DOJ Launches Probe After Chilling Report On Riot Funding
An investigation is underway to determine who is sponsoring anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots in Los Angeles and other major U.S. cities after a prominent corporation stated it has received requests for assistance.
Crowds on Demand, a California-based firm that specializes in delivering on-demand protest crowds, told Fox News Digital that it had “numerous high-budget requests” to join in the anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles and other locations but rejected them.
A company spokesperson said it declined to get involved in what is happening in Los Angeles because it did “not want to get close to any form of illegal activity, including violence, vandalism, or blocking off roads without a permit.”
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“We receive inquiries regarding practically every major social cause imaginable, and the anti-ICE demonstrations are no exception,” the company said. “The fact that we receive requests does not mean we take them, in many cases, because the budget does not match the ambition.”
The company added it only takes on “impactful commonsense causes both for liberals and conservatives, but always represent(s) the commonsense position.”
“Even organizing peaceful demonstrators around this issue (anti-ICE) could put those demonstrators at risk due to the presence of violent agitators and the difficulty for law enforcement in distinguishing between peaceful and violent activists,” the company said.
Missouri Republican Sen. Josh Hawley, the chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, shared that the committee is sending letters to multiple organizations believed to be behind the funding.
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One of the groups questioned by Hawley and Republican California Rep. Kevin Kiley is the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, or CHIRLA, an advocacy group said to be at the heart of the anti-ICE rallies in Los Angeles.
“Who is funding the LA riots? This violence isn’t spontaneous. As chairman of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime & Terrorism, I’m launching an investigation to find out,” Hawley posted in a statement on X.
Hawley’s letter noted that “credible reporting” has indicated the organization has provided “logistical support and financial resources to individuals engaged in these disruptive actions,” referring to the Los Angeles riots.
“Let me be clear: bankrolling civil unrest is not protected speech. It is aiding and abetting criminal conduct. Accordingly, you must immediately cease and desist any further involvement in the organization, funding or promotion of these unlawful activities,” Hawley wrote.
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The Justice Department is suing the city of Los Angeles over its so-called “sanctuary city” policy, which was approved in the weeks following Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential election victory and prohibits public resources from being used for immigration enforcement.
The DOJ alleges that the city’s rules “interfere with and discriminate against the Federal Government’s enforcement of federal immigration law,” according to the complaint filed Monday.
“The practical upshot of Los Angeles’ refusal to cooperate with federal immigration authorities has, since June 6, 2025, been lawlessness, rioting, looting, and vandalism. The situation became so dire that the Federal Government deployed the California National Guard and United States Marines to quell the chaos,” the complaint states.
In announcing the law’s passage in November, LA’s City Council said the “newly adopted ordinance permanently enshrines sanctuary policies into municipal law and prohibits the use of City resources, including property and personnel, from being utilized for immigration enforcement or to cooperate with federal immigration agents engaged in immigration enforcement.”
According to the Justice Department, the statute prohibits Los Angeles authorities from supporting federal agents, providing information, or blocking their activities, all of which violates the Constitution.
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“Sanctuary policies were the driving cause of the violence, chaos, and attacks on law enforcement that Americans recently witnessed in Los Angeles,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a press release announcing the lawsuit Monday. “Jurisdictions like Los Angeles that flout federal law by prioritizing illegal aliens over American citizens are undermining law enforcement at every level – it ends under President Trump.”
