Protest and Political Violence

A federal judge in Los Angeles has sentenced 23‑year‑old Emiliano Garduno Galvez, a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally, to four years in prison for throwing a Molotov cocktail at Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies during a June 7, 2025 protest against immigration raids in Paramount, California. Galvez pleaded guilty in October to possessing an unregistered destructive device and civil disorder after admitting he lit the device behind a wall and hurled it toward deputies guarding a Home Depot where U.S. Border Patrol agents had assembled; it landed in grass about 15 feet from deputies and near another protester but did not injure anyone. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli said the attack "threatened the lives and safety of law enforcement officers and that of a lawful protester," as prosecutors argued it crossed the line from protest into violent crime. Defense lawyers had asked for a three‑year sentence, saying Galvez now recognizes the seriousness of his conduct, but the court adopted the government’s four‑year recommendation. The case is one of the more severe federal sentences handed down so far for violence at protests over Trump‑era immigration raids, underscoring DOJ’s willingness to treat improvised explosives at demonstrations as major felonies even when they cause no casualties.