San Diego councilmember labels ICE agents ‘terrorists’ in social media post

A California city councilmember was blasted on social media over the weekend after sharing a photo of ICE agents on Instagram with the word “Terrorists” written in red on top of the agents.

In the photo, which San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera posted to Instagram with the Rage Against The Machine song “Bulls On Parade,” immigration agents appear to be in a parking lot wearing helmets and vests and carrying guns.

“Look at this photo. This isn’t a war zone—it’s a neighborhood in our city,” Elo-Rivera wrote in the post. “In San Diego, they’ve targeted parents dropping off their kids at school, people following the law inside courthouses, and workers just doing their jobs at local restaurants.

“These are federal agents carrying out raids on under the false pretense of ‘safety,'” he added. “This isn’t safety. It’s state-sponsored terrorism. And anyone who cares about freedom—and true safety—should be fighting back.”

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Prior to the post Friday night, Elo-Rivera, who represents the 9th City Council District, shared a series of Instagram stories criticizing ICE action in the city.

“They’ve targeted parents outside schools in my district,” he wrote in one story. “They’ve targeted people following the law at courthouses. Tonight, they targeted hard working folks in South Park and tomorrow it could be anyone in any neighborhood in San Diego. The only way we put a stop to it is by not looking away and demanding that it end.”

In subsequent Instagram stories, he called ICE agents “jackbooted thugs,” “cowards” and “criminals” and said the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) action was “state-sponsored terrorism.”

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After the public rant was shared by LA-based Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin Saturday afternoon, Elo-Rivera jumped back on social media again to double down on his phrasing.

“A Fox ‘News’ correspondent has called attention to my choice of words… I said what I meant and meant what I said,” Elo-Rivera wrote.

He then posted a screenshot from Cornell Law School’s website, which notes there is no universal definition for terrorism, and checked off a bullet-pointed list of “common elements that characterize it” before calling Instagram users “fascists.”

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Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff for policy and a homeland security advisor, took to X to respond to Elo-Rivera’s posts, writing, “We are living in the age of leftwing domestic terrorism. They are openly encouraging violence against law enforcement to aid and abet the invasion of America.”

Elo-Rivera responded by calling Miller “one of the most dishonest and worst people in America,” noting “nothing makes me more confident in my position than knowing he hates it.”

The Instagram posts came just hours after Patricia Hyde, the head of ICE Boston, told Fox News sanctuary jurisdictions are beginning to escalate against ICE. 

Reported incidents include a group of activists trying to free a suspected illegal immigrant who was handcuffed by ICE and a crowd blowing ICE’s cover outside an alleged illegal immigrant murderer’s home.

“I think the lack of cooperation is getting worse and worse, and it’s putting law enforcement lives in danger,” Hyde said.

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Cornell University, Cornell Law School, ICE and San Diego City Council President Joe LaCava did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.

Fox News Digital’s Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.