Washington — Internal emails show that a lead lawyer for the Department of Homeland Security suggested that federal agents should “start killing rioters and arresting everyone who couldn’t flee” during anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles last June.
The note was in an email chain obtained by the nonprofit watchdog group American Oversight through the Freedom of Information Act and shared exclusively with The Times.
In it, Homeland Security lawyers appear to discuss a June 9 lawsuit filed by California Gov. Gavin Newsom over President Trump’s deployment of thousands of California National Guard troops to Los Angeles.
Under the subject line “California DOD lawsuit,” officials coordinated legal filings defending the Trump administration and included a draft declaration by the Los Angeles Field Office Director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement supporting the deployment of military forces.
The final email in the thread was from then-Acting DHS General Counsel Joseph Mazzara, and it appears he was referring to an incident in which protesters tried to breach a protective line at a federal building.
On June 11, he wrote: “Every time I read about the Ram thrashing incident I am amazed at how barbaric it is.”
Referring to law enforcement as “they”, he added: “When they came in line, they should have started beating the rioters and arresting everyone who couldn’t escape from them. Nobody likes being hit with a stick, and when it starts getting serious people run away.”
The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment.
Mazzara was later appointed Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Politico reported that Mazara one in 10 employees Who followed former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to the State Department after she was fired from DHS this month and given a new role as special envoy to America’s Shield.
The incident of Ram’s beating referred to by Mazzara is detailed in court documents for the case.
Order of June 19 A panel of judges from the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said Trump administration lawyers presented evidence of protesters interfering with federal officers. The order says protesters threw objects at ICE vehicles, “knocked down” several Federal Protective Service officers and threw “concrete pieces, liquid bottles and other objects.”
The order says protesters used ‘large rolling commercial dumpsters as battering rams’ in an attempt to breach the parking garage of a federal building.
Mazzara’s comments in an email thread with other Homeland Security lawyers were delivered to American Oversight with a watermark showing that the agency intended to withhold it. American Oversight also received a version of the redacted documents with that statement.
Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight, said it was not surprising the administration wanted to keep Mazara’s comments under wraps.
He said, “They reveal a level of hostility toward protesters that is deeply inconsistent with the government’s obligation to protect civil liberties – and there is no FOIA exemption that justifies hiding them.”
Kerry Doyle, the former top ICE lawyer during the Biden administration, said Mazzara’s comments show a shocking recklessness about the potential for harm against both the general public and the officers they were hired to protect.
“The email encourages, or at least supports, constitutional violations by operators who should receive legal advice from them to avoid violating the law,” he said. Also, commenting on operational strategy is beyond the scope of his responsibilities, he said.
“He is doing a disservice to the people who are on the front lines, who rely on him and his colleagues to set the standards for what can and cannot be done,” Doyle said. “If you give them bad legal advice, you’re setting them up for liability.”
Noem’s removal comes as violence has surged amid Trump’s crackdown on immigration, including the shootings of US citizen protesters by immigration agents.
Doyle said part of the secretary’s job is to set the tone for the agency so that all employees know what is expected of them. Mazzara’s comments show how this tone has permeated all aspects of the agency, he said.
In December, the president began withdrawing the National Guard from Los Angeles and other Democratic-led cities, after the U.S. Supreme Court cast doubt on the Trump administration’s legal theory of using troops in domestic law enforcement operations.
Last summer’s protests caused significant property damage in a small part of downtown Los Angeles. But a grand jury declined to charge several protesters accused by federal prosecutors of attacking agents, and a Times review of the alleged attacks found that most of the incidents resulted in no injuries.
