Elected Democrats from coast to coast championed law and order and embraced law enforcement in the wake of the Jan. 6 protest at the U.S. Capitol in 2021, but have seemingly walked back such rhetoric in the face of federal law enforcement officials carrying out immigration raids in Los Angeles that have spiraled into riots.
Democrats have increasingly condemned the immigration raids that began Friday in Los Angeles, claiming they were “illegal” and revealed alleged evidence of President Donald Trump’s “authoritarianism,” while attempting to characterize the riots as a result of the administration’s alleged overreach.
“Inciting and provoking violence; Creating mass chaos; Militarizing cities; Arresting opponents,” Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X Sunday. “These are the acts of a dictator, not a President.”
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“Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,” Democratic Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass posted to X Sunday. “The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real – it’s felt in our communities and within our families and it puts our neighborhoods at risk. This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protesters to remain peaceful. I’ve been in touch this morning with immigrant rights leaders as well as local law enforcement officials. Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home.”
Federal law enforcement officials converged on the city Friday, with both Newsom and Bass issuing statements shortly thereafter denouncing the raids, which are part of Trump’s campaign vow to remove the millions of illegal immigrants who flooded the nation under the Biden administration.
Newsom, Bass and other local elected Democrats quickly sounded off that they did not support the raids, while offering words of support to illegal immigrants who reside in Los Angeles.
“As Mayor of a proud city of immigrants, who contribute to our city in so many ways, I am deeply angered by what has taken place,” Bass, for example, said Friday. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city. My office is in close coordination with immigrant rights community organizations. We will not stand for this.”
Protests against the raids soon devolved into violence over the weekend, as rioters targeted federal officials with rocks and other projectiles, set cars on fire, looted stores and took over 101 Freeway Sunday.
Trump said Saturday that he was authorizing the deployment of 2,000 National Guard members to Southern California to help quell the violence as it spiraled, bypassing the governor who typically activates the National Guard during state emergencies.
The White House has defended calling in the National Guard to restore law and order, after Democrats reportedly failed to control the increasingly violent protests and the LAPD declared an unlawful assembly in the city. Dozens of violent protesters have been arrested since Friday, according to local police.
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“Gavin Newsom did nothing as violent riots erupted in Los Angeles for days,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt posted to X Monday. “Federal law enforcement officers were attacked by violent radicals and illegal criminals waving foreign flags because Governor Newsom was too weak to protect the city. The Los Angeles Police Chief has even said the riots were getting out of hand. President Trump has stepped in to maintain law and order and protect federal buildings.”
As the riots raged, a handful of elected Democrats, as well as Independent Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, have condemned the raids and federal officials cracking down on the protests, which stand in stark contrast to messages they issued in the 2021 era after Trump supporters breached the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 following the 2020 election.
Democrats have long argued the Jan. 6 protest was a violent insurrection that trampled on the U.S. Constitution and threatened democracy when an estimated 2,000 people breached the Capitol building that day.
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“ICE get the f— out of LA so that order can be restored,” Democratic California Rep. Norma Torres posted in a video on TikTok Friday of the raids, which received widespread backlash among conservative critics.
But when addressing the Jan. 6 protest, Torres invoked the Constitution, celebrated law enforcement and disavowed the “chaos” seen at the Capitol in 2021.
“The American people deserve leaders who will uphold the Constitution and protect our democracy from those who seek to destroy it,” Torres said in a statement in January criticizing Trump’s pardons of the vast majority of those charged in connection to the protest at the Capitol. “I call on my colleagues, regardless of party affiliation, to condemn this reckless abuse of power and to recommit ourselves to the principles of justice and accountability.”
“I remember the sound of the mob banging on doors, the bravery of law enforcement officers who risked their lives to protect us, and the sense of betrayal as our sacred democratic institutions were desecrated,” she added.
When asked about the disparity in comments, Torres said she has “always supported our local law enforcement – whether it be in Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.,” adding that the ICE raids is “entirely different.’
“LAPD is trained to handle this situation and have the resources to do so,” Torres told Fox News Digital on Monday. “What ICE is doing in California is entirely different – we’re witnessing ICE ignore federal law, people going missing, families being separated, and even American citizens being mistakenly detained. I do not support violent conduct, but I believe the Los Angeles Police Department can restore calm, and prosecute any violent offenders as needed. Bringing in the National Guard will only escalate tensions by introducing a weaponized military presence into the city.”
While Sanders joined CNN Sunday and slammed Trump for moving the country toward “authoritarianism” after activating the National Guard as rioters targeted federal law enforcement officials. Sanders, however, also took Trump to task in January for allegedly giving a “free pass to rioters who attacked the police” Jan. 6 at the Capitol.
“We have a president who is moving this country rapidly into authoritarianism,” Sanders said Sunday. “My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles did not request the National Guard, but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants.”
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Sanders repeatedly condemned the Jan. 6 protest in 2021 and in subsequent years, including earlier in 2025 when Trump pardoned the vast majority of Americans charged in the protest. Sanders lauded police officers who were working at the Capitol on the day of the protest, while slamming Trump as trampling democracy.
“President Trump: You do not stand for law and order when you give a free pass to rioters who attacked the police,” Sanders posted Jan. 21. “In fact, you are signaling that violence is okay and attacking law enforcement is acceptable behavior.”
“As someone who was on the Hill that day, I’m grateful to the officers who put their lives on the line to defend myself and my colleagues,” Sanders continued. “It’s outrageous that the President would betray officers who defended our democracy by absolving violent insurrectionists of their crimes.”
When asked for comment on his rhetoric regarding the riots compared to Jan. 6, Sanders told Fox News Digital that he “absolutely condemned the insurrectionist violence of January 6, which injured over 130 police officers. And I condemn the violence taking place in Los Angeles right now.”
“But let’s be clear: Trump’s actions are illegal and designed to inflame a volatile situation,” he continued. “In our form of government, it is the governor of a state who deploys the National Guard, not the President of the United States. It is absurd and laughable for the Trump administration to argue that they needed to mobilize the National Guard because of a threat from a “foreign invasion” or “rebellion” against the United States. This is just another example of Trump wanting more power for himself and ignoring the law.”
As Newsom rails against the raids and Trump deploying the National Guard to LA, the Democratic governor called for order to be restored following Jan. 6, when he said there was an “outright assault to our democracy and Democratic institutions.”
“Peaceful protest is an important mechanism of our democracy but what we are witnessing in our nation’s Capitol building is reprehensible and an outright assault to our democracy and Democratic institutions,” Newsom said in a 2021 statement.
“The people of California have spoken, and our congressional delegation should never have to fear for their lives to represent Californians,” the statement continued. “We are concerned for the safety of California’s congressional delegation and U.S. Capitol staff, and are reaching out to offer support in every way possible. President Trump must call for an end to this escalating situation, acknowledge the will of the people to bring President-elect Biden to the White House and move immediately to a peaceful transition of power.”
When asked for comment on Newsom’s previous remarks on Jan. 6 compared to his commentary on the riots, Newsom’s press office directed Fox News Digital to the governor’s comment to NBC News on Sunday: “This is about authoritarian tendencies. This about command and control. This is about power. This about ego. This is a consistent pattern… this guy has abandoned the core principles of this great democracy. He’s threatening to go after judges he disagrees with, cut off funding to institutions of higher learning, he’s rewriting history and censoring historical facts.”
The office also noted that Trump said in 2020 during a townhall event that he could not mobilize the National Guard “unless we’re requested by a governor,” and pointed Fox Digital to comment from retired Maj. Gen. Randy Manner, former acting vice chief of National Guard bureau, criticizing Trump’s activation of the Guard.
“The President’s federal deployment of the National Guard over the official wishes of a governor is bad for all Americans concerned about freedom of speech and states rights,” Manner said, Fox News’ Jennifer Griffin reported, on Sunday. “The governor has the authority and ability to respond to the civil disturbances with law enforcement capabilities within his state, augmented as necessary by requesting law enforcement assistance from other governors. There are over a million badged and trained members of law enforcement in this country for the governor to ask for help if he needs it. While this is presently a legal order, it tramples the governor’s rights and obligations to protect his people. This is an inappropriate use of the National Guard and is not warranted.”
Failed 2024 presidential candidate and former Vice President Kamala Harris posted to X Sunday that the raids were part of Trump’s “cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division,” adding that the activation of the National Guard was “a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.”
On the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 6 riots, Harris lauded the heroism of police and the National Guard, while celebrating “the resolve” of elected officials to protect the Constitution and law and order.
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“The resolve I saw in our elected leaders when I returned to the Senate chamber that night, their resolve not to yield, but to certify the election, their loyalty, not to party or person, but to the Constitution of the United States, that reflects its strength,” she said in 2022. “And so of course, does the heroism of the Capitol Police, the DC Metropolitan Police Department, the National Guard and other law enforcement officers who answered the call that day, including those who later succumbed to wounds, both visible and invisible.”
Federal officials have pinned blame for the Los Angeles violence on Democratic elected officials who have “villainized and demonized” ICE law enforcement, Fox Digital previously reported.
“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Mayor Bass and Governor Newsom must call for it to end,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, for example, wrote in a Saturday statement. “The men and women of ICE put their lives on the line to protect and defend the lives of American citizens.… From comparisons to the modern-day Nazi gestapo to glorifying rioters, the violent rhetoric of these sanctuary politicians is beyond the pale. This violence against ICE must end.”
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The White House defended Trump’s activation of the National Guard, saying it was in direct response to Democrats who have “completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens” while law enforcement officials are attacked.
“In recent days, violent mobs have attacked ICE Officers and Federal Law Enforcement Agents carrying out basic deportation operations in Los Angeles, California,” Leavitt said in a Saturday statement. “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.”
“That is why President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,” Leavitt continued. “The Trump Administration has a zero tolerance policy for criminal behavior and violence, especially when that violence is aimed at law enforcement officers trying to do their jobs. These criminals will be arrested and swiftly brought to justice. The Commander-in-Chief will ensure the laws of the United States are executed fully and completely.”
