A car burns on Atlantic Boulevard following multiple detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), in Paramount, California, June 7, 2025. (Reuters/Barbara Davidson)
The raids began on Friday, with Bass issuing a statement supporting illegal immigrants in the city and bucking the Trump administration's deportation efforts.
"This morning, we received reports of federal immigration enforcement actions in multiple locations in Los Angeles," Bass said in a statement on Friday.
SOCIAL MEDIA, TRUMP ADMIN ERUPTS OVER LA MAYOR'S REACTION TO ICE RAIDS: 'YOU'RE A CRIMINAL TOO'
Gov. Gavin Newsom (AP Photo/Steven Senne)
"Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel. Donald Trump’s chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America’s economy," Newsom's statement read.
Newsom's press office doubled down in support of shielding illegal immigrants from deportation in a response X post to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Saturday.
"In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California. These operations are essential to halting and reversing the invasion of illegal criminals into the United States. In the wake of this violence, California’s feckless Democrat leaders have completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens," Leavitt posted to X.
Newsom's office responded: "These are anything but basic. Your indiscriminate sweeps are terrifying entire communities and detaining hardworking, tax-paying Californians. It’s cruel escalation and must end."
Other Democrats in the state have gone even further in their defense of illegal immigrants amid the raids, with Democratic Rep. Norma Torres posting to TikTok on Saturday telling ICE officials to "get the f--- out of L.A. so that order can be restored."
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) declared unlawful assembly and issued a city-wide tactical alert on Friday evening as rioters attacked law enforcement officers, the Department of Homeland Security said in a statement on Saturday.
Police kick tear gas back to the crowd as people block off the street and set a fire during protests against ICE and immigration raids on Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Paramount, California. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
"Gavin Newsom is unqualified for a plethora of reasons, the least of which is his support of illegal alien insurrectionists. He is an all purpose, all around loser," Hollywood actor and California resident James Woods posted to X.
Woods additionally described Bass as a "Communist" and Newsom as "Grease" in other posts asking to describe the California Democrats in one word.
"After four years of the Biden administration refusing to enforce our immigration laws, Americans voted for President Trump, who promised to enforce the law and secure the border. Our federal agencies, including ICE, have every right to enforce federal laws, even in sanctuary states," California Republican Rep. Ken Calvert posted to X.
"This is on you, Governor. It is a shame that California openly defies federal law and sides with illegal aliens, including hardened criminals, against its own citizens," Harmeet Dhillon, former vice chair of the California Republican Party and current assistant attorney general for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Justice, posted to X.
PRESIDENT TRUMP SENDS NATIONAL GUARD AS VIOLENT ANTI-ICE RIOTS ERUPT IN LOS ANGELES
"Gavin Newsom seems to think that California can not only defy federal immigration law, but now federal tax law. The doctrine of nullification died with the Confederacy. What’s next: firing on Fort Ord?" Republican California Rep. Tom McClintock posted to X, referring to Newsom floating withholding federal taxes in response to reports of the Trump administration cutting funding to the state.
Libs of TikTok, a popular conservative X account founded by an LA native, posted a series of messages pinning blame on local Democrats and providing updates on the violence.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff and California native, responded to Bass on X after she defended illegal immigrants: "You have no say in this at all. Federal law is supreme and federal law will be enforced."
When asked about California Republicans' comments and the riots overall on Sunday morning, Newsom's communications director Izzy Gardon told Fox Digital: "LA riots? Have these geniuses ever seen what happens when the Eagles win a playoff game?"
Videos circulated on social media Friday night and Saturday showing people looting LA shops and setting fires, as well as lobbing rocks and other items at immigration officials. U.S. Border Patrol Chief Michael W. Banks shared a photo of a Border Patrol agent's bloody hand that was injured by a rock flying through the windshield.
NATIONAL GUARD TO BE DEPLOYED IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY AS ANTI-ICE PROTESTS RAGE: BORDER CZAR TOM HOMAN
Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Saturday to deploy 2,000 National Guardsmen to Paramount, California, to help quell the violence, and has also slammed the local leaders for the chaos.
People block off the street and set a fire during protests against ICE and immigration raids on Saturday, June 7, 2025, in Paramount, California. (Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
FBI Director Kash Patel vowed that any individual found attacking an immigration official will face jail.
"If you assault a law enforcement officer, you’re going to jail – period," Patel said on Saturday, Fox Digital previously reported.
"It doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what cause you claim to represent," Patel added in comment to Fox News Digital on Saturday. "If local jurisdictions won’t stand behind the men and women who wear the badge, the FBI will."
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Fox News Digital's Alexandra Koch and Landon Mion contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/california-republicans-slam-newsom-bass-letting-la-burn-riots-amid-trump-immigration-blitz