Jesús Daniel Romero from MCI2 for Power & Money and FinGurú
In the chaos of summer 2025, federal agents deployed in Los Angeles faced what many described as a “Gladiator School,” a term used internally by officials to describe the intensity and unpredictability of violent protest zones. But amidst the turmoil, these agents maintained a level of discipline and restraint that was rarely recognized by the media.
The deployed agents were not typical riot control forces. Many came from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Customs and Border Protection (CBP) office, and various federal task forces. They were trained for border interdictions, federal order operations, and national security missions, not for crowd control in hostile urban terrains. However, between June and August 2025, they found themselves under siege in downtown Los Angeles.
There were real injuries. The agents suffered concussions, burns, and trauma from improvised blunt weapons. According to the DHS, on June 7, 2025, over 1,000 rioters surrounded an ICE facility in Los Angeles, slashed tires, vandalized buildings, and assaulted officers, representing a 413% increase in attacks against ICE personnel compared to previous periods (Department of Homeland Security, 2025a). Agents were hit with bricks, Molotov cocktails, lasers, and frozen water bottles, leading to multiple hospitalizations.
Among the less reported injuries were dozens of cases of agents suffering eye lacerations, embedded glass shards, and torn corneas from broken bottles and projectiles thrown at close range. At least four agents required emergency eye surgery, according to internally reviewed medical records. Despite this, federal teams continued to operate under strict rules of engagement, refraining from the use of lethal force even as attacks escalated. This level of restraint, despite sustained harassment, highlights the professionalism and discipline that federal agents maintained during prolonged urban confrontations.
Fortunately, the federal government has made it clear that there will be severe consequences for those who assault federal agents in the line of duty. But, like modern gladiators, many of these officers were thrown into a chaotic urban arena that they did not choose, carrying out lawful orders under conditions for which they were never specifically trained. These agents, primarily specialized in border interdictions, drug trafficking operations, and national security missions, were not crowd control experts. However, they found themselves direct targets of protesters whose intention was not peaceful dissent but to cause physical harm and chaos. The disconnect between their preparation and the environment they faced underscores both the volatility of these confrontations and the remarkable restraint they demonstrated in their response.
In some cases, leftist agitators went so far as to attempt to identify federal agents by their name and residential address, sharing this personal information on encrypted platforms. The intention was clearly alarming: to allow operatives to attack them and their families outside the protest zones. This level of harassment and intimidation represents a shift from spontaneous riots to deliberate and asymmetrical harassment campaigns, targeted not only against federal operations but against the very officials tasked with carrying them out.
At least 17 government-owned vehicles, including SUVs from ICE and Border Patrol, were damaged or destroyed in targeted attacks. Internal DHS records from June and July confirm these figures, corroborated in oversight sessions (Department of Homeland Security, 2025a). Despite the intensity of these confrontations, federal agents did not respond with lethal force.
That fact is important.
Not a single protester died from federal crossfire during the riots in Los Angeles. The use of force remained at non-lethal levels, focused on dispersal and deterrence. Agents utilized tear gas, pepper spray, and stun devices. Legal thresholds for escalation were repeatedly reached, but lethal options were avoided.
A senior DHS official, who requested anonymity, told us:
“This was not Portland in 2020. The threats were real, and our agents were bleeding. But the restraint we showed was not just discipline. It was a decision and a duty to protect lives on both sides.”
Some of the images captured during the events evoked the dystopian tone of the movie Escape from L.A., but this was not fiction. These were real streets, real lives, and real threats. Protest is a constitutional right. Violence is not. However, when several of the arrested rioters were interviewed, many admitted they did not know that federal agents have constitutionally protected authority to defend federal facilities and personnel, regardless of local authorities' sentiments.
The destruction of federal property, attacks on law enforcement, and the use of encrypted communications have become common tactics of extremist cells operating from within protests that appear peaceful. Federal agents are not exempt from scrutiny, but when they enforce the law with discipline and restraint under extreme pressure, that should be recognized.
What happened in Los Angeles was not simply civil disturbance. It was a deliberate attempt to confront and undermine law enforcement. The deployed agents on the ground responded with professionalism and determination. The federally militarized forces that participated in support functions also maintained a disciplined and professional posture throughout the crisis.
This was not an act of protest. It was an organized campaign to provoke destruction and generate violence.
During the summer of 2025, reports circulated indicating that recruitment ads had appeared on platforms like Craigslist, offering significant compensation to individuals with previous military experience—explicitly excluding former Marines—for joining organized demonstrations. Although it was confirmed that the most widely circulated ad was a joke, the attention it received reflects how easily these tactics can spread and influence real-world events (MSN, 2023).
Beyond that, open-source investigations and political analysts have expressed concerns about the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) and its ideological alignment with foreign actors, including regimes openly hostile to the United States (Party for Socialism and Liberation, n.d.). These protest movements increasingly resemble asymmetrical operations, recruiting operatives with specific skills and coordinating through encrypted platforms. This strategy reflects tactics used by criminal organizations like the Zetas cartel, which recruited famous elite ex-soldiers to strengthen its armed wing (ICE, 2021).
Historically, radical groups like the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army followed similar paths in the 1960s and 1970s, though without promises of financial reward (Burrough, 2015, p. 15). Today, a new version of that formula has emerged, driven by digital reach, economic incentives, and patterns of foreign influence that have yet to be fully explored (Chang et al., 2023).
Throughout history, urban guerrilla tactics have been employed not just by foreign enemies or criminal cartels, but also by ideological factions aligned with internal political agendas. In recent years, elements of the radical left have functioned as militant pressure arms of large political coalitions. These groups tend to resurface in times of electoral tension, public policy setbacks, or institutional scandals. Their mobilization is not casual. It is strategic.
The pardon granted to Oscar López Rivera in 2017, a convicted member of the terrorist group FALN responsible for more than 130 bombings in the United States, is a revealing example. His release, approved by President Obama just days before leaving office, was interpreted by many as a political gesture aimed at energizing a specific electoral bloc (Meese & Kirsanow, 2017). The precedent it set is concerning: individuals linked to violent extremist movements can be presented as activists if the political moment and partisan benefit justify it.
The ideological roots of current urban agitation often trace back to revolutionary movements from the Cold War era. These were not marginal student experiments, but structured alliances with regimes hostile to the United States. Karen Bass, the current mayor of Los Angeles, has acknowledged her involvement in the Venceremos Brigade— a pro-Castro program that brought young Americans to Cuba during the 1970s—and has stated that she visited the island at least eight times in her youth (Dovere, 2020).
According to reports from The Atlantic, the FBI tracked the Brigade's links to Cuban intelligence services and noted that some participants received limited military training. Although Bass insists she never received military instruction or carried weapons, she admitted to joining the program out of solidarity despite being aware that Cubans did not enjoy the same freedoms as Americans (Dovere, 2020). That experience, and the ideological training it involved, is relevant when assessing institutional responses to orchestrated anti-government violence.
References
Department of Homeland Security (2025a, June 7). Statement on violent rioters assaulting ICE officers in Los Angeles, CA. https://www.dhs.gov/news/2025/06/07/dhs-releases-statement-violent-rioters-assaulting-ice-officers-los-angeles-ca-and
Burrough, B. (2015). Days of rage: America’s radical underground, the FBI, and the forgotten age of revolutionary violence (p. 15). Penguin. https://books.google.com/books?id=QPUVBAAAQBAJ&pg=PT15
Chang, J., Burke, M., & Awan, I. (2023). Coordinated digital protest destabilization and foreign actor influence. Journal of Global Security Studies, 9(1). https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10106894
ICE. (2021, May 27). Cartel assassin from Los Zetas who became plaza boss in northern Mexico sentenced in San Antonio. https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/los-zetas-cartel-assassin-who-became-northern-mexico-plaza-boss-sentenced-san-antonio
MSN. (2023, September 20). Fact Focus: A Craigslist ad does not prove that there were paid protesters in LA. It was posted as a joke. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/fact-focus-a-craigslist-ad-is-not-proof-of-paid-protesters-in-la-it-was-posted-as-a-prank/ar-AA1Gsxox
Party for Socialism and Liberation. (n.d.). Official website. https://pslweb.org
Meese, E., & Kirsanow, P. (2017, January 18). President Obama’s pardon of Oscar López Rivera trades a terrorist for votes. The Heritage Foundation. https://www.heritage.org/crime-and-justice/commentary/president-obamas-pardon-oscar-lopez-rivera-trades-terrorist-votes
Dovere, E.-I. (2020, July 31). When Karen Bass worked in Castro's Cuba. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/07/karen-bass-cuba-venceremos-brigade/614662/
Jesús Daniel Romero is a retired Commander of Naval Intelligence of the United States, for which he also served prominent diplomatic roles. He led interagency teams in investigations and suppression of drug trafficking in Latin America.
He is Co-Founder and Senior Fellow of the Miami Strategic Intelligence Institute, author of the Amazon bestseller "The Final Flight: The Queen of Air," and is currently writing a trilogy of books on transnational crime in Latin America.
Columnist for Diario Las Américas in Miami, Florida, and a permanent reference for the media on issues of his expertise.
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