This article appears in the August 2025 issue of The American Prospect magazine. Subscribe here.
For more than a month, Los Angeles has been under siege from federal operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. ICE detained over 1,600 people just in a 16-day stretch in June, inspiring alternating bouts of anger, fear, and protest. President Trump deployed the National Guard and even U.S. Marines to counter demonstrations supporting the city’s immigrants, but community members have not stopped speaking out and confronting ICE raids when they see them.
Rian Dundon is a photographer who spent several days on the ground in Los Angeles taking pictures of scenes throughout the city: the protesters, the Marines, and the vibrant culture of Los Angeles that has shined through in these demonstrations. We present them as a snapshot of life in a city under authoritarian attack by Donald Trump and Stephen Miller.
This story was co-published and supported by the journalism nonprofit the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. Funding has been made possible by The Puffin Foundation. —David Dayen
This article appears in Aug 2025 Issue.