Anti-ICE agitators mistake TSA air marshals for ICE agents, heckle them at Los Angeles-area restaurant

A group of anti-ICE agitators mistakenly heckled three federal air marshals who they thought were U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents eating dinner at a Los Angeles-area restaurant Wednesday night. 

The agents, who are part of the Transportation and Security Administration (TSA), protecting passengers and crew on U.S. aircraft, were dining when a group of people gathered outside Ten-Raku, a Korean BBQ restaurant in the Plaza Mexico shopping center in Lynwood.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told Fox News Digital that the TSA employees were “surrounded and viciously harassed by a frenzied mob.”

“These agitators were incited by left-wing politicians who believe all employees of the Department of Homeland Security should be targeted and attacked for supporting President Trump and Secretary Noem’s mandate from the American people to enforce our nation’s immigration laws,” the spokesperson said. 

A woman believed to be one of the organizers of the protest told Fox 11 that the group thought the TSA agents were “potentially” ICE employees. She then followed a Fox 11 reporter inside the restaurant and told workers not to speak with him. 

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“Yeah, sorry to you,” she said. “Nobody’s going to talk to you.” 

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department was called to the scene to restore control. The TSA agents were escorted out of the restaurant and no one was arrested or harmed. 

“Deputies responded to ensure public safety, de-escalated the situation, and facilitated a safe resolution without incident,” the sheriff’s department told Fox News Digital. 

The agency noted that it doesn’t participate in any civil immigration enforcement activities. 

The TSA agents were seen speaking with sheriff’s deputies outside the restaurant as they were shouted down by the demonstrators outside. 

“F****** goofys,” one woman is heard shouting. 

“We’re TSA,” another woman is heard saying in a mocking tone. 

The TSA blamed elected officials opposed to the enforcement of immigration laws for rhetoric against federal law enforcement personnel. 

“The mob believed these TSA officials were ICE agents,” TSA spokesman Nick Dyer told Fox News Digital. “They were not, but the message to Americans is clear: agitators and politicians who fan the flames of hatred are tacitly endorsing violence against every Department of Homeland Security employee.”

“It is reprehensible, but not surprising, that certain pro-illegal-alien politicians are willing to let our employees be collateral damage in their campaign for open borders. The violent rhetoric that is fanning these flames must stop,” Dyer added. 

After the chaotic scene, a customer outside the restaurant told the local news outlet that immigration enforcement operations are “emotional” but that “there is a place and time for everything.”

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“It happens! You take it out on the wrong people, which, same thing as ICE. They say they’re after criminals, but they’re taking it out on everybody,” the man added. 

Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE, TSA and the Department of Homeland Security. 

Wednesday’s incident wasn’t a one-off. In Minneapolis, where tensions have flared over ICE operations and two deadly shootings involving anti-ICE agitators, a group of software engineers were heckled while eating lunch after they were mistaken for ICE agents. 

The men – all white males dressed casually in sweatshirts and jackets — were eating lunch at Clancey’s Deli when one of them got an alert on an anti-Ice Signal chat telling members that plainclothes agents were at the restaurant, Alpha News reported. 

One of the men, who is politically aligned with the anti-ICE cause, received the message on a Signal chat. 

“My friend was shocked. He’s on the [anti-ICE] side politically. He lives nearby. He’s eaten there before. And suddenly he’s seeing messages saying we’re ICE,” a man who gave his name as Lee told the outlet.

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 Once outside, the men were met on the street with heckles from the crowd. 

“You’re a f—— bootlicker b—-!” one of the agitators can be heard.

“Get out of our f—— neighborhood!” screamed another.