Vice President JD Vance harshly criticized Democratic officials at the state, local, and national levels on Friday during his visit to Los Angeles, criticizing them for their lack of support for the ICE raids.

Vance on Friday justified the deployment of soldiers in Los Angeles and accused Mayor Karen Bass, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Senator Alex Padilla, whom he called “Jose Padilla,” of not supporting the work of immigration agents during the protests in Los Angeles.

“What I see here today is a great tragedy: when a mayor and a governor incite their citizens to harass and endanger the lives of our police officers and law enforcement officers. It is heartbreaking to watch,” Vance said at a press conference.

The Republican vice president blamed elected officials for the protests against immigration raids, which this Friday mark 15 days, and in which even American citizens have been detained by ICE.

However, Vance called it “good news” that the riots “have greatly improved,” but warned that the California National Guard soldiers and marines assigned to guard federal buildings are concerned that “the situation will return break out.”

Newsom and Bass have argued that violent protests in the city have been limited to the downtown Los Angeles area surrounding the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention center.

On Monday, Bass lifted a downtown curfew after a decrease in arrests and incidents. Still, the Trump administration has vowed to maintain the military deployment in the city, which is limited to guarding federal property.

Vance increased the attack on Democrats at the news conference by getting California Sen. Alex Padilla’s name wrong. “I was hoping Jose Padilla would be here to ask a question. But unfortunately, I guess he decided not to show up because there was no theater,” Vance said.

In 2007, a jury convicted U.S. citizen José Padilla on charges of supporting al-Qaeda after he was initially accused of plotting a “dirty bomb” attack in the United States. He was sentenced to more than 17 years in prison; the sentence was later increased to 21 years.

Vance’s comments, despite the misnomer, were in reference to the incident last week in which federal agents shoved and handcuffed Sen. Alex Padilla after he interrupted a press conference by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.

Padilla, the first Latino elected to the Senate from California and of Mexican descent, said at the time that he sought answers from the secretary after days of demanding them about the raids.

Newsom reacted to the vice president’s comment, claiming in an X message that it was intentional. “JD Vance served with Alex Padilla in the U.S. Senate. Calling him 'Jose Padilla' is no coincidence,” the governor wrote in a message to X.

A spokeswoman for Padilla responded that Vance, as Padilla’s former colleague in the U.S. Senate, “knows this.” “He should be focusing more on demilitarizing our city than on cheap shots,” spokeswoman Tess Oswald posted on X. “Another flippant comment from a flippant administration.”

California Democratic Sen. Adam Schiff also criticized Vance for “mistaking” Alex Padilla.

The military deployment to Los Angeles will cost $134 million, the Pentagon said.

Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom respond to Vance

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, who was not invited to meet with Vance, dismissed his description of what happened in Los Angeles over the past two weeks.

“Unfortunately, the vice president did not take the time to get to know our city and understand that it is a city of immigrants from every country and continent on the planet,” Bass said at a news conference Friday night. “But, of course, he did have to justify hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars wasted on a publicity stunt.”

“How dare he say city officials are inciting violence?” Bass said. “We kept the peace.”

The California governor told Vice President Vance in an X post that since he wanted so badly to talk about Newsom, why not do it in person. He invited him to a debate, telling him to just tell him the date and time.

Vance's visit to Los Angeles, which lasted less than five hours, coincided with the Republican National Committee's annual summer retreat in Beverly Hills. Tickets to a benefit at the Four Seasons, which Vance attended, cost as much as $445,000, according to NOTUS, a nonprofit news group.