Vice President JD Vance delivered his speech in Los Angeles at a federal operations center on June 20, amid ongoing immigration raids and days of protests. In response, President Donald Trump deployed federal law enforcement and military personnel to the city.

JD Vance: All right. Well, good afternoon, everybody. Thank you all for being here, and thanks especially to the Marines from 29 Palms for being here, for serving their country and providing some much-needed security. As a matter of fact, I just heard from a couple of law enforcement officers, basically, thank you. Thank you to the President for sending in the DoD officials, for sending in the soldiers and Marines, because unfortunately, a lot of these federal buildings were under very serious threat. I heard about a lot of that during my tour here today. 

Fact check: The violence and unrest were largely confined to a few blocks in downtown Los Angeles, not citywide. Most incidents involved property damage, such as burning cars and vandalized storefronts, rather than direct attacks on federal buildings themselves. While the unrest prompted concern for the security of federal property, there is no independent evidence from local reporting that federal buildings were actually breached, set on fire, or directly assaulted in a way that would constitute a “very serious threat” requiring military intervention. The Marines and National Guard were deployed to “protect federal property and personnel,” but as of their arrival, they had not needed to detain anyone or directly intervene in attacks on the buildings.

JD Vance: And the reason I’m here is I just wanted to hear from the law enforcement officials themselves, the state officials, the local officials, but also the federal officials. What’s actually going on here on the ground? 

I think there’s some good news. And the good news is, the rioting has gotten a lot better. But the bad news is, as I heard from everybody, unfortunately, the soldiers and Marines are still very much a necessary part of what’s going on here, because they’re worried that it’s going to flare back up. And what do I mean when I say flair back up? I think it’s useful to take stock of what actually happened in the city of Los Angeles over the past couple of months. 

Fact Check: Vance claimed the events happened “over the past couple of months,” but this is factually incorrect. The protests began on June 6, 2025, following ICE raids, and Vance gave this speech on June 20, 2025. The entire sequence of events occurred over approximately two weeks, not months.

As of June 16, LAPD was on city-wide tactical alert, and as of June 17, curfew was recinded. 

JD Vance: So first of all, to set the table, we have a public official in Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who, over the past few years have actively encouraged illegal migration into this community, have strained public services, have strained law enforcement, and really have offered generous benefits, not to American citizens but to illegal immigrants to break the law, to come into our country and to receive generous public assistance for having done so. 

What has that done? That has created an illegal immigration crisis, of course, facilitated by the policies of the Biden administration. And there is perhaps nowhere where that crisis has fallen harder than in the great city of Los Angeles. And you know, I landed when I saw the city, when I was driving through to come to this FBI building, all I could think about is what a great American city Los Angeles is, and what a great tragedy it is that we have allowed illegal immigration and rioting to destroy, I think one of the great gems of American of the American family. 

Fact check: While both officials have supported sanctuary policies and immigrant rights, there’s no evidence they encouraged people to enter the country illegally. Their policies focused on protecting immigrants already in communities rather than encouraging new illegal entry.

Newsom did urge California universities to declare themselves “sanctuary campuses” for undocumented immigrants after Trump’s first election. However, sanctuary policies are designed to encourage cooperation with local law enforcement by removing fear of deportation, not to encourage illegal border crossings.

California and Los Angeles have provided some benefits to undocumented immigrants. Newsom signed legislation expanding Medi-Cal to undocumented Californians over 50 years old. Los Angeles County approved $3 million for the L.A. Justice Fund to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants fighting deportation.

Newsom has supported immigration enforcement against individuals with serious criminal records. In February 2025, he announced he would veto a bill from Democratic legislators that aimed to restrict state prison officials from cooperating with federal immigration agents. Newsom argued that California’s existing sanctuary law appropriately balances building trust with immigrant communities and allowing collaboration with ICE to remove serious offenders.

Karen Bass has been a vocal critic of recent ICE operations, expressing strong anger at the tactics used and describing them as actions that instill fear in local communities. Her criticism, however, has focused on concerns about community safety and the methods of enforcement, rather than opposing all forms of immigration enforcement.

JD Vance: Now, these guys surrounding me represent the US Attorney’s Office, the Federal Bureau of Investigation. They represent immigration enforcement, and of course, we just met some Marines who represent the Department of Defense. All of these law enforcement officials were necessary because what happened is, in response to the basic federal action of enforcing immigration law, you had local officials and radical left-wing agitators who actually encouraged violence, who facilitated violence and rioting in the great city of Los Angeles. 

What happened here was a tragedy. You had people who were doing the simple job of enforcing the law, and they had rioters egged on by the governor and the mayor, making it harder for them to do their job. That is disgraceful, and it is why the President has responded so forcefully what happened in Los Angeles. Number one, because we’ve got to enforce our borders and get so many of these criminals out of our country to begin with. And number two, when you have violent agitators who make it impossible for the law enforcement to do their job, it is necessary to protect them and to defend them. 

Fact Check: There is no independent evidence that California Governor Gavin Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass encouraged or facilitated violence or rioting. Both officials have strongly denied these allegations. Mayor Bass explicitly called Vance’s remarks “pure lies” and stated that city officials worked to keep the peace, imposed curfews, and managed the situation with local law enforcement. Newsom and Bass both criticized the Trump administration’s deployment of federal troops, arguing it escalated tensions rather than reduced them.

The LAPD and other agencies responded with crowd control measures, and the city imposed curfews to restore order.

LAPD reported 10 officers were injured in the protests in Los Angeles. Reporters Without Borders reported 31 attacks on journalists, 27 from law enforcement.

LAPD reported 575 arrests, the vast majority were curfew and failure to disperse violations. 

JD Vance: We have to remember that the Friday that the riots started before there was ever a single National Guardsman, before the President of the United States had sent in additional federal resources, you had law enforcement officers who were being captured and beaten by violent mobs egged on by Gavin Newsom and other officials. It was necessary to send the National Guard to stop that process, to bring some order back to this great city, and to make it possible for the people’s president to enforce the people’s immigration law. 

Fact Check: CBS News Los Angeles conducted a fact-check of Vance’s specific claim that “there were law enforcement officers who were being captured and beaten by violent mobs, egged on by Gavin Newsom and other officials.” Their investigation found that LAPD, LASD, the FBI and the CHP officials could not point to any specific examples of law enforcement officers being captured and beaten.

JD Vance: That’s why we’re here. That’s why these guys are standing beside me. That’s why we have close to 5000, 5000 soldiers and Marines from the Department of Defense. It’s because we’ve got to enforce the law. The president takes that very seriously. I’m happy to take a few questions, but before I do, I just want to send a message to all of the law enforcement, local, state and federal, who, frankly, I think, are suffering from a bit of a morale problem because they’ve had the local government in this community tell them that they’re not allowed to do their job.

I just want to let you know, from the President, the Vice President on down this administration stands with you. We’re grateful for the job that you do every single day. We know that we wouldn’t have a border were it not for your hard work and for your efforts. And we’re going to keep on fighting for you and keep on standing with you every step of the way. 

I heard today, border patrol officials tell me that they feel like the local government is sticking violent mobs on them when they go out to the community to enforce the nation’s immigration laws. Can you imagine what it’s like to be a federal official doing your job, doing the job the President of the United States ordered you to do, and have a mob come after you for following orders and for enforcing the American people’s laws? 

Fact check: There were documented confrontations between protesters and federal immigration agents in several Los Angeles County locations, including Bell, Maywood, and Paramount. Protesters vandalized Border Patrol vehicles, slashed tires, smashed windows, and in at least one case, a civilian rammed and totaled a federal vehicle. One suspect was arrested for vehicular assault as a crowd formed and slashed additional tires. 

Many communities, especially in immigrant-heavy neighborhoods, have worked to protect their neighbors from masked ICE agents who have sought to kidnap people in their homes, at work and in entertainment venues. Videos show neighbors circling the victim or ICE agents to protect the immigrant or US citizen, at times, from undue arrest. They’ve also made sure immigrants know their rights. 

JD Vance: I think it’s disgraceful that we’ve ever gotten to this place in this country, but thank God we’ve got a president and an administration that is pushing back against lawlessness. 

Fact Check: President Trump has been convicted of 34 felonies and was found liable for sexually abusing E. Jean Carroll. He’s also pardoned drug lords, insurrectionists, and political allies, including individuals convicted of serious federal drug crimes, leaders of violent gangs, and more than 1,500 people charged or convicted for their roles in the January 6th Capitol attack, including members of the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers.

We’re going to keep on doing it every step of the way. So thank you to the border patrol. Thank you to the soldiers and Marines. Thank you to the US attorneys. Thank you to the FBI. Thank you to all of you for doing what is necessary to enforce the laws of the American people. We are grateful to you, and we’ll keep on fighting for you. Now take a few questions.

Reporter:

Would you say that Gavin Newsom is endangering law enforcement here in California, and what

should he be doing if he was protecting them? 

JD Vance: Look, I would absolutely say that Gavin Newsom is endangering law enforcement. The law enforcement officials themselves tell me as much that when they go out. Let’s say you have a border patrol official who needs to go out and arrest somebody, maybe a violent criminal, who is also an illegal alien. When that border patrol agent goes out to do their job, they said, within 15 minutes of them trying to do their job, they have protesters, sometimes violent protesters, who are in their face, obstructing them, preventing them from doing their job and endangering their lives. Why do they have that? Because those people have been egged on by local officials, Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, by treating the city as a sanctuary city have basically said that it is open season on federal law enforcement. They have treated Border Patrol and border enforcement as somehow an illegitimate force, instead of what they are, which is the American people’s law enforcement trying to enforce the American people’s laws. 

Fact Check: Los Angeles and California’s sanctuary policies are intended to limit local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, not to obstruct or attack federal officers. These policies aim to build trust between immigrant communities and local law enforcement, not to legitimize violence against federal agents. No evidence supports the claim that sanctuary policies have made it “open season” on federal law enforcement. 

JD Vance: So when Gavin Newsom encourages violence and rioting, when he encourages people to get in the face of our great border patrol officers, he is absolutely endangering the lives of federal enforcement. He’s absolutely endangering the lives of mothers and daughters and fathers and sons who have been sent here to do a simple thing, enforce the law. 

Fact Check: No independent evidence supports the claim that Newsom or Bass encouraged violence against law enforcement. Both officials have publicly denounced violence and called for peaceful protest. Mayor Bass stated she wanted peaceful demonstrations and condemned violence, while Newsom criticized federal enforcement sweeps as reckless and cruel, but did not call for or condone violence.

JD Vance: And thank God they’re willing to do it, despite the fact that the local leadership of this community has made it harder on them and is in fact endangered their lives as they go about to do their important work.

Reporter:

Your reaction to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals their decision yesterday. Just want to get your reaction to that.

JD Vance: Yeah, well, it’s interesting that for the past couple of weeks, Gavin Newsom has said that there’s an illegitimate effort to send federal resources to secure a city that he refuses to secure, and what the Ninth Circuit said yesterday is that that was a completely legitimate and proper use of federal law enforcement. 

Fact Check: The attached Ninth Circuit order (25-3727-1.pdf) does not say the deployment was “completely legitimate and proper.” Instead, the court allowed the deployment to continue while the appeal is pending, finding that the President likely acted within his authority, but reserving a final decision for later. 

Here’s what actually happened:

• The Ninth Circuit granted a stay of a lower court order that had blocked the deployment of the California National Guard by President Trump.
• The court found that the President likely acted within his statutory authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406(3), which allows the President to federalize the National Guard when regular forces are unable to execute the laws of the United States.
• The court emphasized that its review was “highly deferential” to the President’s judgment in such matters.
• The Ninth Circuit did not issue a final ruling on the merits of whether the deployment was lawful; it only found that the federal government had made a “strong showing” that it would likely prevail on appeal and that the stay should be granted while the case proceeds.
• The order also noted that the facts presented, including significant violence and interference with federal officers, provided a “colorable basis” for the President’s invocation of emergency authority.

JD Vance: The president has a very simple proposal to everybody in every city, every community, every town, whether big or small, if you enforce your own laws and if you protect federal law enforcement, we’re not going to send in the National Guard because it’s unnecessary. But if you let violent rioters burn Great American Cities to the ground, then, of course, we’re going to send federal law enforcement in to protect the people the president was elected to protect. And I think what the Ninth Circuit said very clearly is when the President makes a determination that you’ve got to send in certain federal officials to protect people, that determination was legitimate, and the President is going to do it again if he has to, but hopefully it won’t be necessary. 

Fact Check: Trump has been interested in using the military during protests in the past. 

During the nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd in 2020, Trump was eager to deploy the military to suppress unrest. According to senior national security advisors at the time, Trump was strongly in favor of using the military but was ultimately talked out of it due to concerns that it would be seen as martial law and an overreach of presidential authority. Trump later expressed regret about not deploying troops in 2020, stating in 2025, “I’ll never do that again. If I see problems brewing, I’m not going to wait two weeks.”

Throughout his presidency and campaign events, Trump has repeatedly advocated a militarized response to civil unrest, especially in cities governed by Democrats. He has characterized protesters as “paid insurrectionists” and “people who hate our country,” and has positioned the military as a tool to restore order and deter dissent.

JD Vance: We don’t want to send these great Marines to cities like Los Angeles. We only do it if we have to to protect federal property and to protect the lives of our great law enforcement folks. Democratic groups who are releasing the addresses of ICE agents in hotels around here. Well, you know, it just drives home. I was actually shocked to hear this, and I didn’t realize this until I was in the command center earlier talking to some of these great officials that often times you have far left agitators who are posting the names, the addresses, even the family members of some of our law enforcement in an effort to harass them, antagonize them and even threaten their lives. 

Fact Check: There have been documented reports of ICE and Border Patrol agents’ personal information being posted online—a practice known as “doxxing.” Federal agencies have acknowledged an increase in such incidents, and officials have stated that this has led to harassment of agents and their families. These actions are typically intended to intimidate or pressure law enforcement personnel involved in immigration enforcement.

JD Vance: And what do I take from that? What I take from that is that you have a very small group of people who are so against the idea of border enforcement that they’re willing to threaten and endanger the lives of their fellow Americans who are enforcing the law. And something else I take from it is that Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass have got to stop this craziness. 

Every single law enforcement officer I talked to today, every single one of them said they feel like the local leadership, the mayor and the governor, are encouraging these far left agitators. What is the justification for this? What is the reason for this? There is a broad bipartisan consensus that we ought to have border enforcement and we ought to enforce our nation’s laws. So why do you have far left agitators egged on by local officials who encouraging these agitators to harass and to threaten our border patrol? You have it because of a lack of common sense. These people need to be stopped. These people need to be told that if you threaten a law enforcement officer, you’re going to go to prison for it. 

And that’s exactly what the Trump administration , that’s the message that we’re sending.

But look, we could do so much better and we could have such an easier pathway for these federal law enforcement officers if the local leadership wasn’t egging this on, and I think that’s the great tragedy.

What I see here today is the great tragedy when a mayor and a governor encourages their  citizens to harass and endanger the lives of our police officers and our law enforcement officers. It’s heartbreaking to see, and thank God we’ve got great people who are willing to persevere despite it.

Reporter:

Another question, Mr. Vice President. There’s been back and forth about whether, uh, raids will be going on in agricultural businesses and restaurants. Uh, could you tell us if that’s going to continue or not?

Vance:

Well, the President’s made two points on this that I think are very worth, um, emphasizing. Number one, if you are in this country illegally, you are at threat of deportation because that’s what it means to enforce the country’s laws. If you’ve come here illegally, the policy of the Trump administration is that you shouldn’t be here.

Fact Check: According to Aaron Reichlin-Melnick of American Immigration Council, ICE’s own data, approximately 83.6% of people detained by ICE in FY 2025 were classified as “No ICE Threat Level,” while only 7.6% were classified as “High Threat”. 

CNN‘s examination of internal ICE records found that more than 75% of people booked into ICE custody in fiscal year 2025 had no criminal conviction other than immigration or traffic-related offenses, and less than 10% were convicted of serious crimes like murder, assault, robbery or rape. 

Similarly, Reuters reported that unpublished ICE statistics show people with criminal convictions of any type made up only a small fraction of those detained, with the number of people booked into immigration detention solely for immigration violations jumping eight-fold since Trump took office. 

The Guardian found an 807% increase in arrests of migrants with no criminal record from January to June 2025, while arrests of people with some past criminal charges or convictions rose only 91%. Immigration researcher Austin Kocher noted that nearly a third of all people held in ICE detention now have no criminal history, up from 6% in January.

JD Vance: You should go back and then come through proper channels, if you so desire. But the President has also said that he wants to focus our critical and and and short supply law enforcement resources on going after the really bad guys, on the violent criminals, on the rapists, on the drug cartel members.

Fact Check: Immigrants who have gone through the proper channels, whether with a VISA or documented immigration, have been detained by ICE and deported. Immigrants are actually being taken while checking in with immigration authorities. 

JD Vance: We’ve still got a lot of those people in our country, and that’s where the president wants to focus law enforcement resources, and that’s what he’ll continue to do.

Reporter: Democrat lawmakers who keep getting handcuffed, the New York Times just did a story, they keep getting handcuffed, suggesting that they’re the Trump administration is cracking down on Democrats. Can you comment on that?

JD Vance: Well, I was hoping José Padilla would be here to ask a question, uh, but unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t the theater. And that’s all it is. You know, I think everybody realizes that’s what this is. It’s pure political theater. These guys show up, they want to be captured on camera doing something.

Fact check: Vance incorrectly referred to Senator Alex Padilla, who was forcibly removed from a news conference held by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem in Los Angeles. Padilla was handcuffed by officers as he attempted to speak out about the immigration raids that have sparked protests across California and the nation.

JD Vance: They want to be able to go back to their far left groups and to say, ‘Look me, I stood up against border enforcement. I stood up against Donald Trump,’ but all they’re really standing up for is for drug cartels who are run rampant over our country and sex traffickers to be able to continue to traffic little kids into our country.

Fact Check: While Illinois Democratic representatives were denied entry to a Broadview immigration facility, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson was allowed to tour the Chicago ICE Field Office on the same day. Here is a list of members of Congress who have recently been denied access to ICE detention centers or facilities while attempting to conduct oversight, based on the latest reporting:

California

• Rep. Norma Torres (D-Pomona)
• Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles)
• Rep. Judy Chu (D-Monterey Park)
• Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) (forcibly removed and handcuffed at a DHS news conference)

Illinois

• Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Illinois)
• Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Illinois)
• Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-Illinois)
• Rep. Danny Davis (D-Illinois)
• Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Illinois)

New Jersey

• Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-New Jersey) (faced assault charges after an altercation with officers outside a detention center in Newark)

New York

• Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-New York)
• Rep. Dan Goldman (D-New York)

Mississippi

• Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-Mississippi) (ranking member, House Homeland Security Committee; has publicly criticized the policy and reported being denied access)

JD Vance: That’s what you’re doing when you stand against border enforcement. So, I think these guys, we ought to laugh ’em outta the building. We ought to call them out for doing what they’re doing, which is grandstanding, and if they want to work seriously on border enforcement and on keeping their community safe, the Trump administration’s door is wide open, but they’re not doing that.

They’d love the grandstanding. They hate law enforcement because they hate the idea of the United States of America having a border. It’s a disgrace, but it is what it is. We’ll do one more question.

Reporter:
Uh, just another thing. Do you think that the admi — administration has been too aggressive with, uh, de — the deportation efforts like our non-criminals getting caught up in the dragnet as well?

Vance:
No. Look, I don’t think that we’ve been too aggressive at all. I mean, first of all, any time that a mistake has been made, we correct that mistake very quickly. But the unfortunate reality is that Joe Biden let in 15 to 20 million illegal aliens into this country. And there is no way for us to actually get those unlawful, illegal immigrants outta the United States of America without some serious law enforcement.

Fact Check: U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded about 10.8 million border encounters nationwide from FY2021 through FY2024, with about 8.7 million at the Southwest border. However, “encounters” do not equal admissions—many people are encountered more than once, and a substantial portion are expelled or removed.

FactCheck.org reports that, of the millions of encounters, about 2.5 million people have been released into the U.S. during Biden’s presidency, while 2.8 million have been removed or expelled. There are also estimates of 1.6 to 2 million “gotaways” (people who entered without being apprehended).

The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), a group that advocates for lower immigration, estimates that as of March 2025, there are about 18.6 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S., up from their estimate of 16.8 million in June 20234. However, this number includes people who may have been in the U.S. for many years, not just those who arrived under Biden, and FAIR’s methodology is broader than most other estimates.

Other researchers, including Cato Institute immigration analyst David Bier, estimate that the net increase in the unauthorized immigrant population under Biden is about 5.5 to 6 million.

JD Vance: And that’s what we’ve been trying to do. It’s not too aggressive. It’s not, you know, not aggressive enough. It’s just the right approach to make sure that we’re enforcing our country’s border laws. We have to remember, 100,000 Americans die of fentanyl overdoses brought in by the Mexican drug cartels. We’ve got a terrible sex and human trafficking problem because of what these cartels are doing at the southern border.

Fact Check: In 2022, fentanyl was responsible for 73,654 deaths in the US, which was more than double the number of deaths from 2019. Fentanyl was involved in over half of all drug overdose deaths since 2019, and by 2022, it was the underlying cause of nearly 70% of drug overdose deaths.

In the second half of 2023, opioid overdose deaths, including those from fentanyl, started to decline. By December 2023, opioid deaths were 20% fewer than in December 2022. Overdose deaths involving opioids decreased from an estimated 84,181 in 2022 to 81,083 in 2023. The most recent data shows a substantial decline in overdose deaths. Between July 2023 and July 2024, drug overdose deaths in the United States fell by 17%. This 17% decrease is the largest ever seen in the United States.

From 2013-2017 fentanyl seizures were low. In 2018, CBP seized 745 kilograms of fentanyl. By 2019, seizures jumped to 1,208 kilograms, representing a 62% increase from the previous year. By mid-year 2020, CBP had already seized 1,208 kilograms of fentanyl, matching the total for all of 2019.

In 2023, DEA seized nationally more than 77 million fentanyl pills and nearly 12,000 pounds of fentanyl powder, which amounts to more than 386 million deadly doses of fentanyl prevented from reaching consumers.

About 21,148 pounds of fentanyl were seized at the Mexican border in fiscal year 2024, accounting for roughly 96.6% of the total. The amount seized at the southern border in FY 2024 was down from 26,718 pounds in FY 2023. 

There was a significant increase in fentanyl seizures under the Biden administration. In the first five months of FY 2024 alone, over 13,000 pounds of illicit fentanyl were seized by U.S. 

Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI). CBP has seized more fentanyl in the last two fiscal years than in the previous five fiscal years combined. 

JD Vance: The President deserves great credit because after 45 days, you saw illegal border crossings draw to a small fraction, illegal border crossings down over 99% under President Trump’s leadership. But unfortunately, because Joe Biden was president for four years, we’ve got a lot of bad people in the United States of America that we’ve gotta do the job of getting out of our country.

Fact check: The claim of “over 99%” is accurate only for certain corridors or “gotaway” statistics, not for the overall total of border encounters, which is down 93%.

JD Vance: That’s what these guys are doing. We ought to support them, and we ought to have local leadership that empowers them to do their job of making Americans safer. Instead, Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass, they’ve decided to go to war against the people trying to keep our community safe. That’s a disgrace, that’s a terrible commentary on their qualities as leaders, but the Trump administration is gonna keep on standing for the American citizens and for American law enforcement.

Thank you all. Great to be here, and thank you to you guys.