Headline Roundup • June 13th, 2025
Assessing Claims of Outside Agitators in LA
Summary from the AllSides News Team
Protests and violence took over Los Angeles this week, and some have questioned who's funding them.
From the Right: Outlets on the right have criticized protest organizers. The Daily Signal (Right bias) wrote, “Three major organizations have come under increased scrutiny: the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and the Service Employees International Union. One of these groups, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles, has received millions in government funding.”
From the Left: With the “No Kings” protests set to take place across the country on June 14, outlets on the left have largely not covered potential outside involvement in the initial anti-ICE protests and riots in LA. The Guardian (Left) framed the protests as organic, noting, “The city has been a catalyst in the US immigrants’ rights movement… activists say it’s not surprising that the city rose up in protest.”
From the Center: President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that the protesters are “agitators,” and he believes many of them are paid. The Christian Science Monitor (Center) noted, “Claims of 'outside agitators' seem to crop up whenever waves of protests sweep the country. Recent examples include the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol; the Black Lives Matter protests during the summer of 2020; and the Gaza-Israel protests on college campuses last year. Some of those claims were later substantiated by arrest records and news reports. At the same time, pointing fingers at shadowy outside forces can be a useful political tactic – whether it’s coming from movement sympathizers hoping to distance themselves from protest-related violence, or from politicians who want to discredit large-scale opposition to their policies.”
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Featured Coverage of this Story
Los Angeles is home to nearly a million undocumented immigrants, the largest number of any place in the US. For decades, the city has been a catalyst in the US immigrants’ rights movement.
So when federal agents began conducting raids at workplaces across Los Angeles last week, activists say it’s not surprising that the city rose up in protest.
Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
When anti-U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agitators took to the streets in the Los Angeles area over the weekend attacking officers, setting cars on fire, and looting, they drew attention to the left-leaning activist groups that may have helped instigate the riots.
Three major organizations have come under increased scrutiny: the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles; the Party for Socialism and Liberation; and the Service Employees International Union. One of these groups, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, Los Angeles, has received millions in government funding.
As the Los Angeles Police Department moved to box in a group of protesters outside the city’s downtown federal building last weekend, several people suddenly rushed the line.
Chunks of concrete flew through the air, recalls Martín Hoecker-Martinez. He says a woman then ran up and down the group of bystanders, exhorting others to join the attack.
“Whether she recruited people, I don’t know,” says Mr. Hoecker-Martinez, a college physics professor who had been peacefully walking the Los Angeles streets waving U.S. and Colombian flags. But she was “clearly communicating...
