Vice President JD Vance departs a meeting with House Republicans at the United States Capitol as Republicans seek to pass interim spending bill that would keep federal agencies funded through Sept. 30 on Tuesday, March 11, 2025.
Los Angeles, California – In a visit fraught with confrontation, Vice President JD Vance used a stop in Los Angeles on Friday to lash out at California Democrats, accusing Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass of encouraging unrest during the recent wave of immigration protests that have roiled the region. The remarks, which quickly drew condemnation, came amid an already tense political climate following weeks of federal immigration raids and clashes between demonstrators and law enforcement.
Speaking at a federal immigration operations center, Vance characterized the city’s resistance to Trump administration immigration policies as a calculated form of political theater. “They want to be able to go back to their far-left groups and to say, ‘Look at me, I stood up against border enforcement,’” he said. He reserved particular derision for U.S. Senator Alex Padilla — whom he repeatedly referred to as “Jose Padilla,” a name associated with a convicted terrorism suspect from the George W. Bush era.
“I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here,” Vance said, referencing Padilla’s recent, highly publicized detention by federal officers at a press conference. “I guess he decided not to show up because there wasn’t a theater.”
The misnaming of Padilla, the state’s first Latino U.S. Senator, was widely seen as more than a slip of the tongue. Governor Newsom, in a statement on social media, called the reference “no accident,” noting the clear implication of associating a sitting senator with a convicted terrorist. Padilla’s spokesperson, Tess Oswald, underscored the two men’s past Senate collegiality, saying, “He should be more focused on demilitarizing our city than taking cheap shots.”
The Vice President’s visit follows days of relative calm in Los Angeles, where a citywide curfew was lifted after more than a week of protests, arrests, and property damage following immigration raids. President Trump’s decision to deploy 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Southern California over the objections of local leaders has only furthered the rift between the federal government and California’s Democratic leadership.
Mayor Bass sharply criticized Vance’s claims. “How dare you say that city officials encourage violence? We kept the peace,” she said in a news conference, calling the federal presence a “stunt” that wasted hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars.
Vance ignored calls from Newsom earlier Friday to visit communities devastated by the January wildfires or address stalled federal aid. Instead, he focused on promoting the Trump administration’s hardline immigration stance. As Vance framed the protests as attacks on law and order, his opponents painted his visit as the latest salvo in a broader campaign to politicize immigration and suppress dissent
