White House border czar Tom Homan has revealed alarming new information about recent ICE raids that ignited violent protests in Los Angeles and other cities. Speaking out against claims by California Governor Gavin Newsom and other state officials—who blamed the deployment of National Guard troops for escalating tensions—Homan said the unrest actually began when ICE agents were ambushed in L.A.’s fashion district. Federal agents were reportedly attacked with rocks, hammers, and fireworks, and at one point became trapped inside a federal building surrounded by a hostile crowd. Homan described the situation as dangerously volatile and underscored that the violence preceded any National Guard involvement.

In an interview on Dr. Phil Primetime, Homan confirmed that the raids were part of a larger federal investigation into cartel-linked businesses operating in the U.S. Authorities targeted a warehouse and a retail outlet suspected of engaging in customs fraud, tax evasion, and laundering millions for drug cartels based in Mexico and Colombia. Though he did not name the specific cartel under scrutiny, Homan stressed that this operation is part of a broader crackdown on transnational criminal networks. On the night of the raids, federal agents arrested 45 undocumented immigrants in seven coordinated operations across Los Angeles. One of the individuals taken into custody was a previously deported Mexican national with prior convictions for homicide and burglary. These revelations add new context to the unrest and highlight the high-stakes nature of federal immigration enforcement efforts currently underway.