Helicopters circled above as unions led an event protesting the Friday arrest of labor leader David Huerta, who was ordered released on $50,000 bail as demonstrators marched. On stage, leaders conducted prayers and led chants such as “Freedom now” and “sí se puede.” Under the shadow of LA’s city hall, participants held signs saying “ICE out of LA”, “Keep LA families together”, and “Educación no deportación.”

As the morning rally wrapped up and more demonstrators joined, a march commenced through downtown, heading towards the Los Angeles detention center. Organizers used microphones to remind the crowd, “Peaceful protesting, no tagging!” while some youths with hoodies pulled tightly around their faces spray-painted “fuck ICE” on nearby buildings.

“Join us! You think Elon Musk gives a fuck?” a blond woman wearing a pink bandana yelled at a group of officers, her voice cracking.

A band cruising alongside on an open flatbed truck serenaded dancing crowds singing along in Spanish, FUCK ICE on the band leader’s neon yellow shirt. Stopping at Los Angeles Plaza Park, the march turned into an impromptu dance party with demonstrators.

Tensions heightened a few blocks down as demonstrators marched closer to the detention center. Outside of the federal building behind the detention center, the California National Guard was lined up alongside police in front of rows of windows tagged with “Fuck Trump.” Demonstrators faced them, blocking the street with cars, motorcycles, and their bodies, chanting iterations of the same phrase. They called for the release of detainees — “Bring them home!”

On the rooftop of a mall across the street, two young teens or preteens dropped their bicycles carrying Mexican and American flags to sit and watch and dangle their legs off the ledge.

Trump has targeted Los Angeles for a shock-and-awe military campaign; as the march continued, news broke that hundreds of Marines were being deployed to guard federal property. He’s painted protestors as invaders and “insurrectionists.” But at Monday’s actions, protestors The Verge spoke with at Grand Park were fighting for a future in the US.

As some protesters and other members of the media started donning gas masks in the late afternoon heat, it was time for us to leave.

“David Huerta is a mentor. He’s a dear friend. He’s someone that I have worked with for many years, someone that I worked with very closely. And I’m on the phone with him and talking to him every single day … I could only imagine if the highest ranking Latino leader in the labor movement was treated that way — What kind of treatment do immigrant workers face on the day at work every day? And it takes all of this to free a known leader who has tremendous political support, community support, and we still can’t get him free. What really is going on to regular folks, regular immigrants who don’t have access to all of this. So I know that David would be saying today that this is not about him. This is about workers and he’s absolutely right.” —Christian Ramirez, political director, at SEIU, United Service Workers West

“I had a higher education because of all the sacrifices my family took to be here. As a daughter of first generation immigrants, I really understood that. I had a parent also taken away by ICE when I was in middle school, and that was incredibly impactful at such a pivotal time of your life to get stripped away from the one thing that sometimes is the only thing that is secure in your life.
It’s completely shattering and I can only imagine what some families are going through right now. So I’m here for that.” —A participant with Contra-Tiempo Artivist Theater who was granted anonymity to protect their family

“Our students are afraid. Our communities are under attack, and they have a lot of questions, you know. And as we’re approaching summer break, I’m a little afraid because they won’t have the classroom. We don’t have that safe space to be … what I find joy in is reminding them that the next presidential election, they’ll be voters. They’re in the ninth grade now. 
They’re 14. When we vote for our next president, they’ll be voters. So they can remember how they feel today and use their voices in the right way to be informed constituents when they cast their votes.” —Gina Gray, a high school English teacher with United Teachers Los Angeles.

“We’ve certainly seen our fair share of emergencies here in Los Angeles already in 2025. What we know is that chain of command is very important, and the fact that our president would disregard proper chain of command in terms of how we deploy our safety resources, just shows that this is not about safety. This is about power and control, and it is absolutely unacceptable … We are opposing this fascist attack on our democracy, and we have a right to do that.” —LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath