FBI Director Kash Patel has warned protesters facing off with US immigration authorities in Los Angeles that anyone who hits a policeman will be “going to jail.”
Immigration authorities and demonstrators have clashed for two days in the Los Angeles area, with unrest beginning Friday after dozens of people were detained by federal immigration agents across different locations. The arrests come amid the Trump administration's crackdown on immigration, which has involved waves of raids and deportations across the country.
The Department of Homeland Security said in a statement that "1,000 rioters surrounded a federal law enforcement building and assaulted Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, slashed tyres, and defaced buildings." "Hit a cop, you’re going to jail… doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won’t back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will," Patel posted on X on Saturday night.
Patel’s remarks, however, prompted some social media users to point out the different stance taken by the Trump administration on the January 6 rioters – hundreds of whom were pardoned by President Donald Trump.
"Unless you're doing it for (Donald) Trump,” one user responded to Patel’s comment, with another adding, “Unless you are trying to overturn an election.” During the violent insurrection at the US Capitol in 2021, more than 140 police officers were injured.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, a city in Los Angeles County, after the protests on Friday.
Trump criticised the city's Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass in a post on his Truth Social platform, calling them "incompetent". He also said protesters would no longer be allowed to wear masks.
Officials from the Trump administration described protesters as “lawless rioters.” US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said protesters would not slow ICE agents down and cautioned rioters.
"If you lay a hand on a law enforcement officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law," Noem wrote in an X post.
FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino said the agency is seeking information regarding the identity of those throwing rocks at vehicles conducting critical law enforcement operations.
ICE has arrested a total of 118 people in Los Angeles in connection with suspected immigration violations last week, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
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