![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/CA_Guard_and_protestors_June_2025.jpg\")
Protestors confront California National Guard outside Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025 (photo: US Northern Command)<\/p>\nProtestors confront California National Guard outside Federal Building in Downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025 (photo: US Northern Command)<\/p>\n
Los Angeles City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto waited until the one-year statute of limitations was nearly expired to files charges against least 20 anti-ICE demonstrators for failing to disperse at protests last year. Critics call the move unprecedented and have accused her of pulling from Trump\u2019s authoritarian playbook to punish dissent.<\/p>\n
Most of the charges stem from a major protest that erupted on June 8, 2025<\/a> in response to the Trump administration and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launching a massive immigration enforcement operation in the Los Angeles area.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the first ten days of June, 722 people were abducted by immigration enforcement across LA, often violently snatched from street corners and frequently without obtaining warrants or even checking identification. According to analysis by the Los Angeles Times,<\/a> 69% of those abducted in that period had no criminal record. Racial profiling by federal agents was rampant<\/a>, leading to lawsuits that are still working their way through the courts<\/a>.<\/p>\n On the morning of June 8, Trump deployed the National Guard to quell the ongoing protests in LA. That same afternoon, demonstrators confronted the newly arrived troops downtown in front of the Metropolitan Detention Center. LAPD aggressively dispersed the crowd, at which point they moved onto the 101 Freeway. Around 9:00 pm, police declared an \u201cunlawful assembly\u201d and began making arrests. No charges were filed at the time, and those cases sat idle until May of this year.<\/p>\n Defense attorney Damon Alimouri, who represents one of the demonstrators, calls the charges \u201can outrageous and unjust form of prosecution against someone who was simply asserting his rights under the First Amendment.\u201d On May 14, 2026 \u2014 over 11 months after the protest \u2014 his client received a letter ordering him to appear in court for \u201crefusal to disperse.\u201d He was arraigned on June 22, along with several others, all for the identical misdemeanor charge.<\/p>\n Organizers in LA have been tracking the Trump Administration\u2019s handling of cases against activists in Minnesota<\/a>, and in Prairieland, TX<\/a> where defendants were sentenced to several decades in prison for actions as mundane as moving a box of zines<\/a>. They wonder if Feldstein Soto is taking her cues from these high-profile incidents of political repression.<\/p>\n \u201cThere is quite a bit of lip service on the part of certain Democratic politicians who claim that they\u2019re anti-ICE, that their agents will not cooperate with ICE,\u201d says Alimouri, \u201cyet here they are prosecuting folks who are demonstrating against putting children in cages.\u201d<\/p>\n People detained by immigration enforcement are typically held for processing in the basement of the Federal Building downtown, adjacent to the Metropolitan Detention Center. The site became a focal point for anti-ICE demonstrators in the days and weeks that followed Trump\u2019s crackdown.<\/p>\n \u201cThey saw the state repression, the military and the brute force that was being used against their communities and understood that was something the police weren\u2019t going to stop, the Democrats and Republicans weren\u2019t going to stop,\u201d says Katherine, a leader on the steering committee of the Community Self Defense Coalition (CSDC<\/a>). Formed in February 2025, the CSDC brought together dozens of organizations across LA to train community members on how to protect their neighbors from ICE. \u201cIt\u2019s the people that are going to be the change we need,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n LAPD\u2019s violent response to those demonstrations has been a source of ongoing controversy and litigation. Officers frequently injured<\/a> protestors and journalists with foam projectiles, tear gas<\/a>, batons and even horses<\/a>. In the first half of June alone, LAPD arrested<\/a> 435 protestors; three quarters were for unlawful assembly.\u00a0<\/p>\n Legal experts say that while protest-related arrests for low-level misdemeanors like failure to disperse are common, it\u2019s extremely rare for a city attorney to follow through with prosecution.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not aware of any case that office has ever filed solely for failure to disperse,\u201d says Leslie Wolf, a member of the Los Angeles County Public Defender\u2019s Union Local 148, who works in the misdemeanor arraignment court.<\/p>\n Wolf notes that new filings keep trickling in for other protests last year, like one on June 10, when demonstrators again confronted the National Guard in front of the Federal Building. It\u2019s unclear why Feldstein Soto is choosing to file charges, or why she waited nearly a year to do so (her office has not responded to requests for comment), but critics see this as repression and harassment of social justice movements.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an overtly political filing,\u201d says Alimouri. \u201cFiling against folks who were demonstrating against ICE, an entity that has terrorized our communities throughout this country, arbitrarily, and in violation of the U.S. Constitution \u2014 that\u2019s making a political statement whether you like it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n Wolf agrees. \u201cAnytime that you prosecute protesters or even threaten prosecution, it\u2019s going to silence them.\u201d<\/p>\n Waiting nearly a year to file these charges has an additional impact. Feldstein Soto can use the delay to keep activists and demonstrators muzzled for prolonged periods.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe fear is that if something else happens, if they engage in another protest, she will file,\u201d Wolf explains. From the time of arrest to the statute of limitations a year later, people will live in uncertainty, which \u201cgives the prosecutor\u2019s office even more control over these people.\u201d<\/p>\n A pending case can be very disruptive to a person\u2019s life, negatively impacting job and school applications, certifications, immigration status and more, says Wolf. \u201cWhile that case is pending, it\u2019s going to look like an arrest on their record and that can have big effects.\u201d<\/p>\n Delayed filings also increase the likelihood that people won\u2019t receive their arraignment letters and therefore won\u2019t show up to court, which can trigger an arrest warrant. Notices like the one Alimouri\u2019s client received are often sent to whatever address was on the identification of the person at the time of the arrest.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially young people, that\u2019s often not their correct address,\u201d Wolf points out. \u201cMaybe it\u2019s a parent\u2019s address or an old address.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Even if it was the right address at the time, as months go by, the likelihood increases that people move. Wolf estimates at least seven warrants have already been issued for failing to appear at arraignments related to last June\u2019s protests, and there is a strong chance that those defendants are unaware that charges were filed.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s highly unusual for the city attorney to solely prosecute \u201crefusal to disperse\u201d misdemeanors absent other charges, critics point out that Feldstein Soto does have a history of going after demonstrators, particularly pro-Palestine<\/a> activists. An outspoken advocate for Israel, Feldstein Soto directly targeted one activist<\/a> whom she alleged was protesting outside the home of AIPAC president Michael Tuchin, who was also a donor to her campaign. The LAPD and her own prosecutors questioned<\/a> her judgment at the time.<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto recently lost her bid for reelection, garnering only 18% of the primary vote. This was the first time<\/a> in over 90 years that an incumbent city attorney lost their primary. Whether Feldstein Soto\u2019s treatment of activists played a part in her historic loss is hard to ascertain, but for some it\u2019s clear her politics around immigration enforcement are not aligned with everyday Angelenos.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIt really feels like a divide,\u201d says Wolf. \u201cThe city felt unified in some ways, unified against what was happening to us from the federal government. But then at the same time, it felt like some of our leaders and the LAPD were siding with the federal government.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n So far no defendants have pleaded guilty, and lawyers like Alimouri plan to fight until the end. \u201cI\u2019m not going to advise my client to take any deals,\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019m going to ensure that my client doesn\u2019t suffer a criminal record as a result of this.\u201d<\/p>\n Legal experts note that cases like this can drag on for months given the number of officers involved in protest enforcement and the resulting amount of surveillance footage and other evidence produced.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s probably terabytes of data involved in these cases,\u201d Wolf estimates. \u201cProviding that discovery to our office and then all the attorneys\u2019 time it would take to review all that, would be a huge amount of work.\u201d<\/p>\n Feldstein Soto will most likely be long-gone before these cases resolve, which means the next city attorney will be tasked with deciding whether or not to follow through with these cases.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, ICE abductions are surging again, with a record 50,000<\/a> people detained across the US in July alone. Here in Los Angeles, legions of trained, organized Angelenos continue to resist<\/a>. On any given day, you\u2019ll find people patrolling their neighborhoods looking for suspected ICE activity, educating communities about their rights, and supporting families whose loved ones were taken.\u00a0<\/p>\n