A Top Lawyer’s Call for Force (Image Credits: Unsplash)
Los Angeles – Internal Department of Homeland Security emails surfaced this week, disclosing a top attorney’s recommendation that federal agents use batons against demonstrators during anti-ICE protests last summer. The correspondence captured the intensity of clashes outside a federal building, where protesters hurled objects and attempted to breach barriers. Obtained by a nonprofit watchdog through the Freedom of Information Act and shared exclusively with the Los Angeles Times, the documents underscore tensions in the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.[1][2]
A Top Lawyer’s Call for Force
Joseph Mazzara, then-acting general counsel for DHS, sent an email on June 11, 2025, that laid bare his view on handling the unrest. He wrote that agents should have “just started hitting the rioters and arresting everyone that couldn’t get away from them” upon forming a protective line. “No one likes being hit by a stick, and people tend to run when that starts happening in earnest,” Mazzara added.[1]
Mazzara referenced a particularly chaotic moment he called the “battering ram incident,” where demonstrators pushed large commercial dumpsters toward the parking garage of the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building. He described the event as “wild” each time he read about it. The email formed part of a thread coordinating responses to a lawsuit over military deployments in the city.[3]
Protests Target ICE Amid Immigration Crackdown
Demonstrations erupted in downtown Los Angeles in June 2025 as part of nationwide backlash against intensified ICE operations under President Trump. Protesters threw concrete chunks, bottles, and other objects at federal vehicles and officers. They also pinned down Federal Protective Service personnel and caused graffiti and property damage in a limited area.[1]…