FBI chief’s ‘hit a cop, you’re going to jail’ warning sparks online outrage

FBI Director Kash Patel faced backlash after issuing a stern warning to anti-ICE protesters in Los Angeles, cautioning that anyone assaulting cops or taking the law into their own hands would face jail time.

“Hit a cop, you’re going to jail. Doesn’t matter where you came from, how you got here, or what movement speaks to you. If the local police force won’t back our men and women on the thin blue line, we @FBI will,” Patel had posted on X, warning the demonstrators after a wave of surprise immigration raids in Los Angeles on Friday triggered citywide protests, tense standoffs with police, and dozens of arrests.

Social media users took a quick note of Kash Patel’s warning to the protesters and hit back at the FBI chief, calling him out for the federal agency’s different stance taken on the January 6 rioters, with one user saying, “unless you’re doing it for Trump”. Another user accused him of “overrunning an election”.

Most of the January 6 rioters were relieved of charges by US President Donald Trump after he took office for the second time this January.

Trump issued “full, complete and unconditional” pardons for around 1,500 people involved in the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol. The group included individuals convicted of violent acts. The move saw Trump fulfilling a campaign promise within the first few hours of his second term.

The online tirade against Kash Patel’s stern warning continued as another user wrote, “But if you do it wearing Trump merch while rioting at the US Capitol, you’ll get a pardon, right, Kash?” More people joined Patel’s online bashing, with some of them sharing pictures and videos of rioters clashing with police on January 6, 2021.

Ironically, Kash Patel distanced himself from the pardoning of Capitol riots accused during his confirmation hearing as FBI director, saying, “I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement, and I have included in that group specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on January 6”.

“I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement,” he added.

Apart from Patel, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also invited online ire for writing that the anti-ICE protests are “designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from US soil”. Hegseth added, “a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK”.

The Los Angeles raids were part of a broader push by the Trump administration to ramp up deportation efforts nationwide. Trump has vowed record-level removals of undocumented migrants, and White House aide Stephen Miller has reportedly urged ICE to make at least 3,000 arrests daily.