OCA Condemns Attacks on Free Speech and Freedom of the Press
For Immediate Release
June 11, 2025
Media Contact:
Socheata Sun, Senior Communications Associate
socheata.sun@ocanational.org
Washington, D.C. — OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates expresses deep concern over recent attacks on free speech during protests. The deployment of the National Guard and Marines in Los Angeles, the use of excessive force by law enforcement, and the preemptive deployment of the Texas National Guard to San Antonio, without coordination with local authorities, mark an alarming assault on civil liberties and set a dangerous precedent for the suppression of dissent.
On Friday, protests swiftly emerged in response to forceful ICE raids carried out to meet the administration’s immigration quotas, as community members gathered to exercise their First Amendment rights. Instead, they were met with a militarized response. While law enforcement plays a vital role in maintaining public safety, the deployment of the National Guard and Marines was an excessive and disproportionate response to peaceful demonstrations. Reports also indicate that members of the press were targeted—an Australian and a BBC news reporter were shot with rubber pellets while broadcasting live, and journalists were handcuffed by LAPD officers while reporting.
“OCA supports the freedom of speech and the right to peacefully protest,” said Thu Nguyen, Executive Director of OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates. “Families are being torn apart without due process, and U.S. citizens are being detained based on racial profiling. While the White House tries to unlawfully escalate the situation in Los Angeles, we must stand firm in our right to speak out against these injustices.”
OCA strongly condemns the use of excessive force, intimidation, and arrests against members of the press and peaceful demonstrators. “For many of us in the AAPI community,” Nguyen added, “we or our families fled countries—Hong Kong, Vietnam, and others across Asia and the Pacific—with histories of censorship, authoritarian rule, and crackdowns on the free press. We refuse to stand by and watch these patterns appear here in the United States. Protecting these fundamental rights is not just important—it is more imperative than ever to ensure that every community has the power to speak out and hold our government accountable.”
OCA calls on local, state, and federal governments to uphold their obligation to protect free speech and the right to protest, and to ensure that law enforcement and military actions fully respect these fundamental rights.
OCA will continue to speak out against violations of free speech and freedom of the press and stands in solidarity with all those exercising their right to report and peacefully protest.
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About OCA - Asian Pacific American Advocates
Founded in 1973, OCA–Asian Pacific American Advocates is a national, member-driven social justice organization of community advocates dedicated to advancing the social, political, and economic well-being of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders (AANHPIs). Learn more about our work at ocanational.org/about.