Photojournalist pushed, detained by police at LA immigration protest

Freelance photojournalist Carrie Schreck was pushed by police officers and detained while covering a protest against federal immigration raids in downtown Los Angeles, California, on Aug. 8, 2025.

Protests in LA began in early June in response to federal raids of workplaces and areas in and around the city where immigrant day laborers gather, amid the Trump administration’s larger immigration crackdown. Raids at Home Depots in early August took place seemingly in defiance of a July 11 court order temporarily prohibiting federal agents from using discriminatory profiling.

On Aug. 8, two days after an immigration raid in the parking lot of a Home Depot in LA’s Westlake neighborhood, protesters gathered at the store and marched to the Metropolitan Detention Center downtown. The demonstrators and the journalists covering them encountered a violent response from Los Angeles Police Department officers, violating a court order protecting the press from arrest, assault or other interference.

Schreck was on assignment for Redux Pictures, an independent syndication photo agency, when LAPD officers began pushing protesters and journalists with batons, she told the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker. Police then kettled the crowd — a tactic used to trap and control groups — striking both demonstrators and members of the press.

Schreck said she was shoved, and then watched as officers threw her partner, photographer Nate Gowdy, to the ground. When they and other media tried to leave, they were blocked by advancing police lines. Eventually, officers detained the two of them and other journalists, despite some wearing visible press badges.

“I give a lot of leeway to people, and I try to be understanding in the moment of why they make decisions they make,” Schreck said. “But it’s unacceptable.”

Schreck, who had not yet received her physical press credentials, carried professional gear and digital documentation of her work, including a letter from Redux confirming her assignment.

“I showed it to them and they said, ‘Yeah, but where’s the ID?”

While some credentialed journalists were released, officers questioned whether Schreck and Gowdy were legitimate members of the press. California station KABC-TV reported that the LAPD claimed two people, identified later as Schreck and Gowdy, were detained at the protest for “pretending to be media.”

Schreck said she was frisked twice, had her hands zip-tied, and was placed in a police vehicle before being taken to a nearby station, where she and Gowdy were eventually released after more than two hours in custody.

“The entire experience makes me doubt that police understand or care about their own rules at all,” she said. Schreck said her credential arrived by mail afterward, and she plans to bring copies with her on assignment in the future.

The LAPD did not respond to a Tracker request for comment about the detained journalists. In a statement posted to the social platform X, the department’s Central Division wrote that an unlawful assembly was declared “due to the aggressive nature of a few demonstrators.”

“The protest went into the late night hours with people refusing to disperse,” it continued. “Central Division will continue to support 1st Amendment rights of all people. However, if violence or criminal activity occurs, laws will be enforced.”

The Los Angeles Press Club filed a motion Aug. 13 to hold the city of Los Angeles in contempt for violating the temporary restraining order in place to protect journalists while they’re covering protests, citing the Aug. 8 detentions of Schreck and others, as well as the assaults of multiple members of the press.

“Defendants’ actions evince a blatant disregard for the First Amendment and an unwillingness or an inability or both on the part of the City to take steps necessary to ensure compliance with this Court’s Injunction,” the motion read. “What will it take to get the LAPD to respect the constitutional rights of journalists?”