US vice president JD Vance on Saturday declared, "Time to pass President Trump's beautiful bill and further secure the border," as protests intensified across the Los Angeles area in response to federal immigration enforcement raids.
His remarks came amid growing unrest and a sweeping federal crackdown, including President Trump's deployment of 2,000 troops to help restore order.
In a post on X, Vance slammed protestors clashing with immigration officers, writing: “Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America's political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil.”
“For the far left rioters, some helpful advice; peaceful protest is good. Rioting and obstructing justice is not,” he added. “The president will deploy the national guard to quell these protests, and any person who violates the law or obstructs law enforcement will be aggressively prosecuted.”
Reflecting on the previous administration’s immigration policies, Vance also weighed in on the legal framing of the current situation. “One of the main technical issues in the immigration judicial battles is whether Biden's border crisis counted as an ‘invasion,’” he said. “So now we have foreign nationals with no legal right to be in the country waving foreign flags and assaulting law enforcement. If only we had a good word for that…”
The US vice president’s comments come as Trump continues a hardline immigration crackdown promised during his second-term campaign. On Saturday, the president ordered the deployment of troops to handle mounting unrest in California.
Protests in the Los Angeles suburb of Paramount intensified for a second consecutive night. Demonstrators gathered near a Home Depot reportedly used as a staging ground by federal immigration officers.
According to Fox 11 and multiple social media reports, federal agents in gas masks responded with flash-bang grenades and tear gas after attempts to disperse the crowd failed. A section of the freeway was also temporarily closed.
FBI director Kash Patel backed law enforcement in a firm statement on Saturday, vowing that violence against officers would not be tolerated.
“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,” Patel said. “If the local police force won’t back our men and women on the thin blue line, we FBI will.”
California governor Gavin Newsom condemned the deployment of troops as “purposefully inflammatory,” accusing the Trump administration of stoking unrest.
President Trump, since returning to office in January, has made immigration enforcement a top priority, describing undocumented migrants as “monsters” and “animals” in recent speeches.
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