H.J. Res 516 - Condemning Los Angeles Riots

WASHINGTON, D.C.- Rep. Tom McClintock (CA-05) delivered the following remarks on the House floor during debate on H.J. Res 516 Condemning Los Angeles Riots:

H. J. Res. 516
Condemning Los Angeles Riots
June 27, 2025

Mr. Speaker:

Many Democrats in this house have called the LA riots "peaceful," even while Americans watched as marauding mobs under foreign flags set cars on fire, threw concrete blocks at police, terrorized motorists and vandalized and looted local shops.

The Democrat vice mayor of Cudahey called on criminal street gangs to attack federal law enforcement.

The Democrat Mayor of Los Angeles said that for the riots to stop, the federal government had to stop enforcing federal immigration law. We just heard that same sentiment expressed on this floor a few moments ago.

The Democrat Newsom administration has paid millions of taxpayer dollars to one of the principal organizers of these riots.

I have news for the Democrats. The doctrine of nullification died with the Confederacy. States are NOT permitted to obstruct enforcement of federal law. In a humiliating slap-down of Mr. Newsom, even the notoriously liberal 9^th Circuit court ruled the President has the clear authority to federalize the national guard to restore order whenever state or local officials are derelict in THEIR duty to protect the public and enforce the law.

Remember how this started: ICE agents attempted to execute court ordered warrants on criminal illegal aliens. When a mob intervened, ICE called for local law enforcement. The mayor reportedly stopped them from responding and the Governor did nothing. We saw during the George Floyd riots what happens when leftist officials refuse to counter violent mobs -- American cities aflame, billions of dollars of damage and 19 people killed.

This resolution condemns the violence, but there is something far more sinister afoot that strikes at the very foundation of a constitutional republic -- the rule of law. As Abraham Lincoln told the Democrats long ago, "There is no grievance that is a fit object of redress by mob law."

And this generation of Americans is taking note.

# # #