Former Vice President Kamala Harris faced a wave of backlash Sunday after she issued a statement calling the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles “overwhelmingly peaceful.” Her remarks were quickly slammed by conservatives and Trump administration officials, who accused her of downplaying violent unrest and blaming the wrong people.
“Los Angeles is my home,” Harris wrote on social media as the city endured a fourth day of chaos. Protesters were rioting in response to immigration enforcement raids, prompting President Trump to deploy the National Guard. “And like so many Americans, I am appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city,” she said. “Deploying the National Guard is a dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos. In addition to the recent ICE raids in Southern California and across our nation, it is part of the Trump Administration’s cruel, calculated agenda to spread panic and division.”
Harris insisted the real motive behind the deployment had nothing to do with public safety. “Protest is a powerful tool — essential in the fight for justice. And as the LAPD, Mayor, and Governor have noted, demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful,” she continued. “I continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.”
The response from the right was swift and scathing. “The country really dodged a bullet in November,” Fox News contributor Guy Benson posted on X. In a follow-up, he added, “Their official position is that they’re appalled by what’s happening in Los Angeles…because of Trump and ICE, not the violent rioters. In its current form, this party cannot be salvaged.”
Fox’s Katie Pavlich joined the criticism, writing, “Thank you, America, for employing brain cells and rejecting this woman’s quest to become president of the United States.” The popular LibsofTikTok account fired back with images of cars on fire and officers under attack, calling out Harris for labeling the riots as “mostly peaceful.”
“No surprise[sic] that the most incompetent Vice President in history stands with the illegal alien rioters,” Senator Tom Cotton wrote. Other Trump officials piled on, including White House deputy press secretary Harrison Fields, who posted a photo of Trump’s 2024 electoral map and captioned it, “America’s statement.”
Leo Terrell, Senior Counsel to the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights, posted, “No one is interested in your opinion.” California GOP gubernatorial candidate and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco also weighed in. “President Trump didn’t start these riots,” he wrote. “He’s not out there lighting cars on fire, hurling projectiles at law enforcement or blocking freeways. This statement is an embarrassment and does nothing to diffuse the violent riots taking place across the city.”
Bianco ended his post with a sharp warning: “The Democrats and their ‘leaders’ own this.”