CaliConservative

By: Danielle Main

An overpass sign hung in support of ICE in Yucaipa, California.

Photo By: Nickolas Main

Protests swept through Southern California in June and July 2025 as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents launched widespread raids targeting undocumented immigrants. Demonstrators flooded cities like Los Angeles, Santa Ana, San Diego, and even smaller towns like Yucaipa, blocking freeways, clashing with police, and demanding an end to the immigration sweeps.

On June 6, ICE agents raided workplaces, including a garment district warehouse in downtown Los Angeles and a Home Depot in Paramount, detaining dozens of individuals. The Los Angeles Times reported that agents arrested 44 people in a single operation, with 77 more detained across the greater Los Angeles area that day. The raids, part of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown, sparked immediate outrage from local communities.

On June 8, protesters converged on the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles, where tensions escalated. Demonstrators blocked the 101 Freeway, set dumpsters ablaze, and hurled rocks and fireworks at officers, CBS News reported. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared an unlawful assembly, arresting 67 people for failing to disperse. California Highway Patrol officers deployed smoke canisters to clear the freeway.

In response, President Trump federalized the California National Guard, deploying 2,000 troops to Los Angeles on June 7, followed by 700 Marines from Twentynine Palms on June 10. Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the deployment as “illegal and inflammatory,” filing a lawsuit to block it. A federal judge temporarily halted the National Guard’s use, but an appeals court paused the ruling, allowing federal control to continue.

On June 14, tens of thousands joined “No Kings” protests across Southern California, part of a nationwide movement against Trump’s policies. In Los Angeles, marchers filled downtown streets, carrying signs reading “Sick of ICE!” and “ICE out of L.A.!” The protests turned destructive, with looters targeting 23 businesses and vandals tagging LAPD headquarters with graffiti.

By July 4, protests spread to smaller communities like Yucaipa, where a freeway overpass sign supporting ICE raids ignited tensions. Anti-ICE groups organized a protest walk through the town, drawing both supporters and opponents.

 Anti-ICE organizers Erin and Ryan told protesters, “A sign on the freeway said, ‘F your foreign flags,’ and that motivated us to protest and organize. We don’t want to divide our community; we want to unite it.”

A pro-ICE demonstrator, Kevin, expressed a different view: “ We have two sides of a coin, and there is a lot of misinformation. We have a bunch of people who think a bunch of people hate them. Americans don’t hate people for the sake of hating. We want this to be a great, strong country.” 

Kevin continues by saying, “ We all understand this country was built on immigrants, but we cannot defy the law. When you talk about this whole immigration problem, we don’t ever even get into the economic side of it or the human condition of it all, what is coming over the border is drugs, child trafficking, that they wanna say illegal immigration is humanity, what it is doing is destroying lives.”  

ICE reported over 1,600 detentions in Southern California since the raids began. As of July 21, 2025, protests and immigration sweeps show no signs of slowing.