- “The court record shows that federal law enforcement in Los Angeles targeted the heads and faces of journalists and protestors with rubber bullets. They fired even at the backs of journalists and protestors.” – Michele Heisler, MD, MPA
Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) argues in a new amicus brief that U.S. federal law enforcement repeatedly misused rubber bullets, pepper balls, tear gas canisters and flash-bang grenades against journalists, medics and peaceful demonstrators during protests in Los Angeles in the summer of 2025.
The brief was filed in L.A. Press Club v. Kristi Noem before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
PHR writes that its medical and legal experts reviewed court declarations and reporting documenting excessive force by federal immigration agents deployed during protests that followed aggressive immigration enforcement actions ordered by the Trump administration…