Fox News commentator Kennedy on Tuesday skewered California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass for criticizing the Trump administration for using federal officers and members of the National Guard to crack down on people who are in the U.S. illegally.
Kennedy said both politicians are looking to “score cheap points” with their base, but by doing so, they end up siding with “felons and rapists and murderers” who should be kicked out of the country.
The veteran TV personality — who went to college at UCLA and worked at KROQ 106.7 FM — said a lot of people in L.A. “feel protective” of people who “are in the country undocumented, who live in communities and work hard.” She added that “there has to be a better way” of removing dangerous illegal immigrants than is currently underway. Still, she said the two politicians are failing the citizens of Los Angeles and California by failing to do anything about it, beyond criticizing Trump.
“What Karen Bass and Gavin Newsom are doubling down on is ‘They’re going to protect everybody’ and within the ‘everybody’ could be some of the very worst of the worst,” Kennedy said. ‘[Bass and Newsom] have not listened to their constituents who want public safety, and who want felons and rapists and murderers — they want them out of their community.”
To make that happen, Kennedy said “that means you have to set your ego aside for a second and actually govern.”
The former “Friend or Foe?” host’s comments came a day after federal officers and about 80 National Guard members were seen roaming MacArthur Park in L.A.; local station Fox 11 reported no arrests were made on Monday.
Their appearance at MacArthur Park sparked criticism from Bass, who said it was “absolutely outrageous” for immigration officers to be going through L.A.
“It looked like a city under siege. Under armed occupation,” Bass said during a press conference. “To me, this is another example of the administration ratcheting up chaos. It’s a political agenda of provoking fear and terror.”
Newsom echoed Bass, saying on Monday that it was a “disgrace” to see National Guard members used as “political pawns” by the Trump administration.
Kennedy, however, said politicians were criticizing the operation as a way to deflect from the fact that next to nothing has been rebuilt in the parts of L.A. that were devastated by wildfires in January.
“Yesterday was the six-month anniversary of the wildfires, and you have barely a handful of permits issued. You don’t have any construction going on,” she said.
