A top Homeland Security official lambasted Rep. Maxine Waters for “lies” about the peacefulness of the riots and her efforts to force entry into a detention center to meet a detained union leader.
DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News Digital on Monday that access to the Los Angeles detention facility was “temporarily restricted” to ensure the safety of both detainees and uniformed personnel – when Waters hurried toward a group of guardsmen entering a plywood-protected door to the building over the weekend.
The 86-year-old, 18-term Democrat approached the guardsmen saying, “Hello, hello, hello — I’m Congresswoman Waters,” but the last one bluntly told her to talk to “public affairs” and slammed the door.
“As a result, Congresswoman Maxine Waters was denied entry,” McLaughlin said of that exchange.
“The safety and security of DHS personnel, ICE agents, and those in our custody remain our top priority.”
Going on to reference when Waters, D-Calif., hollered at assembled armed guardsmen on the street and asked if they planned to shoot her, McLaughlin said the lawmaker’s efforts could be better used elsewhere.
“Instead of taunting national guard members, the congresswoman should be trying to defuse these violent riots,” she said.
“Elected officials need to tone down their dangerous rhetoric about ICE law enforcement.”
President Donald Trump had federalized the California National Guard, and Waters accused him of not properly informing Gov. Gavin Newsom, in one clip of comments to reporters.
DHS also rebuked Waters’ summary appearance on TV following clips of her various confrontations going viral:
“This morning on CNN, the congresswoman spewed lies that these riots have not been violent,” McLaughlin said.
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“The American people can see with their own eyes the truth. Rioters have assaulted law enforcement officers, thrown rocks, burned American flags, set cars on fires, slashed tires, defaced buildings, and taxpayer-funded property.”
“The violent targeting of law enforcement in Los Angeles by lawless rioters is despicable and Congresswoman Waters must call for it to end.”
Waters had told anchor Wolf Blitzer that “everybody was wondering what happened to” David Huerta, the SEIU leader detained during one of the immigration raids that sparked the violence.
She said she was wearing a congressional emblem on her jacket but lamented that the guardsmen still didn’t allow her in.
She called protests in the immediate area “very small and very peaceful – there was no animosity.”
Waters also expressed concern that the assembled guardsmen were armed, saying that “Trump has instigated all of this.”
“My message to Donald Trump, you are a cruel human being — and you are using the poorest people in the land… to promote your politics,” Waters said separately.
“His ridiculousness has taken over the armed services to celebrate his birthday coming up,” Waters added, referring to the president’s planned military parade to signify the 250th birthday of the U.S. Army – which will also coincide with Flag Day and his 79th birthday.
In a statement on the incident, Waters said she went to the Metropolitan Detention Center to check on Huerta – whom the SEIU said was “caught” in one of a series of ICE raids in Los Angeles County the union described as “a violent sweep.”
Waters also alluded to another viral clip she produced, which showed her taunting armed agents standing in formation in another part of the city.
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“I pled [sic] with the National Guard, which was heavily armed, not to use their weapons against peaceful demonstrators who were simply exercising their rights to freedom of speech and protest,” Waters said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.
“All people deserve to be treated with dignity and due process under the law: Peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations are critical to protecting our constitutional rights.”
“The President of the United States is a cruel, dishonorable human being,” she said, adding that he and others would “just as soon” like to see agents “shoot somebody down.”
When filmed confronting National Guardsmen on the street, Waters shouted, “You’re gonna shoot an elected official? If you shoot me, you better shoot straight.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Waters’ office for additional comment, but she could not immediately be reached.
