Blue state sheriff issues stark warning for activists who defy ICE, rips media ‘fear mongering’

A California sheriff is pushing back against the media narrative about President Trump’s deportations across the country and says that those opposing ICE raids both in the media and on the streets will cause people to get hurt. 

“It’s all fearmongering,” Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco told Fox News Digital. “So the reality right now is that the only people that ICE are going after are people who have already been deported for criminal issues. That’s it. The lie that they’re doing raids and that they’re just going through communities, that is an absolute lie spread by activists and dishonest politicians.”

The Associated Press reported last month that volunteers and activists were attempting to disrupt ICE efforts in Los Angeles by warning residents of ICE’s presence with bullhorns and sirens. 

Bianco, who recently announced he is running for governor of California, told Fox News Digital that those who are impeding ICE operations are “guilty of a crime” and could find themselves arrested.

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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco spoke to Fox News Digital about activists opposing Trump’s deportations. (Getty)

“It’s going to get people hurt because the reality is these people all have federal warrants to be deported,” Bianco said. “They’ve already gone through the process. They’ve already victimized us in the past. They’re not here to make a better life for themselves. They were here to victimize us, and a judge has ordered them removed. That’s the only people they’re going after.”

Bianco also warned of the potential danger to the community that impeding ICE actions could cause. 

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Venezuelan migrants deported from the United States arrive at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Maiquetia, Venezuela, on Feb. 20, 2025. (AP)

“It’s going to cause a confrontation with these federal law enforcement officers and people are going to get hurt,” Bianco explained. “Law enforcement is going to get hurt. People are going to get hurt and, more than likely, in some situations, killed, and it is absolutely ridiculous.”

Bianco continued, “All of these people, they don’t even really know what they’re protesting. They’re protesting because they’re believing dishonest politicians, and they’re believing these activist groups, and it’s unfortunate. It’s very unfortunate.”

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ICE and ERO officers detain one of 216 illegal immigrants who have been convicted of drug dealing or drug possession. (Todd Packard/Immigration and Customs Enforcement)

Trump has continued to make deportations a focal point of his immigration plan and his promised border crackdown appears to be influencing groups of migrants looking to enter the United States illegally.

Despite the increase in criminal illegal immigrants being deported, many of them accused of heinous crimes, many Democrat politicians have pledged to defy his orders and refuse to work with ICE.

“The media should be reporting the truth. The politicians should be telling the truth,” Bianco said. “But we know that the only way for these politicians to win is to create this divide. There has to be this emotional divide that separates us from race and with sex and all of these different things, and they believe that that works, and it truly doesn’t, and right now it’s just placing people in danger.”