Vice President Harris is leading the charge in downplaying the riots occurring in Los Angeles over ICE Immigration raids, boasting that the demonstrations have been “overwhelmingly peaceful” despite the downtown district being entrenched in violent protests over the weekend.

The former presidential candidate, who returned to Los Angeles earlier this year after the previous administration ended, said that her opponent in the 2024 presidential election was “stoking fear” about the anti-ICE protests that began on Friday, taking issue with President Trump’s decision to deploy 2,000 National Guard members to the city.

“This administration’s actions are not public safety – they’re about stoking fear. Fear of a community demanding dignity and due process,” Ms. Harris said in a statement she released on her X account, calling protest a “powerful tool.”

“As the LAPD, Mayor and Governor have noted, demonstrations in defense of our immigrant neighbors have been overwhelmingly peaceful.”

The reports from the streets show a different story. Protesters amped up the violence on Sunday night, blocking off a major freeway and setting self-driving cars on fire as law enforcement used tear gas, rubber bullets, and flash bangs to control the crowd. The protests continued throughout the night across the city, leading authorities to declare “unlawful assembly” as anti-ICE raid protestors refused to peacefully leave the downtown area.

The spate of violent unrest continued into the early morning hours of Monday, with numerous businesses downtown vandalized and looted, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

“President Trump didn’t start these riots. He’s not out there lighting cars on fire, hurling projectiles at law enforcement or blocking freeways,” the sheriff of neighboring Riverside County, Chad Bianco, a candidate for governor, said on X in response to Ms. Harris’s statement.

“This statement is an embarrassment and does nothing to diffuse the violent riots taking place across the city,” he said. “The Democrats and their ‘leaders’ own this.”

Other Democratic leaders from the Golden State have also been steadfast in maintaining a narrative that the protests are not violent in nature.

“We are having an administration that’s targeting peaceful protests,” Congresswoman Nanette Barragán said Sunday during an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “The president is sending the National Guard because he doesn’t like the scenes. He doesn’t like the scenes of people peacefully protesting.”

“We haven’t asked for the help. We don’t need the help. This is him escalating it, causing tensions to rise,” Ms. Barragán said of Mr. Trump during the interview. “It’s only going to make things worse in a situation where people are already angry over immigration enforcement.”

Video footage of the violent civil unrest played on the screen while the comments were made by the congresswoman.

Representative Nanette Barragán, a California Democrat, called the Los Angeles riots “peaceful protests” on CNN while the network displayed a literal car on fire, a conservative commentator, Collin Rugg, said on X. 

“Remarkable,” he added.