Few among hundreds of campus protesters in L.A. facing charges, reigniting debate
When pro-Palestinian protesters erected encampments at two of Los Angeles' most prominent college campuses last year, the weeks-long demonstrations ended in dozens of arrests at USC and hundreds more at UCLA after a violent overnight attack by counterprotesters.
Law enforcement officials promised swift action against those who broke the law. But late last month, Los Angeles City. Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto announced that only two people — out of nearly 350 people arrested — would face criminal charges from her office.
Feldstein Soto's decision not to charge in all but a handful of cases has reignited debate about how the protests were handled and left some campus officials wondering whether future agitators will be emboldened.
In the year since the dramatic scenes on both campuses, Jewish groups and the Trump administration have accused USC and UCLA of tolerating antisemitism, and Jewish individuals have sued UCLA and pro-Palestinian groups. Pro-Palestinian demonstrators, meanwhile, have sued UCLA three times, claiming it failed to protect them from a violent mob that attacked their encampment last May.
In charging only two suspects, the city attorney has frustrated campus officials, law enforcement leaders and demonstrators, who were on opposite sides of a skirmish line last year, for different reasons, with some alleging she has shown bias against pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
A spokesperson for Feldstein Soto did not respond to a question about those allegations. In a previous statement about the charges, Feldstein Soto thanked prosecutors in her office 'for their dedication to the rule of law and their commitment to objectively evaluating the evidence and referrals received on each of these matters.'
Most serious violent crimes are handled by the L.A. County district attorney's office, with lesser charges referred to the city attorney for review.
Feldstein Soto declined to charge 338 protesters arrested by Los Angeles and University of California police on both campuses on suspicion of failing to disperse, trespassing and conspiracy to trespass.
In a statement issued last month, her office said it rejected most of those cases for lack of evidence or because a university had shown 'failure or inability to assist in identification or other information needed for prosecution.'
Her office reviewed nine other cases of people accused of resisting arrest, obstruction, disturbing the peace, battery, vandalism and assault with a deadly weapon. Four of those cases did not result in charges and three were referred to a city attorney hearing, essentially a diversionary process that often ends without the filing of charges.
That left two men facing misdemeanor offenses, both related to violence near UCLA.
The incident at the center of the cases unfolded after days of complaints from some UCLA faculty and students that a protest encampment was blocking free movement on campus and leading to the harassment of Jewish students. On the night of May 1, 2024, a group of pro-Israel demonstrators attacked, triggering mayhem.
Dozens of people were involved in the violent incident, and videos showed assailants dragging pro-Palestinian demonstrators to the ground, beating people with weapons, hurling items at the encampment and, in one case, pepper-spraying a journalist in the face.
Though several people were involved in the violence, Feldstein Soto charged only Edan On, 19, who is now believed to be in Israel.
On was first identified by CNN last year. Multiple videos showed him in a white hoodie and face mask wildly swinging a pipe at demonstrators.
University police initially asked the L.A. County district attorney's office to bring felony charges against On, but prosecutors declined, citing his age, the minimal injuries suffered by his victim and his lack of a criminal record, according to court documents. Still, prosecutors referred his case to Feldstein Soto for misdemeanor charges.
Feldstein Soto last month charged On with battery and exhibiting a deadly weapon, records show. He is due in court in late May. On's attorney declined to comment.
Last month, independent journalist Eric Levai published photos that purported to show On standing outside an Israel Defense Forces recruitment center near Tel Aviv. Levai also highlighted a TikTok post, purportedly from On, showing him in IDF fatigues.
A city attorney's office spokesman didn't respond to questions about On's whereabouts. The IDF did not respond to multiple inquiries; On's attorney declined to comment on this issue. Last year, court records show, On successfully petitioned a judge to return his Israeli passport, which had been seized after his arrest. His attorney argued in court filings that On was not a flight risk.
A second defendant, 31-year-old Matthew Katz, was charged with battery, false imprisonment and resisting arrest related to conduct near UCLA on April 30, 2024, records show.
Attorney Sabrina Darwish denied the allegations against Katz, whom she described as a 'peaceful participant' who was demonstrating in support of Palestinians. Darwish said in an email to The Times that the charges 'lack both legal merit and evidentiary support.'
'Mr. Katz is the only protester charged from the pro-Palestinian encampment, which resulted in over 200 arrests last year,' Darwish said. 'The decision to prosecute appears to be an overreach influenced more by public pressure than by the rule of law.'
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators say Feldstein Soto has failed to hold the group that attacked the UCLA encampment accountable. A lawsuit filed in March against UCLA and police agencies identified an additional 20 individuals allegedly responsible for violence.
'There's overwhelming evidence of over four hours of assaults and batteries on these kids,' said one UCLA encampment demonstrator, who asked to be identified only as 'Huey,' for fear of reprisals. 'The city sat back and watched as these people were brutally attacked.'
One person accused of attacking the encampment was charged with felonies by the Los Angeles County district attorney's office last year. Prosecutors accused Malachi Marlanlibrett of assault with a deadly weapon and battery with a hate crime enhancement, according to court records. A district attorney's office spokesman declined to comment on the reason prosecutors pursued a hate crime. Marlanlibrett's attorney didn't respond to an email seeking comment.
Another man, Noel Padilla, was charged with resisting arrest and battery, records show. Both men are due back in court this week. It was not clear which side of the clash Padilla was on. Natalin Daldalian, a spokeswoman for the L.A. County public defender's office, said Padilla had been granted pretrial diversion but declined to comment further.
Indignation has followed Feldstein Soto's claim that charges had to be dismissed in hundreds of other cases because of campus officials' 'failure or inability to assist in identification.'
The head of the union that represents the UCLA Police Department officers assailed Feldstein Soto's assertion as 'flat out false' and accused her of refusing to charge for 'political reasons.'
The union official, UC Officer Wade Stern, noted that campus police presented similar evidence against protesters at UC Irvine last year, which prompted Orange County prosecutors to file dozens of misdemeanor charges for failure to disperse.
UC Regent Jay Sures, who said he was briefed on the information police presented to the city, accused Feldstein Soto of ignoring evidence that clearly identified people suspected of wrongdoing.
'She issued a blanket dismissal,' Sures said. He called the decision a 'travesty of justice' that sends a 'terrible message to her law enforcement partners.'
Spokesman Ivor Pine said the city attorney's office 'received full cooperation from UCPD based on the information available to them and to us, and we did not mean to suggest otherwise.'
Further explaining the dropped charges, Pine said, cases were presented 'without sufficient information to establish the elements of a crime as to any individual.'
Judea Pearl, an Israeli American UCLA computer professor and vocal supporter of Israel, said the decision not to charge 'tells students that there are no consequences to these actions that broke the law and university rules, that they can just do them again.'
'It will embolden them,' Pearl said.
For years, the city attorney's office has rarely, if ever, charged protesters with failing to disperse or other nonviolent offenses related to constitutionally protected demonstrations. Such was the case with most arrests that followed President Trump's first electoral victory in 2016, the 2020 police murder of George Floyd and raucous celebrations after the Dodgers' 2020 World Series victory.
But last year, Feldstein Soto took a more aggressive stance, filing obstruction charges against 31 Jewish demonstrators who blocked a portion of the 110 Freeway while calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.
Attorney Colleen Flynn, who represents those demonstrators, called the cases a 'glaring exception' to the standard charging policy and showed bias against 'people who are protesting for Palestine.'
The city attorney also drew concerns from LAPD officials last year when she personally lobbied for the arrest of a prominent leftist activist she alleged was involved in vandalizing the Brentwood home of the president of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Detectives said video evidence did not definitively show the activist, Ricci Sergienko of People's City Council, committing a crime, records show.
The organizers of last year's campus protests have said their goals were to convince university leaders to divest endowments of connections to weapons companies aiding Israel's war efforts. The encampments featured many Jewish members but also faced criticism from Jewish communities, which said they were antisemitic and demonized Israel.
More than 52,000 Gazans have been killed during Israel's military campaign, according to Hamas' Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took about 250 hostage in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack in southern Israel that triggered the latest conflict.
At a moment when the Trump administration has targeted pro-Palestinian demonstrators on college campuses, some celebrated Feldstein Soto's decision not to charge in all but two of the cases as a victory for the 1st Amendment.
Most of those detained last year were simply exercising their right to protest, Amelia Jones, a professor and vice dean of faculty and research at USC's Roski School of Art and Design, wrote in a statement to The Times.
'As a supporter of the students and someone who attended the entirely peaceful protests almost every day, I am thrilled to see this issue resolved, and freedom of speech ratified,' Jones said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Vogue
an hour ago
- Vogue
Melania Trump Chooses an American-Made Suit To Salute the Military Parade
As millions of people in cities across the United States joined the 'No Kings' demonstrations and L.A. continued to resist immigration raids, Donald Trump and Melania Trump led the U.S. army's 250th anniversary celebrations—and rang in his 79th birthday. The President told press that the huge, expensive event—which enlisted over 6,000 soldiers, teams of helicopters, tanks, and robot dogs—was an opportunity to 'show off a little bit.' A woman of few words but of more considered sartorial choices, the First Lady chose to wear a suit that spoke to their insular moment: Conservative, sharp, American made. Melania opted for an ivory and navy pinstripe twill suit with a nipped waist, double breasted jacket and skirt from U.S. designer Adam Lippes's spring summer 2025 collection, most of which is sewn in New York. She paired it with denim Christian Louboutins. Lippes previously dressed former First Ladies Jill Biden and Michelle Obama, as well as former vice president Kamala Harris. It's not the first time Melania Trump has chosen his understated, elegant designs: She wore a navy suit and skirt by Lippes and paired it with a somber, flat wide-brim hat for her husband's second inauguration.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Will mom get detained? Is dad going to work? Answering kids' big questions amid ICE raids
By the time Josefina and her husband sat down to talk, the immigration raids had been going on for days, and protests over the federal actions had turned violent in parts of downtown Los Angeles. At night, they could hear the helicopters from their Boyle Heights home. The couple couldn't afford to put off the conversation any longer — fear was mounting over the potential separation of their family. Josefina's husband, a garment worker, is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers raided the Ambiance Apparel garment factory June 6, the couple's 15- and 19-year-old children had texted their father in a panic. He, too, works at a garment factory. Should he go to work? That's what they had to hash out Tuesday night. The couple was seated in the dining room. Their children were engrossed in a movie in the living room. The parents had not wanted their kids to hear the conversation — and figured they were out of earshot. They weren't. 'Dad should just stay home,' the teenagers insisted. And with that, the whole family was part of a difficult conversation. It was not how the couple had scripted it, but Josefina came to terms with keeping the kids in the know. 'I've done my best to shield them, but they have a lot of questions,' said Josefina, who like others in this report asked that she and her family not be fully identified over safety concerns. 'They're trying to understand what happens after this. So what I've been offering them is that this isn't how things are going to be forever, that there's power in community.' Conversations like the one in Josefina's dining room are unfolding across the Los Angeles region, as families with undocumented members grapple with fraught questions pushed to the fore by the Trump administration's chaotic crackdown on what he has called a "Migrant Invasion." Could mom be arrested? What happens if dad can't go to work? These and other queries are sparking excruciating — and potentially life-altering — discussions centered on planning for the possible deportation of a family member. Parents are often conflicted about how much to tell their children — even when dealing with ordinary issues. But the intense anguish some feel at this moment has exacerbated the dilemma. Child psychologists and counselors said children should be brought into the fold for these crucial conversations in age-appropriate ways. Doing so, said licensed clinical social worker Yessenia O. Aguirre, will help kids reckon with a moment suffused with anxiety. "I would counsel people to have the conversations from early on," said Aguirre, who is co-developing a coloring book for parents to help them navigate fears and anxieties related to immigration. "Kids can know about real dangers and still have a joyous childhood. We don't have to protect our kids from things they are already going to hear from the news, social media, and from just going to school." If there was ever a week in which children might have heard about issues related to immigration, it was this past one in L.A. Aggressive sweeps by ICE were met with fierce resistance by protesters and others beginning June 6. A Home Depot in Paramount became a flash point after border patrol agents began massing there early on June 7. Eventually, the scene erupted, with demonstrators clashing with authorities, leading to multiple arrests. The episode was one of the triggers that led the Trump administration to deploy National Guard troops to L.A. over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom. ICE forays deep into neighborhoods have continued, sparking new outrage. On Wednesday, The Times reported that a 9-year-old Torrance Elementary School student and his father were deported to Honduras. The cascading events have made it a profoundly uncertain time for immigrant families. And that can spawn anxiety, said psychologist Melissa Brymer, a director at the UCLA-Duke National Center for Child Traumatic Stress. But there are, she said, simple actions parents can take to help children, such as organizing a comforting family meal or arranging for other relatives to check in on a youngster to increase their sense of security. Even asking kids if they are getting a good night's sleep can spark a wider discussion about how they are faring. "Kids are usually willing to talk about it from a sleep perspective," Brymer said. Crowded around the dining room table, Josefina and her husband told their children that they would decide whether he'd return to work by Friday. Even though the kids were now part of the conversation, it was still going to be the adults' decision. They had to weigh the risk of a workplace raid and the husband's possible arrest against the financial implications of losing a vital source of income. The family was trying to save money to pay for a legal defense, Josefina said, should her husband be detained. 'We don't have the money to be like, 'Oh yeah, quit your job,'" Josefina said. Until the teenagers overheard their conversation, Josefina hoped they knew enough to draw comfort from the family's plans. She said, for example, that the kids know what to do if ICE officers come to their house and which lawyers to call if their father is detained. That, experts said, is the right instinct. Aguirre said that preteens and teenagers "pick up on our moods," and may understand more than parents realize. "They are sensing our anxiety, they are looking at our behaviors," she said. "They may want to listen in and see what's underneath if we aren't speaking up." When broaching a tough topic, older kids should be given "space to vent," Aguirre said, and parents should resist the urge to immediately tell their children not to be scared or worry. Instead, they can empathize, telling them, "It makes sense — we are all so scared." Parents can also convey that they have a plan, and clue the kids in on it. "At that age," Aguirre said of teenagers, "it is more of a family dynamic — where they are included." Some scenarios — such as detainment of a parent — are dark. But kids should be made aware of them, Brymer said. "I think it's truly important that we talk to kids about potential separation," she said. "Kids are worried about that, and so let's make sure we talk it over with them. How may a potential separation impact them?" As for Josefina's family, they decided that her husband — who immigrated from Mexico when he was in elementary school about 40 years ago — would return to work. "He decided, 'I still have a responsibility, and I still want to help provide,'" she said. For their 15-year-old daughter, having a plan has made her feel safer. 'I feel like out of my whole family, I'm the least afraid of the stuff that's happening," she said. "I think it's because I have hope in our people in L.A.' Read more: Fears of ICE raids upend life in L.A. County, from schools to Home Depot parking lots Ana's son was set to graduate from eighth grade on Tuesday, and amid the ongoing ICE sweeps, her family had wrestled with whether to attend the celebration at his Mid-Wilshire area school. Her husband is an undocumented immigrant from Mexico. And she is a recipient of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the 2012 policy that provides protection from deportation to immigrants without lawful status who came to the U.S. as children. The program has been the focus of a lengthy legal challenge and could eventually be ruled illegal. Their 14-year-old son knew the stakes. 'He understands what's happening — that there are arrests,' Ana said. Still, the family decided to attend the graduation. Even so, on the morning of the event, their son wanted to revisit the decision, asking his parents if they were comfortable with it. He even suggested they could watch the ceremony from home on a livestream the school had arranged. 'I told him, 'No, we're going to accompany you,'' Ana said. 'And we did. In the end it was worth it to be with him and applaud his successes.' Read more: Graduation day at Maywood Academy High, where students are 98% Latino, 100% all-American Experts could understand her decision. Maintaining a sense of normalcy — when it is safe to do so — helps kids stay on an even keel. Brymer recommends encouraging them to continue to go to school and summer activities if possible, and to participate in their typical social events. 'Kids do better with routines,' she said. "They should be allowed to play and interact.' Aguirre, however, noted that children crave "a sense of safety and connection with loved ones" more than they desire a "sense of normalcy." She added: "It might not be the best time to keep that normalcy — that puts a lot of pressure on parents." If attending a public event or milestone celebration presents a big risk, Aguirre said, parents might consider opting out, and making plans to ensure their presence is felt from afar. "Prep the child ahead of time and say, 'We are not able to physically be there, but we are so proud of this accomplishment,'" Aguirre said. She said parents might tell their child, "We are going to ask [a friend at the event] to blow this whistle, and when they blow it, know that we are there." "For eighth-graders, there would be heartache around not having parents there, but I can also imagine if anything were to happen, they would feel a lot of guilt," Aguirre said. On the day of Ana's son's graduation, the school auditorium opened hours early, so that families did not have to wait on the sidewalk. But the celebration was bittersweet, she said. Fear was palpable among both the students and the crowd. And familiar faces were absent. 'It's a little hard to face sometimes,' Ana said. 'But at the same time we have to be with them in these important moments in life.' Paige and her 8- and 11-year-old daughters stood in front of Long Beach Civic Center on Tuesday evening, alongside roughly 400 other protesters. They chanted slogans near the Port Headquarters building amid signs and swirling American and Mexican flags. 'Seeking safety is NOT a crime,' one sign read. 'Humans are not illegal,' said another. Read more: Immigration raids have shaken communities across Los Angeles County. How can you help? The family isn't new to protesting. Paige and both daughters took to the streets in 2020 after George Floyd's murder sparked outrage. But this time the issue is personal: The girls' father is an undocumented Mexican immigrant. 'Now that it's impacting our family significantly, it's a bit harder for her,' Paige said of her younger daughter. 'She's fighting for her family.' Paige is separated from the girls' father, and he lives elsewhere. It's been difficult for the kids to spend nights apart from him, she said. To allay their worries, he's stayed over a couple of nights. And attending the protest provided additional comfort, because it showed the children that they were part of a supportive community. In times of crisis, giving kids the chance to express themselves by participating in the moment helps them process their feelings, Brymer said. "People are out protesting because they love their culture, and they're trying to advocate for their rights and for rights of" others, she said. But participating doesn't necessarily have to mean protesting, which may not feel appropriate for some, Aguirre said. Instead, children can help in other ways, such as helping to deliver groceries for a vulnerable neighbor, she said. It's important, Brymer said, to acknowledge that children "really want to be those agents of change." Sequeira reports for The Times' early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go to Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Washington Post
an hour ago
- Washington Post
U.S. could lose more immigrants than it gains for first time in 50 years
For the first time in at least half a century, more people may leave the United States than arrive this year, an abrupt shift in immigration patterns with potentially significant implications for the U.S. economy. Economists at two Washington think tanks expect President Donald Trump's immigration policies to drive this reversal: from the near-total shutdown of the southern border to threats to international students and the loss of legal status for many new arrivals, according to a forthcoming paper. A rise in deportations — the aim of recent workplace raids that triggered protests in Los Angeles and other cities — also plays a role.
