Vice President JD Vance, visiting Los Angeles on Friday, vowed a continued military presence in the area, despite acknowledging the “rioting has gotten a lot better” in recent days.
Vance visited Los Angeles on June 20 to tour a multi-agency Federal Joint Operations Center and a Federal Mobile Command Center and meet with Marines amid the Trump administration’s continued and ramped-up immigration enforcement operations in the area.
Speaking to reporters following his tour, Vance lambasted Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, accusing them of having “actively encouraged illegal migration into this community, strained public services (and) strained law enforcement.”
“What a great American city L.A. is, and what a great tragedy it is that we’ve allowed illegal immigration and rioting to destroy one of the great gems of the American family,” Vance said.
When asked if he thought the Trump administration had been too aggressive with its immigration enforcement efforts, Vance said no.
“Anytime a mistake has been made, we’ve corrected that mistake very quickly,” Vance said.
Vance arrived in L.A. shortly after 1:30 p.m. on Friday, on the heels of a legal victory for President Donald Trump. An appeals court Thursday evening allowed the president to retain control of the California National Guard troops he sent to the city in response to his administration’s immigration enforcement efforts and subsequent protests over raids.
Trump earlier this month federalized the California National Guard, deploying more than 4,000 troops to Los Angeles.
While advance details on Vance’s surprise visit to L.A. were scarce, he was expected to be briefed by officials from several federal agencies — including the Department of Defense, Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security — as well as LAPD and the California Highway Patrol, according to a pool report. He was also slated to be given a tour of the FBI Mobile Command Center and Building by Akil Davis, the FBI Los Angeles assistant director, according to pool reports.
Ahead of his press conference, he shook hands with Marines from the air station in Twentynine Palms.
Officials for the White House and the vice president’s office did not respond to requests for comment.
Newsom, in a video posted to social media Friday afternoon, implored Vance to meet with victims of the devastating wildfires in Altadena and the Palisades earlier this year.
“It’s also important … that you sit down with the president of the United States, who just a couple of days ago suggested that these American citizens may not get the support that other citizens get all across this country in terms of disaster relief,” Newsom said. “I hope we get that back on track.”
“We’re counting on you, Mr. Vice President,” the governor said.
Trump earlier this week hinted at withholding federal disaster relief requested by California for help with the aftermath of the deadly fires amid his feud with Newsom.
As of Friday afternoon, the governor did not have immediate plans to visit with Vance while he’s in the Golden State, said Brandon Richards, a spokesperson for the governor’s office.
“The governor would welcome the opportunity to meet with the vice president in service to Californians. We’re always open to working together — which makes it all the more disappointing that the White House chose not to engage with us directly ahead of the visit,” Richards said.
“We’ve yet to receive any official notice of the vice president’s trip — which, from what we understand, is focused on a high-dollar fundraiser,” he added.
Immigration backdrops the VP’s visit
Vance’s trip to L.A. comes as the federal government has continued to ramp up enforcement operations and the president has ordered officials to carry out “the single largest mass deportation program in history,” including in L.A.
He swiftly embraced the administration’s criticism of Newsom, Bass and other Democratic leaders in the state.
“In the last few weeks, we all felt the weight of these escalating attacks on our communities, but I know that we’re also here to say, this campaign of terrorizing our communities has to stop, and it has to stop now,” said Mark Ramos, chair of the Los Angeles County Democratic Party.
“If the vice president is here in Los Angeles today, hopefully he will see that Los Angeles is a thriving, functioning city, that our immigrants contribute so much more than they take,” Ramos said. “People just want to work.”
As for the latest debate over Trump’s immigration policies and the president’s use of military troops on city streets, California state officials vowed to continue to fight the Trump administration in court following Thursday’s appeals court ruling.
The governor’s office released a statement saying that although Newsom was disappointed that Trump was allowed to retain control of the California National Guard for now, he welcomed other findings by the 9th Circuit panel of judges.
“The court rightly rejected Trump’s claim that he can do whatever he wants with the National Guard and not have to explain himself to a court,” Newsom said. “The president is not a king and is not above the law. We will press forward with our challenge to President Trump’s authoritarian use of U.S. military soldiers against citizens.”
Protests have calmed considerably in the past week, and on Tuesday, L.A. Mayor Karen Bass removed the dusk-to-dawn curfew she’d installed last week.
Bass on Friday sharply criticized Vance’s remarks about Los Angeles, calling them “utter nonsense” intended to “provoke division and conflict in our city.”
She accused Vance of failing to understand L.A.’s diversity and misrepresenting the city’s handling of recent unrest.
“Unfortunately, the Vice President did not take time to learn about our city,” Bass said, describing Vance’ comments as an attempt to justify “the hundreds of millions” of taxpayer dollars on what she called a political stunt involving the military.
Bass also rejected Vance’s suggestion that state and local officials had encouraged violence, defending the response from local law enforcement.
She said LAPD, Sheriff’s Department, and other local agencies—not federal forces—were responsible for crowd control and kept the unrest largely contained.
“How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,” she said.The mayor further condemned Vance for referring to Sen. Alex Padilla as “Jose Padilla” during his remarks.
“How dare you disrespect him and call him Jose,” she said. “But I guess he just looked like anybody to you. Well, he’s not just anybody to us. He is our Senator.”
Vance’s visit was preceded by U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who made remarks last week during a brief visit to L.A.
That visit was highlighted by the brief detention of U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, who was forcibly removed from a Noem news conference, forced to the ground in a hallway and handcuffed. He was released a short time later and met privately with Noem for about 15 minutes. The senator has criticized his treatment — and the ongoing deployment of troops — in multiple appearances, including on the floor of the Senate.
Vance referred to the incident during his brief press conference on Friday, referring to the senator as “Jose Padilla.”
He accused the California Democrat of interrupting Noem’s press conference for “pure political theater.”
A spokesperson for Vance did not immediately respond to a question of whether the vice president intentionally referred to the senator by the wrong first name or if it was a mistake.
Padilla’s office swiftly lashed back at Vance’s comments.
“As a former colleague of Senator Padilla, the Vice President knows better,” said Padilla spokesperson Tess Oswald in a statement on X. “He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots. Another unserious comment from an unserious administration.”
That prompted a reaction from Vance’s team.
“He must have mixed up two people who have broken the law,” spokesperson Taylor Van Kirk said.
Trump, meanwhile, was scheduled to attend a MAGA Inc. dinner at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club Friday evening.
Staff writers Jeff Horseman, Teresa Liu, Erika I. Ritchie, and Anissa Rivera contributed to this report.
