Protests at ICE Facilities

Journalists, legal observers, protesters, and two press organizations (the Los Angeles Press Club and NewsGuild-CWA) sued DHS and Secretary Kristi Noem after federal officers injured them during the June 2025 immigration-raid protests in Los Angeles. They alleged First Amendment retaliation and a right of public access. Judge Hernan D. Vera granted a preliminary injunction restraining the officers' conduct toward the press and observers. On April 1, 2026, the Ninth Circuit affirmed that the plaintiffs were entitled to a preliminary injunction but held it overbroad, vacating and remanding for a narrower order.

Portland protesters and journalists, led by Jack Dickinson, sued over federal officers' use of non-lethal crowd-control munitions at the Portland ICE building, alleging First Amendment retaliation. Judge Michael H. Simon entered a preliminary injunction limiting munitions to imminent-threat situations and certified a provisional class. On April 27, 2026, a Ninth Circuit panel stayed the injunction pending appeal, finding the government likely to succeed on the merits and decertifying the class. Judge de Alba concurred in part and dissented in part. This is the opposite result from the Los Angeles case on a closely related theory.

A coalition of Chicago-based journalists sued the administration over injuries to members of the press and federal-agent conduct they say impeded their First Amendment right to report on immigration-enforcement operations in the city. Judge Sara L. Ellis entered a preliminary injunction forbidding certain crowd-control techniques and imposing restrictions on federal law-enforcement activity. The government appealed to the Seventh Circuit (No. 25-3023).

Minnesota residents sued the administration over the surge in federal immigration enforcement and federal-agent conduct against protesters and observers in the Minneapolis area. The suit raises First Amendment claims paralleling the press-and-protest cases in Los Angeles, Portland, and Chicago. The case is before Judge Katherine M. Menendez.