Protesters drive hours to confront JD Vance during California Disneyland visit

Anaheim, California – While federal immigration agents continue to sweep through Latino neighborhoods in Southern California, Vice President J.D. Vance spent the weekend at Disneyland with his family, drawing sharp criticism from local leaders, immigrant advocates, and even California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Video footage of Vance at the Anaheim theme park, posted on social media by parkgoers and later reshared by the governor, quickly went viral. In a post on X, Newsom wrote: “Hope you enjoy your family time, @JDVance. The families you’re tearing apart certainly won’t.” The post referred to the latest wave of ICE raids targeting immigrant communities across the region—operations that have sparked widespread fear and accusations of racial profiling.

Vance’s office has not commented on the purpose of the trip, but local Republican officials described it as private and non-political. No official events or fundraisers were listed on the vice president’s schedule, and neither the White House nor the Vance campaign has provided further context. Still, the optics are difficult to ignore: a vice president photographed riding attractions in Disneyland while families across California brace for unannounced detentions, often without legal representation or due process.

Protests erupted outside the park on Friday evening, as demonstrators gathered near the intersection of Harbor Boulevard and Katella Avenue. Some drove hours to attend, many waving Mexican and California flags and holding handmade signs. Their message was consistent: while Vance vacations, communities live in fear.

The weekend trip also follows a visit from Second Lady Usha Vance, who stopped at Camp Pendleton on Friday to speak to children from military families about summer reading. Her appearance, though officially unrelated to immigration policy, drew scrutiny from Orange County Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, whose district includes several of the cities most affected by recent enforcement actions.

“There’s a huge contrast between the work we do on the ground — supporting families with food, resources, and hope — and an administration whose policies feel designed to crush the very communities we serve,” Sarmiento said.

ICE operations have intensified across Orange County in recent weeks, particularly in Santa Ana, Anaheim, and Garden Grove. Immigrant rights groups have documented what they describe as patterns of racial targeting, with Latino residents stopped in public spaces and detained without warrants or clear justification.

The Santanero, a local Spanish-language newspaper, reported that Air Force Two landed at John Wayne Airport on Friday evening. Though it remains unclear whether Vance’s travel included any official meetings, his prior visit to California involved a high-priced conservative event at a luxury sushi restaurant in San Diego.

All of this has unfolded while Texas continues to reel from catastrophic flooding and California grapples with legal battles over federal overreach. Against that backdrop, the images of the vice president at the Happiest Place on Earth have only deepened the sense among critics that the administration’s priorities are dangerously out of sync with the lives it’s impacting.