The negative portrayal of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents by Democrats is leading to violence in the streets, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned on Thursday after The Daily Wire’s Mary Margaret Olohan asked her about rising unrest.
Leavitt showed a picture of a CNN chyron that read: “Protests Erupt After Federal Agent Shoots Man In Minneapolis.”
“That’s not the story,” Leavitt said.
🚨@PressSec goes OFF on the MSM and Democrats for demonizing ICE agents:
“I would encourage everyone in this room, and I would encourage Gov. Walz and other Democrats who are demeaning law enforcement to sit down and have a cup of coffee with an ICE agent…
The Democrat party… pic.twitter.com/AB7SIjKgdB
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) January 15, 2026
To learn the real story, Leavitt urged Americans to turn to the Department of Homeland Security’s statement.
“This ICE agent was executing a targeted operation against a Venezuelan illegal alien who was unlawfully present in this country,” Leavitt said. “When this ICE agent tried to detain the individual, three more of his comrades came rushing out of the house and started ambushing and attacking the ICE agent. They used a shovel or a broom to smash his face in, and so yes, that agent had to use self-defense and take up his weapon to protect his own life.”
The press secretary reiterated that ICE agents and law enforcement are enforcing the country’s immigration laws while “elected officials are encouraging violence” against “our brave men and women in law enforcement.”
“Democratic governors and mayors” were not the only targets of Leavitt; the press secretary had a fiery exchange with a reporter who brought up Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem’s comment that ICE agents “are doing everything correctly.”
The reporter asked Leavitt, given that Renee Good was shot in the head, how ICE agents could be doing “everything correctly.” Leavitt first responded with a question, asking the reporter: “Why was Renee Good unfortunately and tragically killed?” The reporter answered, “Because an ICE agent acted recklessly and killed her unjustifiably?”
.@PressSec absolutely nukes a Fake News loser:
“You’re a left-wing hack. You’re not a reporter. You’re posing in this room as a journalist… You and the people in the media who have such biases but fake like you’re a journalist — you shouldn’t even be sitting in that seat.” pic.twitter.com/ebZzHj7hPs
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 15, 2026
Leavitt responded, “Oh, okay, so you’re a biased reporter with a left-wing opinion. … Do you have the numbers of how many American citizens were killed at the hands of illegal aliens who ICE is trying to remove from this country? I bet you don’t. Shame on you and the people of the media who have a crooked and biased view.”
She then encouraged Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and other Democrats “who are demeaning law enforcement to sit down and have a cup of coffee with an ICE agent or a border patrol agent.”
“These are great, patriotic men and women who have families who put on the uniform every day and are following our nation’s immigration laws at the direction of their bosses, and again at the direction of the law. They are simply trying to enforce the law and the Democrat Party has demeaned these individuals; they have even referred to them as Nazis and as the Gestapo.”
Leavitt said it is that very rhetoric that is “absolutely leading to the violence we are seeing in the streets.”
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