{"id":35825,"date":"2025-07-03T17:11:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:11:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35825\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:11:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:11:08","slug":"l-a-activist-indicted-for-giving-face-shields-to-anti-ice-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35825\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. activist indicted for giving face shields to anti-ICE protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A local activist who handed out protective face shields to protesters last month during demonstrations against the Trump administration\u2019s chaotic immigration raids was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Alejandro Orellana, a 29-year-old member of the Boyle Heights-based community organization Centro CSO, faces charges of conspiracy and aiding and abetting civil disorder, court records show. <\/p>\n

According to the indictment, Orellana and at least two others drove around downtown L.A. in a pickup truck distributing Uvex Bionic face shields and other items to a crowd engaged in a protest near the federal building on Los Angeles Street on June 9. <\/p>\n

Prosecutors allege Orellana was helping protesters withstand less-lethal munitions being deployed by Los Angeles police officers and Los Angeles County sheriff\u2019s deputies after an unlawful assembly had been declared. <\/p>\n

Orellana is due in court on Thursday morning. An e-mail to his federal public defender seeking comment was not immediately returned. <\/p>\n

U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, a former California Assemblyman appointed by President Trump, has promised to aggressively prosecute<\/a> anyone who interferes with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations or harms police during protests. <\/p>\n

Federal prosecutors have brought at least 23 cases related to last month\u2019s demonstrations and Essayli promised more people will be charged, according to a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office. At least one of those cases has been dismissed, and some have been re-filed as misdemeanors, records show.<\/p>\n

Asked how handing out defensive equipment was a crime during a news conference last month, Essayli insisted Orellana was specifically handing out supplies to violent demonstrators. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe wasn\u2019t handing masks out at the beach. … They\u2019re covering their faces. They\u2019re wearing backpacks. These weren\u2019t peaceful protesters,\u201d he said. \u201cThey weren\u2019t holding up signs, with a political message. They came to do violence.\u201d<\/p>\n

Essayli described anyone who remained at a protest scene after an unlawful assembly was declared as a \u201crioter\u201d and said peaceful protesters \u201cdon\u2019t need a face shield.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orellana, who works for United Parcel Service, has no criminal record and previously served in the U.S. Marines, according to Carlos Montes, a fellow member of Centro CSO. <\/p>\n

Montes said he believes Essayli is specifically targeting Centro CSO for its pro-immigrant activism, noting FBI agents seized another member\u2019s cellphone last week as part of their investigation into Orellana.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s ridiculous charges. We\u2019re demanding they drop the charges now. They\u2019re insignificant, ridiculous,\u201d Montes said. \u201cThe most it amounts to is that he was passing out personal protective equipment, which includes boxes of water, hand sanitizer and snacks.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Corps did not immediately respond to a request for Orellana\u2019s service record.<\/p>\n

Montes also challenged Essayli\u2019s argument that peaceful protesters have no need for protective equipment, pointing to myriad instances in which people have been seriously injured by Los Angeles police and county sheriff\u2019s deputies in recent years.<\/p>\n

A Times investigation<\/a> last month highlighted incidents in which protesters allege Los Angeles Police Department officers fired rubber rounds and other crowd control munitions without warning in recent weeks, causing demonstrators and members of the media to suffer broken bones, concussions and other forms of severe harm.<\/p>\n

Times staff writer Brittny Mejia contributed to this report. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A local activist who handed out protective face shields to protesters last month during demonstrations against the Trump…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35826,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[19821,29414,1582,276,29415,29418,7726,29416,2961,224,29417,2444,5337,13141,6291,6617,1809,4532,29419,29420],"class_list":{"0":"post-35825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-alejandro-orellana","9":"tag-bill-essayli","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-california","12":"tag-carlos-montes","13":"tag-charge","14":"tag-deputy","15":"tag-face-shield","16":"tag-la","17":"tag-los-angeles","18":"tag-los-angeles-county-sheriff","19":"tag-los-angeles-times","20":"tag-losangeles","21":"tag-member","22":"tag-other","23":"tag-prosecutor","24":"tag-protest","25":"tag-protester","26":"tag-protester-last-month","27":"tag-violent-demonstrator"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114790419371310887","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}