Federal Judge Hands Press Wins Lawsuits Against LAPD and DHS

A Federal Judge handed Press and Civil Liberties Groups, Wins in Two separate Cases against the Los Angeles Police Department and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem (R) over the Treatment of Journalists covering Immigration Raid Protests.

U.S. District Judge Hernan D. Vera's Preliminary Injunctions Bar, among other Actions, the Police Department from Arresting Journalists for Failing to Disperse or otherwise Interfering with Journalists' ability to Cover Los Angeles Protests. The DHS's fficers are also Barred from Dispersing, Threatening, or Assaulting Journalists who haven't Committed a Crime Unrelated to Failing to Obey a Dispersal Order."

In His Sept. 10th Order in the Los Angeles Police Department Case, Vera wrote that the Department’s “heavy-handed efforts to police this summer’s protests” Violated both State and Federal Law. In Granting the Motion in the DHS Case, Vera said Federal Officers “unleashed crowd control weapons indiscriminately and with surprising savagery” during the protests. “Specifically, the Court concludes that federal agents’ indiscriminate use of force ... will undoubtedly chill the media’s efforts to cover these public events and protestors seeking to express peacefully their views on national policies,” Vera wrote.

He went on to Condemn Individuals who Engaged in Violent Action during such Protests, but said “the actions of a relative few does not give DHS carte blanche to unleash near-lethal force on crowds of third parties in the vicinity.” Thousands of Pro-Immigration New Yorkers Protested and Marched in Manhattan June 10th, 2025.

Protesters Called for ICE to Stop making Arrests and for an End to Deportations. In taking such Actions, Vera wrote, Federal Officers have “Endangered” Peaceful Protesters, Journalists, and the Broader Public. “The First Amendment demands better,” He wrote.

"There's an old line in policing: We can do this the easy way, or we can do this the hard way,” Adam Rose, Press Rights Chair of the Los Angeles Press Club, said in a NewsRrelease following the Rulings. “Press organizations have been trying to help LAPD for years take the easy way, just asking them to train officers and discipline offenders. They wouldn't stop resisting. LAPD failed to police themselves. Now a judge is doing it for them."

The "First Amendment Coalition" filed the Federal Lawsuit against the Police Department in U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, on Behalf of the Press Club and the Independent Media Outlet Status Coup in Mid-June. Days later, a similar Lawsuit was Filed against Noem over what the Plaintiffs, which include the Los Angeles Press Club and the NewsGuild-Communications Workers of America, described as Federal Officers’ Unconstitutional Actions against Journalists.

Vera issued a Temporary Restraining Order in the Los Angeles Police Department Case on July 10th, that Barred Officers from using Less-Lethal Munitions against Journalists Not Posing a Threat to Law Enforcement. The Plaintiffs later Accused the Department of Violating the Order by Hitting Journalists with Batons and Arresting them during an August Protest.










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