LOS ANGELES (AP) — Downtown Los Angeles businesses hoped customers would return quickly after Mayor Karen Bass lifted a curfew she had imposed last week to prevent vandalism and break-ins during nighttime protests against President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
The protests, which have been largely concentrated in a few blocks of downtown where federal and local government buildings are, were in response to Trump’s immigration crackdown in the city and subsequent deployment of the National Guard and Marines.
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Members of the U.S. military take a break at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)
A couple walks past boarded up businesses along 1st St. in Little Tokyo Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)
FILE - Volunteers remove graffiti from the the Japanese American Museum, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)
Members of the California National Guard and U.S. Marines guard a federal building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Jack Murillo, a Marine veteran, holds a sign in front of law enforcement guarding a federal building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California Highway Patrol officers arrest two men after a dispersal order during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
The curfew set in place June 10 provided “successful crime prevention and suppression efforts" and protected stores, restaurants, businesses and residents, the Democratic mayor said Tuesday. It covered a relatively tiny slice of the sprawling city.
On Tuesday afternoon, the impact of days of protests could be seen in the boarded-up windows lining the streets of Little Tokyo, a historical Japanese American district right next to a federal detention building still heavily guarded by military troops.
A steady stream of tourists stopped in the neighborhood to take photos of baseball superstar Shohei Ohtani wearing Dodgers blue in a massive mural on the side of a hotel.
Don Tahara, the owner of Far Bar, said businesses in the area have been hit hard with vandalism and some break-ins.
On June 8, thousands of protesters took to the streets in response to Trump’s deployment of the Guard, blocking off a major freeway as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets and flash bangs to control the crowd. Photos captured several Waymo robotaxis set on fire.
A day later, police officers used flash bangs and shot projectiles as they pushed protesters through Little Tokyo, where bystanders and restaurant workers rushed to get out of their way. Some protesters set off fireworks and threw water bottles at the officers, yelling, “Shame!”
But Tahara, a third-generation Japanese American immigrant, said he also understands why the protests were necessary, seeing similarities between the current administration's immigration raids and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
“The problems that Little Tokyo had 75 years ago was basically the federal government coming in and imprisoning all of them in concentration camps,” Tahara said. “They were uprooted from their homes and businesses, their churches ... we're seeing a repeat of that.”
Since people assumed the curfew would still be in place Tuesday, Far Bar has still had many cancellations of reservations and events. They decided to open earlier for lunchtime in the past few days, but employees have lost hours from their paychecks. Combined with the lingering effects of the LA wildfires earlier this year, tariff-induced price increases and other increased costs, it has been a challenging climate for businesses to navigate, Tahara said.
On Monday, Bass trimmed back curfew hours from beginning at 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. after a drop in arrests in the area. Bass faulted a relatively small group of “bad actors who do not care about the immigrant community,” a nod to thousands of protesters who exercised their rights peacefully. Trump directed federal immigration officials Sunday to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities, a move that comes after a weekend of large protests all across the country against his administration.
Cindy Reyes, head server at Rakkan Ramen, said they completely shut down the shop for Saturday's protests and closed early on Sunday. The curfew was especially difficult for their night-shift workers because the ramen joint is usually open until midnight.
“Dinner shift makes the most money because we're the last restaurant standing so people come to us in the end,” she said.
The Historic Core district of downtown LA, further away from where the protests have occurred and home to many nightclubs and bars, has also suffered from break-ins. Many closed down for the duration of the curfew because the bulk of their business happens in the evening.
Rhythm Room owner Vincent Vong said the weeklong closure cost him tens of thousands of dollars not just from the loss of business but also because he had to keep paying his employees.
“I have to schedule people to come in because I need to get them paid somehow,” he said.
He wished there was more support from the city and deployment of law enforcement resources to protecting the “most vulnerable areas,” pointing out that his street has often been the target of vandalism and theft during large demonstrations.
Even as the curfew is lifted, Vong said it will be difficult to bring customers back to an area that still has boarded-up windows and feels “apocalyptic.”
“I have to double down in showing that downtown LA is still a safe place to go,” he said.
Members of the U.S. military take a break at the downtown Metropolitan Detention Center Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)
A couple walks past boarded up businesses along 1st St. in Little Tokyo Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Wally Skalij)
FILE - Volunteers remove graffiti from the the Japanese American Museum, Thursday, June 12, 2025, in downtown Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Etienne Laurent, File)
Members of the California National Guard and U.S. Marines guard a federal building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
Jack Murillo, a Marine veteran, holds a sign in front of law enforcement guarding a federal building on Tuesday, June 17, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
California Highway Patrol officers arrest two men after a dispersal order during a protest Saturday, June 14, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Ethan Swope)
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Federal agents carrying out immigration arrests in Minnesota's Twin Cities region already shaken by the fatal shooting of a woman rammed the door of one home Sunday and pushed their way inside, part of what the Department of Homeland Security has called its largest enforcement operation ever.
In a dramatic scene similar to those playing out across Minneapolis, agents captured a man in the home just minutes after pepper spraying protesters outside who had confronted the heavily armed federal agents. Along the residential street, protesters honked car horns, banged on drums and blew whistles in attempts to disrupt the operation.
Video of the clash taken by The Associated Press showed some agents pushing back protesters while a distraught woman later emerged from the house with a document that federal agents presented to arrest the man. Signed by an immigration officer, the document — unlike a warrant signed by a judge — does not authorize forced entry into a private residence. A warrant signed by an immigration officer only authorizes arrest in a public area.
Immigrant advocacy groups have conducted extensive “know-your-rights” campaigns urging people not to open their doors unless agents have a court order signed by a judge.
But within minutes of ramming the door in a neighborhood filled with single-family homes, the handcuffed man was led away.
More than 2,000 immigration arrests have been made in Minnesota since the enforcement operation began at the beginning of December, said Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem told Fox News on Sunday that the administration would send additional federal agents to Minnesota to protect immigration officers and continue enforcement.
The Twin Cities — the latest target in President Donald Trump’s immigration enforcement campaign — is bracing for what is next after 37-year-old Renee Good was shot and killed by an immigration officer on Wednesday.
“We’re seeing a lot of immigration enforcement across Minneapolis and across the state, federal agents just swarming around our neighborhoods,” said Jason Chavez, a Minneapolis city councilmember. “They’ve definitely been out here.”
Chavez, the son of Mexican immigrants who represents an area with a growing immigrant population, said he is closely monitoring information from chat groups about where residents are seeing agents operating.
People holding whistles positioned themselves in freezing temperatures on street corners Sunday in the neighborhood where Good was killed, watching for any signs of federal agents.
More than 20,000 people have taken part in a variety of trainings to become “observers” of enforcement activities in Minnesota since the 2024 election, said Luis Argueta, a spokesperson for Unidos MN, a local human rights organization .
“It’s a role that people choose to take on voluntarily, because they choose to look out for their neighbors,” Argueta said.
The protests have been largely peaceful, but residents remained anxious. On Monday, Minneapolis public schools will start offering remote learning for the next month in response to concerns that children might feel unsafe venturing out while tensions remain high.
Many schools closed last week after Good’s shooting and the upheaval that followed.
While the enforcement activity continues, two of the state’s leading Democrats said that the investigation into Good's shooting death should not be overseen solely by the federal government.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and U.S. Sen. Tina Smith said in separate interviews Sunday that state authorities should be included in the investigation because the federal government has already made clear what it believes happened.
“How can we trust the federal government to do an objective, unbiased investigation, without prejudice, when at the beginning of that investigation they have already announced exactly what they saw — what they think happened," Smith said on ABC’s "This Week."
The Trump administration has defended the officer who shot Good in her car, saying he was protecting himself and fellow agents and that Good had “weaponized” her vehicle.
Todd Lyons, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defended the officer on Fox News Channel’s “The Sunday Briefing.”
"That law enforcement officer had milliseconds, if not short time to make a decision to save his life and his other fellow agents,” he said.
Lyons also said the administration’s enforcement operations in Minnesota wouldn't be needed “if local jurisdictions worked with us to turn over these criminally illegal aliens once they are already considered a public safety threat by the locals.”
The killing of Good by an ICE officer and the shooting of two people by federal agents in Portland, Oregon, led to dozens of protests in cities across the country over the weekend, including New York, Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Oakland, California.
Contributing were Associated Press journalists Giovanna Dell’Orto in Minneapolis; Thomas Strong in Washington; Bill Barrow in Atlanta; Christopher Weber in Los Angeles; and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio.
A woman gets into an altercation with a federal immigration officer as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A federal immigration officer deploys pepper spray as officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member, center, reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Bystanders are treated after being pepper sprayed as federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
A family member reacts after federal immigration officers make an arrest Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Federal agents look on after detaining a person during a patrol in Minneapolis, Minn., Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press via AP)
Bystanders react after a man was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
People stand near a memorial at the site where Renee Good was fatally shot by an ICE agent, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
A man looks out of a car window after being detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a traffic stop, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Robbinsdale, Minn. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Border Patrol agents detain a man, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
People shout toward Border Patrol agents making an arrest, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Adam Gray)
Demonstrators protest outside the White House in Washington, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, against the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent who fatally shot Renee Good in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey holds a news conference on Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Jen Golbeck)
Protesters react as they visit a makeshift memorial during a rally for Renee Good, who was fatally shot by an ICE officer earlier in the week, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/John Locher)
