While the specter of widespread roundups, often presented as targeting dangerous criminals, has already been conducted in nearby cities, recent occurrences in downtown Los Angeles suggest a disquieting shift: an unsuspecting population is now encountering aggressive immigration enforcement in what were once considered safe, routine interactions. Indeed, reports emerging from the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles describe a troubling shift in procedure: immigrant families, including asylum seekers and children, who were visiting the federal building for “routine check-ins” are reportedly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This development has ignited immediate human rights concerns and prompted calls for investigation from elected officials and advocacy organizations, who characterize the conditions for those held as “inhumane.”
On June 6th, reports emerged from the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles describing a troubling shift in procedure: immigrant families, including asylum seekers and children, who were visiting the federal building for “routine check-ins” were reportedly being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This development has ignited immediate human rights concerns and prompted calls for investigation from elected officials and advocacy organizations, who characterize the conditions for those held as “inhumane.”
Here’s what we know:
Edward R. Roybal Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles
Immigrants, many of whom are asylum seekers with children, are reportedly being taken into custody by ICE upon their arrival for scheduled check-ins at the Roybal Federal Building. Eyewitness accounts and reports from attorneys detail severe overcrowding, with individuals held in basement rooms and even outdoor tents due to insufficient space. Detainees have allegedly been deprived of food and water for periods ranging from “12 to 24 hours or more,” with some families, including young children, reportedly forced to endure these conditions overnight. Additionally, “lights in the building reportedly shut off at 5 p.m., leaving families in complete darkness.”
One attorney recounted a client being held “without food or water from 2 p.m. until the next day, while his wife and two children waited over 12 hours.” There are also reports of a 20-year-old woman being held in isolation, separated from her mother, despite having “legally checked in with ICE for years and being days from a court date for an asylum process.” Attorneys present at the facility claim ICE asserts its authority to “detain people indefinitely, even with a legal stay from a court preventing deportation.”
Official and Advocacy Responses:
Representative Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), whose district encompasses the Roybal Federal Building, has publicly condemned these detentions. “These are very disturbing reports from L.A.’s Roybal Federal Building,” stated Gomez. He continued, “Law-abiding asylum seekers — many with kids — are being detained after showing up for routine ICE check-ins. No food. No water. Locked in holding rooms for over 12 to 24 hours. These are not criminals. These are families who followed the rules. Filed the paperwork. Showed up on time. Instead, they’re being treated like they broke the law just for seeking asylum.” Gomez further asserted, “This isn’t ‘just how the system works.’ This is a system breaking people. Bureaucracy weaponized against those who complied. DHS—I demand to go in to get answers. We need to know why law-abiding asylum seekers are being detained, separated, and treated like criminals.”
The League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) has issued a national alert and called for an immediate federal investigation. Roman Palomares, LULAC National President and Chairman of the Board, declared, “This is beyond unacceptable — it is unconscionable. The notion that our federal courthouse — a place that symbolizes the pursuit of justice — is now being used as a de facto detention facility under ICE authority, is an affront to every value our nation is supposed to uphold. We are demanding answers: Who is being held, who is holding them, and under what legal justification? We must not allow the courthouse to become a cage.” Palomares further elaborated, “It is inconceivable that in the United States of America, a nation that claims to value the rule of law, we are seeing such blatant disregard for due process, civil rights, and human dignity. These are individuals whose last hope rests with the U.S. judicial system. Instead, they are being detained in the very place they came to for justice. This violates our own constitution and international human rights standards.”
Photo courtesy HSI
Cold as ICE:
Meanwhile, across town at a local gathering hub where migrants are known to gather in search of work, ICE agents, captured on video detaining a man at downtown Home Depot on Union and Wilshire Blvd.
Photos: ICE outside MacDonalds and Home Depot detaining migrants on Wilshire and Union. 6-6-25
Photo: Military personal joins in the ICE Raids throughout DTLA Fashion District 6-6-25
While no specific statement from ICE or the
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) regarding these particular allegations at the Roybal Federal Building is currently available, ICE operates under a broad mandate to enforce U.S. immigration laws. According to attorneys on site, ICE asserts its ability to “detain people indefinitely even if they have a ‘legal stay,’” which is generally a temporary suspension of a deportation order. From ICE’s general operational perspective, the existence of a legal stay does not always prevent detention, as individuals may still be considered ultimately removable under immigration statutes or present other factors that, in ICE’s view, justify continued custody. Enforcement actions, including arrests at check-ins, are part of ICE’s stated mission to apprehend individuals violating immigration laws.
During his campaign, America’s newly elected president notably vowed to conduct “the largest deportation program of illegal immigrants in the history of America,” outlining a plan that involved mass deportation with the use of the military and reports from around the country and video footage seem to be affirming these intentions.
As federal authorities escalate arrests nationwide, these events in the core of Los Angeles strongly suggest that the city is indeed becoming a central front in an expanded and aggressive immigration enforcement strategy, impacting even those who have dutifully followed legal processes.
