Kamala Harris Says LA Protest 'Overwhelmingly Peaceful' Calls Trump 'Cruel'

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Newsweek

Published Jun 08, 2025 at 9:13 PM EDT | Updated Jun 08, 2025 at 9:23 PM EDT


Former Vice President Kamala Harris defended the "overwhelmingly peaceful" protesters in her home state of California while criticizing President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops as a "dangerous escalation" and "cruel" on the third consecutive day of violent clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.

The protests, which began last week in response to federal immigration enforcement operations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), have escalated into sustained confrontations involving rock-throwing, alleged Molotov cocktails, burning vehicles, and arrests across multiple Los Angeles locations. Newsweek reached out to a spokesperson for Harris and the White House via email on Sunday for comment.

Why It Matters

Trump's administration has pledged to carry out the largest mass deportation in U.S. history and has conducted numerous ICE) raids some of which have swept up individuals with proper documentation. The president announced on Saturday evening that he had authorized the mobilization of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles after reported violence against law enforcement, specifically, ICE agents carrying out deportation raids in the city.

While the raids are following legal directive from federal authorities, protests have erupted amid reports that detainees were being held in the basement of a federal building. ICE denied these allegations, with a spokesperson previously telling Newsweek the agency "categorically refutes the assertions made by immigration activists in Los Angeles." The clashes highlight deepening conflicts between sanctuary jurisdictions and federal immigration policy, as Trump has implemented sweeping changes through executive orders and utilized the wartime Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to expand deportation authority.

Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/kamala-harris-says-la-protest-peaceful-calls-trump-cruel-2082581

---

Link to tweet

Kamala Harris
@KamalaHarris
·
Follow
My statement on what's unfolding in Los Angeles.
A statement from Kamala D. Harris: Los Angeles is my home. And like so many Americans, I am appalled at what we are witnessing on the streets of our city. 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. This Administration’s actions are not about public safety —they’re about stoking fear. Fear of a community demanding dignity and due process. 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. I continue to support the millions of Americans who are standing up to protect our most fundamental rights and freedoms.
7:31 PM · Jun 8, 2025

[Lovie777]

1. I live here as well, not to far from downtown L.A.................

I lived threw the 1992 L.A. riots, the protests are far from that event. shithole musk republicans are extremely violence hateful people who will do anything, even harm and kill the American citizens.

I believe that.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

2. K&R

[Ferrets are Cool]

3. Cruel?? How about fascist, authoritarian or unAmerican?

God, some of us act like we are afraid of offending him and magats. Take the fucking gloves OFF.

[ananda]

4. Thank you. This is nice, victim talk.

We need aggressive, hard-hitting fighters.

How about -- You are wrong, Mr. Trump. Protests
are legal.

I dare you to a face-to-face meeting on the news
show of your choice.

[BumRushDaShow]

6. She took the gloves off during the campaign

and made note that "We are NOT going back".

And the "manosphere", including her own VP selection, threw her under the bus.

[Ferrets are Cool]

7. I am honestly curious as to when Coach Tim threw her under the bus.

Thanks for the enlightenment, when forthcoming.

[BumRushDaShow]

8. ...

Tim Walz: Why We Lost The would-be Democratic vice-president on 2024’s mistakes and 2025’s opportunity.

And of course some ran with that -

Until we DEAL with the benefits of diversity and realize, like Johnson said 65 years ago, that the majority basically doesn't give a shit about the "economy" as long as he is told and believes that he is "better than" someone else, then we will go nowhere.

Opinion

Bill D. Moyers

WHAT A REAL PRESIDENT WAS LIKE

November 12, 1988



WHILE Lyndon Baines Johnson was a man of time and place, he felt the bitter paradox of both. I was a young man on his staff in 1960 when he gave me a vivid account of that southern schizophrenia he understood and feared. We were in Tennessee. During the motorcade, he spotted some ugly racial epithets scrawled on signs.

Late that night in the hotel, when the local dignitaries had finished the last bottles of bourbon and branch water and departed, he started talking about those signs. "I'll tell you what's at the bottom of it," he said. "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you."

Some years later when Johnson was president, there was a press conference in the East Room. A reporter unexpectedly asked the president how he could explain his sudden passion for civil rights when he had never shown much enthusiasm for the cause. The question hung in the air. I could almost hear his silent cursing of a press secretary who had not anticipated this one.

But then he relaxed, and from an instinct no assistant could brief -- one seasoned in the double life from which he was delivered and hoped to deliver others -- he said in effect: Most of us don't have a second chance to correct the mistakes of our youth. I do and I am. That evening, sitting in the White House, discussing the question with friends and staff, he gestured broadly and said,

"Eisenhower used to tell me that this place was a prison. I never felt freer." For weeks in 1964, the president carried in his pocket the summary of a Census Bureau report showing that the lifetime earnings of an average black college graduate were lower than that of a white man with an eighth-grade education. And when The New York Times in November 1964 reported racial segregation to be increasing instead of disappearing, he took his felt-tip pen and scribbled across it "shame, shame, shame," and sent it to Everett Dirksen, the Republican leader in the Senate. I have a hard time explaining to our two sons and daughter -- now in their twenties -- that when they were little, America was still deeply segregated.

(snip)

[IronLionZion]

5. This would not be happening if she was president

[thought crime]

10. Perfect!!!

[Bayard]

9. I'd like to see more public figures like Kamala speaking out

Both Obamas, and Biden, various governors, to name a few. Make it loud--not just on social media.

Although, it would put them at risk of ending up in a gulag. Its time.

[thought crime]

11. Great to hear Kamala !

We need all our great leaders to speak out. And Kamala Harris is a Great leader!