Overview
- Internal DHS emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request by American Oversight and shared with the Los Angeles Times show then‑acting general counsel Joseph Mazzara urging agents to hit protesters and arrest those who could not flee.
- The watchdog received two versions of the records, including one marked as intended for withholding and another that redacted Mazzara’s most contentious line.
- The email thread grew out of DHS lawyers’ work on California’s lawsuit challenging President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, which included a draft declaration from an ICE field office leader backing the use of troops.
- A separate June 19 order from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals described protesters throwing objects, pinning down officers, and using large dumpsters as a battering ram at a federal building, matching the incident referenced in the emails.
- Civil‑liberties advocates and a former top ICE lawyer said the remarks encourage unlawful force and risk misleading front‑line officers, DHS did not comment, and Mazzara later rose to CBP deputy commissioner before reportedly moving with Kristi Noem to a State Department post.