Stephen Miller has accused Los Angeles of threatening national sovereignty by opposing President Donald Trump’s activation of the National Guard and military to end anti-ICE protests.
The White House deputy chief of staff accused L.A. Mayor Karen Bass—who said Monday that the chaos will not end in the California city as long as ICE is there—of leading an “insurrection” against “one national government.”
“Los Angeles and California are demanding the nullification of the election results, of federal law, of national sovereignty, and of the bedrock constitutional command of one national government,” he said.
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Miller, 39, made his outburst in reaction to a clip from Bass’ press conference on Monday evening.
“We need to stop the raids,” she said. “This should not be happening in our city. It is not warranted... The only thing it does is contribute to chaos. This was chaos that was started in Washington, D.C. On Thursday, the city was peaceful. On Friday, it was not because of the intervention of the federal government.”
Miller disagreed with that assessment.
“The threat being made here by Mayor Bass is explicit,” he posted on X. “The Mayor of LA is effectively saying the mob violence is caused by the mere presence of ICE in the city, and the violence against ICE will not stop unless federal law enforcement is withdrawn from the city. This is the definition of insurrection. LA and CA leadership demand the right to illegally import unlimited foreigners into America, to control America’s entire immigration policy by fiat—and if they are not so permitted, they will allow mobs to target ICE with impunity.”
Miller’s tone matches that of Trump, who said Tuesday that Los Angeles would have “burned to the ground” without the presence of U.S. Marines and the National Guard in the country’s second-largest city.
There were no reports of mass arson in Los Angeles over the weekend or on Monday. However, some demonstrators set Waymo self-driving vehicles ablaze in the street, creating stark images that the Trump administration has seized on.
Bass, 71, is not the only California official in the White House’s crosshairs. Trump has also gone after Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who dared the Trump administration to arrest him for opposing the activation of the National Guard without his request.
Trump-appointed border czar Tom Homan threatened to arrest Bass and Newsom on Sunday if they impeded the work of ICE agents. He partially walked back his statement the following morning, clarifying that they will only be arrested if they physically block an arrest.
“When you cross that line, you put your hands on an ICE officer, or you destroy property or impede law enforcement, or you’re knowingly harboring and concealing an illegal alien, that’s a crime,” he said. “And the Trump administration is not going to tolerate it.”
