By The California Post Editorial Board
It has happened again: anti-ICE extremists attacked officials whom they mistook for ICE agents.
This time, at least, the attacks were only on social media.
A video went viral this week from an arrest last Friday in Lynwood. The arrest involved a scuffle between police officers and a 17-year-old suspect in a local jewelry heist.
At one point, an officer appeared to strike the suspect — possibly with his service weapon — before wrestling him to the ground. Bystanders shouted at the police in protest.
The controversy might have ended there, but the social media mob caught onto the video.
One verified account claimed that the video “shows an ICE agent pistol whipping a 16-year-old boy.”
That false claim was reposted over 5,000 times.
Just a few days before, also in Lynwood, an anti-ICE mob, carrying a Mexican flag, surrounded a Korean barbecue restaurant because the activists believed, falsely, that ICE officers were eating inside.
The officers turned out to be federal air marshals who work for the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA).
The TSA officials pleaded with the mob, to no avail. The men had to be escorted to safety by Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department deputies.
These ugly scenes echo similar standoffs in Minneapolis, where extremists have hounded ICE agents — not just to restaurants, but to hotels and even churches.
In one case, the anti-ICE crowd falsely identified a customer at a restaurant as an ICE agent, and surrounded the door. Local customers had to walk through an angry crowd just to escape.
Once the story hit social media, the owner of the restaurant faced violent threats — including some, allegedly, from pro-ICE people who assumed she had tipped off the mob.
These cases of mistaken identity have a real cost. They hurt law enforcement officials who are just trying to keep the peace. And they put innocent people in danger.
Last month, activists interrupted a service at Cities Church in St. Paul, targeting a pastor whom they believed was also an ICE official.
Whether he was or wasn’t, the activists violated the religious freedom of everyone else in the congregation.
The anti-ICE hysteria has crossed all reasonable boundaries of protest. There is a way to express grievances — even serious and urgent ones — without violating the rights and security of other people.
The fault lies at the feet of elected officials who have demonized ICE. The most infamous example is Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, who called ICE a “modern-day Gestapo.”
Our own Gov. Gavin Newsom was forced to backtrack after his infamous social media account, “@GovPressOffice,” called ICE a form of “state-sponsored terrorism.”
LA Mayor Karen Bass used her “State of the City” address this week to encourage residents to protest against ICE. She added that people should protest peacefully, but she still said that ICE — a federal law enforcement agency — should leave the city.
That is irresponsible. Politicians can and should resolve these difficult issues through the legislative process, and the courts — not in the streets.
Innocent people are bearing the cost.
Stop demonizing ICE; you’re hurting innocent people https://t.co/R3OwxdenA0 pic.twitter.com/FKAzeFCK3v
— NY Post Opinion (@NYPostOpinion) February 4, 2026
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