LAPD Chief Admits Cops Were ‘Overwhelmed,’ Spars With Lib Council Members Over Riots, ICE

Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell admitted that his department was “overwhelmed” by left-wing rioters in the city, and sparred with liberal council members urging McDonnell to illegally tip them off to incoming federal immigration raids.

McDonnell acknowledged that his department faced significant risk from the rioters during a press conference on Sunday. “Tonight, we had individuals shooting commercial-grade fireworks at our officers. That can kill you,” he told reporters. “We are overwhelmed as far as the number of people out there engaged in this type of activity. … There is no limit to what they are doing to our officers.” 

LAPD Chief Jim McDonnell: “We are overwhelmed … There is no limit to what they are doing to our officers.”pic.twitter.com/m2QFt6ToGT

— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) June 9, 2025

Further, on Tuesday, the chief told Los Angeles City Council members that he would absolutely not tip them off to federal raids to deport illegal immigrants.

“You’re asking me to warn you about an enforcement action being taken by another agency before it happens? We can’t do that,” McDonnell responded to Councilmember Imelda Padilla, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The chief said such a tip-off would be obstruction of justice, adding, “That would be completely inappropriate and illegal.”

City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson also went after McDonnell, telling him it was wrong to suggest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were LAPD “law enforcement partners.”

“If we know somebody is coming here to do warrant-less abductions of the residents of this city, those are not our partners,” Harris-Dawson said. “I don’t care what badge they have on or whose orders they’re under. They’re not our partners.”

Following the meeting, McDonnell emphasized that the LAPD needs to cooperate with the feds on several issues, even if the department doesn’t on immigration per sanctuary laws.

“All of the crimes we investigate potentially could be in partnership with [federal agencies],” he said. “It is a partnership, and without that partnership, we wouldn’t be able to go into the World Cup, the Olympics … that require that we work with federal, state and local partners.”

Soon after President Donald Trump was elected in 2024, McDonnell said his department was working with consulate offices for Mexico and other Central American countries to protect illegal immigrants from coming federal deportation raids.

Enforcement of immigration laws would be “undercutting our primary mission, which is to be able to build public trust to work with every member of all of our communities, to be able to have hope that people will come forward if they were a victim of crime, a witness to a crime,” McDonnell told the Associated Press at the time.

The chief also took heat from liberal council members for using rubber bullets and making dozens of arrests. Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martínez, for example, told McDonnell, “We have to be mindful of the tactics being used by some LAPD members that is adding to the escalation.”

“Just like a few protesters can take away from the messaging, the same thing can be said about LAPD. It overshadows the response,” he added.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez also accused LAPD officers of acting “out of line for the situation.”