Politics
WATCH: Former LA County Sheriff Shreds Karen Bass Over ‘Feckless’ Riot Response
Former Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva did not mince words when criticizing the “feckless” response to three days of rioting from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Villanueva, who served as Los Angeles County sheriff until 2022, joined Fox News to discuss the city and state’s riot response on Sunday night. “One word just stuck out right now: feckless,” Villanueva said, adding that the response has been “feckless on steroids.”
“When the governor is insisting all, ‘let us handle this,’ Well, actually, when ICE agents came under attack because they were doing their job, they appealed to local authorities that helped them and they declined to assist. That is both the LAPD and the LA County Sheriff,” Villanueva added.
When mobs of violent rioters attacked federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and later surrounded them in a federal building on Friday, the Los Angeles Police Department failed to respond to the scene for nearly two hours.
“What took place in Los Angeles yesterday was appalling. As rioters attacked federal ICE and law enforcement officers on the LA streets, Mayor Bass took the side of chaos and lawlessness over law enforcement,” Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in a statement.
“Our brave officers were vastly outnumbered, as over 1,000 rioters surrounded and attacked a federal building. It took over two hours for the Los Angeles Police Department to respond, despite being called multiple times. The brave men and women of ICE were in Los Angeles arresting criminal illegal aliens including gang members, drug traffickers and those with a history of assault, cruelty to children, domestic violence, robbery, and smuggling.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell claimed that the delayed response was due to inadequate preparation during a press conference on Sunday night.
Villanueva was unconvinced by that explanation, stating that both McDonnell and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna utterly failed in their duties. “The sheriff is the one who is responsible for mutual aid during in LA County during times of unrest. And what did they do? Nothing,” the former LA County sheriff told Fox News.
“So the ICE agents did what they were supposed to do. They appealed to their federal superiors and they got the help they needed from the national guard that is now federalized. But had the sheriff, and the LAPD chief done their job when they were supposed to, and suppressed the riots. There would not be any federalized troops,” Villanueva continued.
“But that’s not part of this paradigm, this weird bubble that the Democratic leadership in California thinks they can operate under.”
