home Depot parking lots, interviewing witnesses and reviewing photos and video evidence. Researchers also reviewed social media and news coverage of dozens of other raids at these stores. They all follow similar basic patterns of unmarked vans with armed and frequently masked agents driving into the parking lots and chasing down and detaining Latino people who appear to be day laborers or vendors. At some raids, agents detained and arrested large numbers of people, while at others, people escaped.
Home Depot is a US chain of large hardware stores with numerous outlets in Southern California. People regularly wait in their parking lots seeking day jobs. In the Los Angeles area, these workers are predominantly Latino, some undocumented.
On June 19, federal agents raided the Home Depot in the Hollywood neighborhood. An account by a witness, videos of portions of the raid, social media posts by other witnesses, and news reports tell a consistent story of what happened. Federal agents primarily from CBP, in white vans, wearing tactical gear, and carrying weapons, descended onto the parking lot and sidewalks from all sides.
They immediately and forcibly detained about 20 mostly Latina street vendors who regularly set up on St. Andrews Place, zip tying their arms and moving them across the street. Other agents chased men who were in the parking lot area seeking work. They tackled some. They pulled several out of their cars, even breaking one person's car window.
A community member who was there has been tracking Home Depot raids, speaking with arrested people about their experiences, and helping them contact their family members. She said agents detained people without asking for identification and she knew of 25 day laborers and 4 vendors detained.
She said agents arrested one man who previously had been granted asylum and then released him that afternoon. She said it was his second arrest during the recent raids. Agents tackled a man who was filming the operation and advising people of their rights. They arrested him and released him an hour later.
A DHS spokesperson said CBP had "arrested 30 illegal aliens" in the operation.
The community member tracking the raids estimated there were over 50 similar raids between June 6 and the end of August. These included one she witnessed at the Cypress Park Home Depot store on June 30 in which CBP agents detained and arrested 17 people she was able to confirm. She witnessed another raid at the Van Nuys Home Depot store on July 5 where agents, mostly CBP, pulled several people out of cars, 14 of whom were detained and arrested that she was able to confirm. Federal agents have raided some of these locations multiple times, according to this community member and news reports.
The raid and the 30 people arrested on June 19 do not appear in the ICE arrests database because CBP were the arresting agents, but they also do not appear in publicly available CBP apprehension data. This suggests the data the DHS releases may not be comprehensive.
Raids at Other Locations
On June 11, Human Rights Watch spoke to a woman who ran a small fruit and vegetable stand in Camarillo, a city an hour north of Los Angeles that is surrounded by commercial farms. She said every day that week federal agents had raided a different farm, taking workers picking crops. She said the neighboring fields had far fewer workers than usual immediately following the raids and people in her community who worked in those fields had expressed fear to go to work. News reports at the time indicated farm workers were staying away. Federal agents raided a farm in the area a month later.
On June 12, a man finished his workday as a house painter and was talking to a friend in the parking lot of a small shopping center in Rosemead, a suburb of Los Angeles. Both men wore paint-covered work clothes as they stood in front of their trucks with ladders and tools visible, said a witness. At least two unmarked vehicles drove up to the men, who ran in opposite directions. Several agents from a Ford Explorer caught the first man. One agent had a shirt generically saying "Police" but not identifying an agency; the others wore civilian clothes. One was masked and the others wore sunglasses.
The man's family said immigration officials had never been in touch with him, in which case it would be unlikely the agents had a warrant or knew who he was. The witness said the agents, in cars with out-of-state license plates, had been driving around the neighborhood as if looking for people. A family member said the man was still in the Imperial Regional Detention Facility in Calexico at the time of the interview. He was unable to take his daughter to start college, and his children missed his emotional and financial support.
On June 19, a woman who has lived in the United States for 29 years and raised two children in the country was selling tamales outside a shopping center in Pacoima, she said. As she began to pack up her stand in the late morning, a white car pulled up. At first, she thought it was a potential customer, but then two men got out, wearing masks and dark glasses. Without saying a word, they grabbed her and pulled her toward their car. She began to panic and felt intense pain in her chest. She told them she could not breathe. She prayed for protection. The agents told her: "Keep walking." She passed out and fell.
When she regained consciousness, she saw agents grabbing her friend, who yelled: "I'm a citizen." One of the agents checked the pulse of the woman on the ground, said it was high, then backed away, leaving her there. Her friends called for paramedics, who took her to the hospital, where she stayed for five days. She told Human Rights Watch that doctors at the hospital told her she had experienced a heart attack and they had performed medical procedures to clear her arteries.
While agents were grabbing the woman, said a concerned citizen who was filming the raid, other agents armed with military-style rifles came out of white vans and fanned out into the parking lot; they were wearing masks with no badges or clothing identifying their agency. Los Angeles Police Department officers were also present. When the person filming attempted to observe what was being done to the woman, the police officers pushed him back, then slammed him to the ground and arrested him. They jailed him without bail and released him four days later without charges.
On the morning of September 9, 12 to 15 federal agents in various kinds of unmarked cars raided a car wash in Van Nuys owned by Rafie Shouhed. Shouhed said they showed no warrant and did not ask for anyone by name. One agent walked through the hallway of the car wash and knocked the 79-year-old Shouhed to the ground, he said, then walked over him. Shouhed got up and went outside to see agents detaining several of his employees. Some of the agents had military-style weapons, were masked, and dressed "like they are going to war," he said.
Shouhed asked an agent: "Can I help you?" The agent said nothing, he said, but grabbed him. Another agent ran over and threw him to the ground. A third agent knelt on top of him as they cuffed him, then loaded him into their SUV and took him to the detention area at the downtown federal building.
The agents held him for about 12 hours, mostly handcuffed, even though he provided his driver's license and they confirmed he was a US citizen, and despite his requests for medical attention for his injuries and heart condition. Agents detained four Latino employees of the carwash. Officials said he was arrested for impeding federal agents.
These tactics-federal agents sneaking up on people in unmarked vehicles, rapidly descending on them in military gear, brandishing weapons, seizing and shackling them, sometimes using additional force, and taking them away-are disproportionate, considering both the aims of these operations and given the total absence of any apparent threat posed by any of the people involved, Human Rights Watch said. Indeed, the agents' tactics appear to be deliberately and egregiously violent and deeply traumatizing. At least two people have died fleeing raiding agents.
Impact on Communities
All Latino people and service providers interviewed described people living in fear since the raids began, with many withdrawing from publicly visible life.
One woman who has lived in the United States for over 13 years and raised 3 children in the country said in June there had been repeated raids in her neighborhood, including at the local grocery store. She and her children saw federal agents driving through the neighborhood and near their schools. She stopped working to avoid exposure to roving patrols; her husband used sick days to stay home as much as possible.
After hearing warnings ICE might appear, she and her husband missed their children's graduations, one from high school and the other from trade school. She stopped participating in community work and depended on others to go to the store or run other errands for her. She described her situation as being like "prison" or "quarantine." She said similar fears are widespread throughout her community.
"What is the sin that we have really committed?" she said. "To us, this is like our country. I've always loved this country. This is where I've raised my kids. It is where I have given my [life]. We've helped this country grow."
Another woman said in late June she did not fear deportation, but feared being grabbed off the street, incarcerated, and injured by immigration officials. Mostly, she feared being taken from her children. She cares for two teenage daughters with disabilities, including regularly helping at their schools.
She stopped going to their schools. She got sick but cancelled her medical appointment. Her husband has to work, and she was overcome with worry each day that he may not return. She cares for her 2-year-old grandson but feared taking him to the playground. She said she is "not safe anywhere. It's like I'm in a cave."
People interviewed described a range of negative impacts from the raids and actions people were taking to avoid them, including forgoing work or staying away from markets, especially Latino markets, that might be targeted. One woman said in June people in her community were stocking up on food to reduce their number of trips outside.
Service providers from two organizations said they created delivery services to take food to people so they could avoid shopping. News reports stated people were staying away from church and community events were being canceled. "We stay in the shadows as much as possible," one woman said in September.
Unhoused people are particularly vulnerable. People living in encampments on Skid Row said community members were hiding in their tents, not going to jobs or riding on buses. A woman on Skid Row, who has lived in the United States for over 25 years, said dozens of friends and neighbors had been taken by ICE agents since the raids began. "People are just disappearing, and I have no idea where they were taken and what's happening," she said. "They're just gone."
The pervasive raids, massive numbers of workers incarcerated, and climate of fear have affected the economy in the Los Angeles region and throughout the state. Based on a study by the University of California Merced Community and Labor Center, California's total number of noncitizen workers declined by 12.3 percent from May to July, while citizen workers declined 4.9 percent. The researchers found the decline was primarily Latino workers.
The raids especially hurt the agriculture and food sectors. Farmers reported workers not showing up. By one estimate, in June, between 25 and 45 percent of the agricultural workforce in Ventura County stopped working, causing delays in food harvest and loss due to rot. Other sectors of the economy that depend on immigrant workers, including child care providers and the garment industry, have felt impacts on working conditions and sales.
Federal Response
Federal officials, particularly for the DHS, have repeatedly justified this campaign by claiming the raids target dangerous criminals. In fact, Human Rights Watch analysis of the government's own data indicates in the Los Angeles area, about 66 percent of those detained during the raids from late May through July had no US criminal history at all; only 5 percent had previous violent or sex offense convictions.
The fact that officials are arresting a lower percentage of people with criminal histories, in addition to their dishonest justifications for the raids, suggests they are arresting more people who are unknown to them, and relying on perceived race, ethnicity, or national origin as major factors in their decisions.
Other analysis indicates that nationally, fewer than 7 percent of those detained had violent criminal records and almost 15 percent had only traffic or immigration violations.
Community Resistance to the Raids
Many people in Los Angeles have opposed the raids and taken various actions to protect their family and community members. Hundreds of people turned out in response to the operations at the Ambiance Apparel facilities to bear witness, voice support for the workers, encourage assertion of legal rights, and protest. Thousands of people participated in protests in downtown Los Angeles in the weeks after the raids began, often facing excessive force and deliberate brutality from local and federal law enforcement officers.
Immigrants' rights and other community and advocacy organizations, as well as unaffiliated concerned citizens, have formed "rapid response" networks to share information about the locations of federal agents and to warn people of impending raids, said community activists and service providers interviewed. Supportive organizations have set up systems to track who is getting detained to help them obtain legal representation and to help family members communicate with them. Organizations provide food and other necessities for undocumented people unable to leave their homes.
People who have witnessed federal agents pursuing and capturing people during raids have resisted by advising those detained of their legal rights, getting their names to try to connect them with legal assistance and inform their families, and videotaping the detentions to expose the violence and abuse.
The US Constitution's First Amendment and California state law protect the right to witness and film law enforcement activity, including immigration detentions. Law enforcement officers have arrested people who were filming or witnessing them, however, in some cases alleging assault.
On August 15, according to a community activist, federal agents raided the parking lot of the Home Depot in Van Nuys again. Some people sought refuge inside the gated "laborers' center" in that parking lot. Agents attempted to enter the site, but community members intervened, eventually convincing them to leave.
