DHS Black Hawks and Military Aircraft Surveil the LA Protests

· Jun 9, 2025 at 9:33 AM

Local police, state authorities, DHS, and the military all flew aircraft over the Los Angeles protests this weekend, according to flight path data.

DHS Black Hawks and Military Aircraft Surveil the LA Protests — A screenshot of data from ADS-B Exchange. Left is an aircraft that took off from a nearby air base. Right is a aircraft with a similar flight pattern to that of a Predator drone.

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Over the weekend in Los Angeles, as National Guard troops deployed into the city, cops shot a journalist with less-lethal rounds, and Waymo cars burned, the skies were bustling with activity. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) flew Black Hawk helicopters; multiple aircraft from a nearby military air base circled repeatedly overhead; and one aircraft flew at an altitude and in a particular pattern consistent with a high-powered surveillance drone, according to public flight data reviewed by 404 Media.

The data shows that essentially every sort of agency, from local police, to state authorities, to federal agencies, to the military, had some sort of presence in the skies above the ongoing anti-Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) protests in Los Angeles. The protests started on Friday in response to an ICE raid at a Home Depot; those tensions flared when President Trump ordered the National Guard to deploy into the city.