Cities that do not take action to protect infrastructure amid the ongoing illegal immigration-related riots should not expect to be funded by the Department of Transportation (DOT), Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a June 16 post on social media platform X.
“The @USDOT will NOT fund rogue state actors who refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement,” he wrote. “And to cities that stand by while rioters destroy transportation infrastructure—don’t expect a red cent from DOT, either. Follow the law, or forfeit the funding.”
The riots began on June 6 in Los Angeles after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested dozens of illegal immigrants in the sanctuary city as part of an investigation into criminal networks involved in customs fraud, tax evasion, and money laundering. Sanctuary cities are referred to as such because they enact policies to impede efforts by federal agencies to enforce immigration law.
The recent arrests were made as part of the Trump administration’s nationwide crackdown on illegal immigration, particularly focusing on those involved in criminal networks. The protests soon escalated, with police using flash-bang grenades and tear gas to quell the violence. On June 14, widespread protests against the administration’s policies were conducted in Los Angeles and Southern California.
The transportation secretary’s decision comes after incidents of rioters damaging public property and looting stores.
In one video circulating on X, some people can be seen bashing decorative fixtures on the sidewalk to throw the pieces at officers.
Another video shows a fire burning along a sidewalk. The fire was allegedly set by rioters after they were pushed back from besieging a federal building.
In a third incident, some individuals can be seen gathered on a bridge and throwing tinder at police cars to set them on fire, damaging roads in the process.
Multiple businesses have been looted in Los Angeles during the protests, with a video showing looters stealing goods from an Apple store and breaking its glass walls.
Duffy’s tweet was in response to a June 16 Truth Social post by President Donald Trump that ordered ICE officers to “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”
“In order to achieve this, we must expand efforts to detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside,” Trump wrote.
“I want ICE, Border Patrol, and our Great and Patriotic Law Enforcement Officers, to FOCUS on our crime ridden and deadly Inner Cities, and those places where Sanctuary Cities play such a big role.”
Troops on Ground
The federal government has so far deployed thousands of troops, including 700 Marines and 4,000 National Guard personnel, to Los Angeles to maintain law and order.
California officials filed a lawsuit to block the deployments. California Gov. Gavin Newsom alleged in a June 16 post on X that the president was “trying to provoke chaos by sending 4,000 soldiers onto American soil.”
“His plan is clear: Incite violence and chaos in blue states, have an excuse to militarize our cities, demonize his opponents, keep breaking the law, and consolidate power,“ Newsom said in a June 16 post on X. ”It’s illegal and we will not let it stand.”
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy, responded to Newsom’s accusations, saying the governor runs a “Sanctuary State that illegally harbors foreign terrorists and willfully perpetuates a criminal invasion of the United States.”
“The government of California does not recognize, but willfully and maliciously abrogates, the supremacy of federal and constitutional law,” Miller wrote in a June 16 X post.
In a June 17 post on X, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass accused the Trump administration of “waging a war against our own economy.”
“There are entire sectors of the economy in Los Angeles that depend on immigrant labor,” she said.
Miller responded to Bass’s statement in a June 17 X post.
“The Los Angeles Mayor says her economy is dependent on vast criminal lawbreaking and the federal government should ensure vast criminal lawbreaking continues forever,” he wrote.
Trump has said the troop deployment is a necessary security measure.
“If we didn’t get involved, right now Los Angeles would be burning,” he said on June 10. “We are not playing around.”
Talking to reporters on June 11, Maj. Gen. Scott Sherman said the Marines and National Guard personnel in Los Angeles will not be arresting people but only detaining them.
“Strictly for the protection of the federal personnel and the protection of the federal buildings, they’re allowed to temporarily detain and wait for law enforcement to come and arrest them,” he said.
“They do not do any arrest; they are strictly there to detain and wait for law enforcement to come and handle those demonstrators.”
Meanwhile, House Republicans have launched an investigation into Neville Roy Singham, a U.S. businessman living in China, over accusations that he funds protest groups in the United States.
In a June 10 X post, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) said the House Oversight Committee planned on calling Singham to testify about “his funding of a communist group linked to the LA riots and the [Chinese Communist Party].”
