LA Mayor Bass compares anti-ICE protests to Lakers championship disturbance: 'A few knuckleheads'

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81 people arrested amid Los Angeles riots

Fox News correspondent Steve Harrigan has the latest on the unrest in Los Angeles over ICE raids on 'The Story.'

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is pushing back, claiming that anti-ICE protests last year didn't devolve into riots, and likening the vandalism and clashes between protesters and police with the actions of fans after a Los Angeles Lakers championship.

Bass was on the "At Our Table with Jamie Harrison" podcast when she remarked on the federalization of National Guard troops and the deployment of several hundred Marines to the city amid several days of anti-ICE demonstrations. 

While some protesters voiced their anger at ICE lawfully, others set cars, including vehicles belong to the California Highway Patrol and Waymo, on fire and violently fought with police, while elected officials maintained that the demonstrations were peaceful. 

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Karen Bass downplayed the extent of the anti-ICE protests last year that saw rioting and violent clashes with authorities.  (Getty Images)

"Nothing was going on. OK, we have some protests," Bass told Harrison. "You want to know the protests, in my opinion, equaled a Lakers championship."

"You know what happens after a championship right? A few knuckleheads hang around. They're drunk, they start vandalizing things. There was no riot here."

The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union that represents rank-and-file officers with the Los Angeles Police Department, disagreed. 

"We disagree with anyone who characterizes the numerous times these protests turned into riots," the statement from the union's board of directors to Fox News Digital states. "All one has to do is look at the videos of the Waymo vehicles destroyed, the CHP car set on fire, the vandalism of property, looting of businesses and injuries to police officers to call that criminal behavior what it was, a riot."

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A cyclist rides past a burning car during protests in Los Angeles, California on June 8, 2025. Protests broke out across Los Angeles in response to federal immigration raids and the deployment of National Guard troops by the Trump administration.  (Photo by SAHAB ZARIBAF/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images)

The White House also criticized Bass for not acknowledging the violence at the protests. 

"Karen Bass must’ve seen the violent rioters burning cars and decided she wanted to do the same with whatever shred of credibility she had left," White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told Fox News Digital. "All of America saw the violent rioters destroying Los Angeles and assaulting law enforcement officers. Karen’s lies can’t change the truth."

The protests were in response to the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration in and around Los Angeles. Suburbs like Paramount and Compton saw vehicles set on fire, objects thrown at authorities and vandalism. 

The violence prompted President Donald Trump to call in the military to restore order and assist local authorities, prompting a rebuke from many Democratic officials, including Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

Protesters gathered in downtown Los Angeles for several days near the Edward R. Roybal Federal Building and U.S. Courthouse, where local law enforcement fired less-lethal projectiles, tear gas and flash bangs to disperse crowds. 

Cars set on fire in Los Angeles during anti-ICE protests.  (Getty)

Demonstrators responded by blocking a major freeway, setting vehicles ablaze, and hurling rocks, Molotov cocktails and other projectiles at the police, authorities said.

Bass noted that the protests happened in an area that was about 1-square-mile. 

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"That majority of the city didn't even know anything was happening. That warrants 4,000 troops?" Bass said. 

In December, a federal judge ordered Trump to return the National Guard troops deployed to Los Angeles to Newsom's control, ending the federalization used for immigration enforcement and protests.