White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt hit back at celebrity attacks on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after they flared during Sunday’s Grammy Awards, arguing Hollywood stars are unfairly vilifying federal agents while insulated from the consequences of illegal immigration.
“I think it’s very ironic and frankly sad to see celebrities who live in gated communities with private security, with millions of dollars to spend protecting themselves, trying to just demonize, again, law enforcement, public servants who work for the United States government to enforce our nation’s laws,” Leavitt said Tuesday in an outdoor gaggle with the media.
Some of the music industry’s biggest stars used the Grammys to spotlight their criticisms of and animosity towards the Trump administration and ICE Sunday evening, including singers such as Justin and Hailey Bieber, Kehlani, Joni Mitchell, Carole King and Brandi Carlile wearing “ICE out” pins.
“No one is illegal on stolen land,” pop singer Billie Eilish, for example, said while accepting a Grammy. “I feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting. Our voices really do matter, and the people matter.”
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“And f— ICE, that’s all I’m gonna say, sorry,” she added.
Leavitt continued Tuesday that celebrities were notably silent under the Biden administration, despite a spiraling immigration crisis and high-profile crimes such as the murders of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray at the hands of illegal immigrants.
“The previous administration allowed an invasion of our nation’s borders and allowed innocent women and girls like Jocelyn Nungaray and Laken Riley to be killed and raped and murdered at the hands of people who should have never been in our country in the first place,” she continued.
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“Now you have law enforcement who are simply trying to do their jobs to remove violent predators like those who took the lives of innocent Americans. There was no uproar from Hollywood and the elitist crowd at the Grammys then. But there is now, and I think that speaks to the unfortunate irony that we’re seeing in Hollywood.”
Democrats and celebrities have increasingly spoken out against the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigrants in recent weeks, most notably since the start of the new year when federal law enforcement converged on Minnesota’s Twin Cities amid a sweeping fraud investigation.
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Two Americans were shot and killed by federal law enforcement in separate events in January, heightening condemnation from Trump critics who described the deaths as “murder” at the hands of the government.
Department of Homeland Security chief Kristi Noem also previously responded to anti-ICE rhetoric from celebrities at the Grammys, telling Fox News Digital Monday that she wished they knew “what wonderful, amazing people our ICE officers are.”
“Their families live there and that’s their neighbors they are protecting by getting dangerous criminals off the streets,” Noem continued. “They are going after those murderers and rapists, people that are trafficking drugs, and protecting America.”
Fox News Digital’s Nora Moriarty contributed to this report.
