NewsGuild condemns attacks on reporters covering anti-ICE protests
The NewsGuild-CWA is calling for investigations into officers they say illegally targeted journalists with “less-lethal rounds and tear gas” amid ongoing protests in Los Angeles against federal immigration raids.
The labor union, which represents 28,000 journalists and other workers, said Los Angeles police officers “have fired on local, national and foreign reporters” in what they say is a violation of California state law and the First Amendment.
There have been at least 35 attacks against journalists covering the Los Angeles protests since June 6, according to Reporters Without Borders.
On Sunday an LAPD officer shot Australian reporter Lauren Tomassi in the leg with a rubber bullet while she was recording a live shot. In a separate incident, CNN reporter Jason Carroll and his crew were escorted away from protests and briefly detained by LAPD officers while live on air. In a video of the incident, an officer is heard telling Carroll that he will be arrested if he returns to the area.
“The First Amendment protects the right to photograph and record matters of public interest, including the right to record law enforcement officers engaged in the exercise of their official duties in public spaces,” said Jon Schleuss, the president of The NewsGuild-CWA, in a statement Wednesday. “Journalists reporting on events and not interfering with federal operations cannot be subject to general dispersal orders, and they cannot be unreasonably searched or have their equipment seized.”
“The NewsGuild-CWA strongly condemns the targeting of journalists by multiple law enforcement agencies,” Schleuss said. “We demand that every law enforcement agency take steps to ensure the safety of all journalists and open investigations into any officer violating the rights of journalists doing their jobs.”
The First Amendment Coalition, the Freedom of the Press Foundation and the Los Angeles Press Club are among the 27 press and civil society organizations that have expressed concern over the treatment of journalists covering the anti-ICE protests.
In a letter sent to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, the organizations said “federal officers may have violated the First Amendment rights of journalists covering recent protests” in Los Angeles.
The organizations went on to demand Noem “immediately ensure” that federal law enforcement officers “refrain from any unlawful, indiscriminate, and excessive use of force against members of the press.”
The recent L.A. protests were sparked after ICE agents, many masked and not identifying themselves, seized several immigrant workers on Friday. Among those arrested was David Huerta, a union organizer and the president of SEIU California, who was accused of obstructing the work of federal agents while demonstrating against the raids.
In response to the protests, President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of thousands of National Guardsmen and hundreds of U.S. Marines to L.A. It’s a move that has sparked massive anti-ICE protests in cities across the U.S., including tens of thousands of protestors in Chicago.
Other journalists who’ve been attacked include Lauren Day, a correspondent with the Australian Broadcast Corporation, who was sprayed with tear gas; Joe Putnam, a photojournalist with The Telegraph who was struck in the head by a police pepper ball; and documentary filmmaker Ford Fischer and New York Post journalist Toby Canham were post shot with rubber bullets.
“Journalists play a crucial role in holding power to account, particularly during times of crisis and protest,” Schleuss said. “When law enforcement targets reporters, it’s not just an attack on individuals; it’s an attack on every American’s right to a free press. The U.S. government must defend that freedom, not undermine it. Journalism is not a crime.”