Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) blasted a House resolution on Friday that condemned recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles, calling it a partisan trap disguised as a simple stand against violence.
From the House floor, she argued that the resolution’s real purpose wasn’t to oppose violence—a goal everyone could support—but to push a politically motivated and “exaggerated, misleading picture” of the events.
The protests in question followed aggressive ICE actions in Los Angeles, which, according to Lofgren, went beyond targeting violent criminals.
“People were okay with going after dangerous offenders,” she said. “Instead, agents—some armed and masked—took down day laborers, gardeners, even a union leader. And they refused to identify themselves in some cases.”
Lofgren didn’t deny there was some trouble. She was clear that a “small group of ‘hooligans'” had worked their way into the otherwise peaceful protests and started breaking things.
Her point was simple: go after them. Prosecute those individuals. But she pushed back hard on the idea that this meant the whole city was out of control.
According to Lofgren, the protests were confined to a roughly 10-block area of downtown Los Angeles, far from the image of citywide riots described in the resolution’s language. “LA County is over 4,600 square miles,” she said. “This didn’t spread across the whole city.”
She also questioned the federal government’s decision to deploy the National Guard and Marines without any request from local officials.
“That move wasn’t asked for by the police chief, not by the mayor, not by the governor,” Lofgren said. “It wasn’t needed. It just made things worse.”
The National Guard remains stationed in Los Angeles, according to Lofgren, although reports suggest most are idle. “We heard from a former commander that fewer than 20 percent are actively doing anything. These are people who were supposed to be helping with forest fire prevention.”
She also addressed language in the resolution that claimed California leadership prioritized undocumented immigrants over citizens.
“That’s not just false,” she said. “It’s offensive. It’s designed to stoke division and create a pretext for taking power away from local governments.”
Lofgren warned that this resolution, while centered on Los Angeles, could set a precedent.
“This lays a foundation to justify military deployment in any city. Under any excuse,” she said. “And if that becomes normal, what happens to elected officials? To accountability?”
She closed with a pointed question: “Are we more threatened by busboys and gardeners? Or by an administration that seems ready to replace elected leaders with federal troops?”
Lofgren urged colleagues to vote against the resolution, calling it a step toward undermining democratic institutions under the guise of public order.
