In the context of violent and destructive anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles, Cynthia Gonzalez, vice mayor of the Los Angeles suburb of Cudahy, has poured gasoline on the fire by daring gang members to fight and attack ICE officers at work. In the world in which she and many other open-borders extremists live, it is ICE officers working to keep communities safe who are the problem.

In a video posted on social media which she has since deleted, Gonzalez stated: “Not for nothing, but I want to know where all the cholos [a reference to gang members, usually of Mexican descent] are at in Los Angeles. (…) 18th Street, Florencia [a reference to local gangs] – Where’s the leadership at? Because you guys are all about territory … You guys tag everything up – claiming hood. And now that your hood’s being invaded by the biggest gang there is [i.e., ICE], there ain’t a peep out of you.”

“If you’re not showing up right now,” she continued, “trying to help out and organize, I don’t want to hear a peep out of you once they’re gone.” Gonzalez then called upon the gang leaders to get their “members in order,” apparently for a confrontation with immigration enforcement officers. Though she does not explicitly call for violence, violence is kind of the stock and trade of these criminal gangs.

While it is unclear if many “cholos” saw Gonzalez’s video, federal law enforcement certainly did. The FBI soon visited her home and reportedly (according to sources) placed her under investigation. The FBI’s Los Angeles office would not confirm or deny the investigation, but Gonzalez later posted a video confirming that the agency indeed visited her residence. She also stated that she was looking for a lawyer (and hopefully she won’t be asking local gang members for recommendations).

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in a post on X, referred to the open-borders politician’s initial video as “despicable” for “call[ing] for criminal gangs — including the vicious 18th street gang — to commit violence against our brave ICE law enforcement.” DHS added that “[t]his kind of garbage has led to a more than 500 percent increase in assaults against our ICE law enforcement officers. Secretary Noem has been clear: If you assault a federal officer, you will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

One hopes that the department’s message reaches its target audience, because the anti-ICE coalition of pro-illegal-alien and radical left-wing open-borders activists is playing a very dangerous game. Their shrill, virulent rhetoric demonizing ICE has not only led to riots but also emboldened acts of violence by illegal aliens against immigration enforcement officers. For example, in Arizona, the wife of an illegal alien from Iran threatened to shoot ICE agents in the head, and in Nebraska, a Tren de Aragua member attempted to murder a female ICE agent. In the latter case, according to DHS, “the illegal alien threw the ICE agent to the ground, slammed her head into the pavement, ripped off her body armor, and made repeated and physical violent contact. The agent sustained serious injuries to her head and arm.” These are the real-life consequences of treating ICE officers as more criminal than actual criminals while encouraging illegal aliens to circumvent, resist, and otherwise demonstrate contempt for this nation’s laws.