On the heels of major shows of force by federal immigration agents in Southern California, a judge is set to rule in a lawsuit seeking to halt immigration raids in Los Angeles.

The developments again thrust a spotlight on a region that emerged weeks ago as an epicenter of large-scale immigration raids by the Trump administration – and of tense protests against the actions that often yielded arrests of their own.

Demonstrations are planned again Friday in Los Angeles, as labor and faith leaders and immigrant rights advocates push back against deportation operations heralded by the Republican White House. The mayor also signed an order aimed at protecting immigrant communities.

Here’s what we know about the key events of this week:

Feds and protesters clash at farms

Intense standoffs unfolded Thursday as protesters clashed with federal immigration agents carrying out raids at legal marijuana farms in California’s Ventura and Santa Barbara counties – operations like those at construction sites, hotels and Home Depot parking lots that have stirred widespread fear among immigrant communities.

Vehicles from Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection blocked the road in a part of Camarillo lined with fields and greenhouses as military-style vehicles and a helicopter flew overhead, the Associated Press reported. Camarillo is located just over 50 miles northwest of Los Angeles, about halfway between Santa Barbara and the city.

Dozens of demonstrators gathered on the road as uniformed agents in camouflage gear, helmets and gas masks stood in a line across from them, then threw canisters that sprayed what looked like smoke into the air to disperse the crowd, according to video of the encounter and AP.

The Ventura County Fire Department responded to calls of people having breathing problems after the apparent gas deployment, it said. One person believed to be tear-gassed in the incident suffered burning in his eyes, he told CNN.

Someone also “appeared to fire a pistol at federal law enforcement officers,” Customs and Border Protection said on X, adding the FBI is offering $50,000 for information leading to a conviction in that case.

About 35 miles up the coast, a raid around the same time Thursday at a Carpinteria marijuana farm also grew tense, with smoke bombs erupting as “a crowd of outraged residents and workers confronted federal agents, some clad in military-style gear,” CNN affiliate KEYT reported.

“It was overkill,” said Congressman Salud Carbajal, a Democrat who represents the area, went to the scene of “over 50 ICE agents … conducting this operation.”

“They were creating fear, anxiety and intimidation,” Carbajal said in a video on X. “They were dressed in military garb, clothing, military grade weapons. They were just creating an untenable, incendiary circumstance where they could have got members of the public and themselves hurt.”

A young child was hurt by shrapnel from the agents’ flash and smoke devices, he said as he held a piece of metal, adding he could not enter the farm facility.

“10 juveniles were found at this marijuana facility - all illegal aliens, 8 of them unaccompanied. It’s now under investigation for child labor violations,” Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Rodney Scott posted hours after the raids.

The Department of Homeland Security was “executing criminal warrants at a marijuana facility,” an agency spokesperson told CNN of the one in Camarillo. CNN has reached out to the agency and ICE about the Carpinteria raid.

That incident concerned the mayor of nearby Oxnard: “It is becoming increasingly apparent that the actions taken by ICE are bold and aggressive, demonstrating insensitivity towards the direct impact on our community,” Mayor Luis McArthur wrote on Facebook, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“These actions are causing unnecessary distress and harm. I remain committed to working alongside our Attorney General and the Governor’s office to explore potential legal avenues to address these activities.”

As to the confrontation between federal agents and anti-ICE protesters, White House border czar Tom Homan said: “You have the right to protest. I support that. But when you cross the line on impeding us, you’re going to be arrested.”

ICE swamps mostly empty L.A. park

The farm raids happened just days after dozens of federal immigration agents, along with members of the California National Guard, deployed to a mostly empty park in a Los Angeles neighborhood known for its large immigrant population, also sparking a protest – and the mayor’s scorn.

Word had spread of a possible raid before more than 90 troops and officers descended Monday on MacArthur Park, where Mayor Karen Bass watched officers on horseback and soldiers in tactical gear walk past a playground as children at a summer day camp were rushed indoors so they would not be traumatized, she told AP.

Activists arrived to drive out the agents, yelling and banging on ICE vehicles. Troops and officers left after about an hour, AP reported.

It’s not clear if anyone was taken into custody during the operation. ICE does not comment on ongoing operations, its spokesperson told CNN.

“Frankly, it is outrageous and un-American that we have federal armed vehicles in our parks when nothing is going on in the parks,” Bass, a Democrat, said later. “There was no protest. There was no disorder that required that.”

Bass signed an executive directive Friday morning to support Los Angeles’ immigrant communities. It came in the wake of “unlawful raids conducted by the federal government,” her office announced, mentioning the one at MacArthur Park.

President Donald Trump maintains control of about 4,000 California National Guard troops and hundreds of active-duty Marines he ordered deployed in early June against the wishes of the state’s governor to respond to protests in a 1-square-mile section of downtown Los Angeles against broad immigration raids.

Judge to rule on challenge to ICE raids

Meanwhile, a judge is expected to rule Friday in a federal lawsuit against the Trump administration over the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration raids and conditions in federal detention centers.

The suit, filed last week by the ACLU of Southern California on behalf of five people and immigration advocacy groups, alleges the agency overseeing ICE, “has unconstitutionally arrested and detained people in order to meet arbitrary arrest quotas set by the Trump administration,” the ACLU said in a statement.

The plaintiffs allege the Trump administration is unconstitutionally arresting and detaining people in Southern California based on race and conducting mass immigration sweeps without first establishing reasonable suspicion a person is unlawfully in the United States.

US District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong heard arguments Thursday on whether to grant emergency restraining orders in the case, with the government asserting federal agents initiate stops based on intelligence or “trend analysis,” not race or ethnicity.

Frimpong, a nominee of President Joe Biden, appeared skeptical, repeatedly pressing the government for evidence the arrests were based on actionable intelligence rather than targeting areas where undocumented immigrants are presumed to gather.

“It’s hard for the court to believe you couldn’t find one case with a report of why someone was targeted,” she said.

CNN’s Jillian Sykes, Taylor Galgano and Matthew Friedman contributed to this report.