By the time deputies arrived at a Korean barbecue restaurant in Lynwood, three federal employees had already been shouted at in public for a job they do not perform.
According to reporting by Fox News Digital, the workers were federal air marshals employed by the Transportation Security Administration, not agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, yet demonstrators who oppose immigration enforcement gathered outside the restaurant and confronted them. No one was arrested or physically injured, but accounts from the Department of Homeland Security, local law enforcement, and customers point to a scene shaped by misidentification and deep political anger.
What Happened in Lynwood
In the Lynwood incident, three federal air marshals were eating at Ten-Raku, a Korean barbecue restaurant in the Plaza Mexico shopping center south of Los Angeles, when protesters gathered outside on a recent evening, Fox News Digital reported. The marshals work for TSA, a branch of the Department of Homeland Security that protects passengers and crew on U.S. aircraft.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the TSA employees were “surrounded and viciously harassed by a frenzied mob.” The same spokesperson blamed political leaders who oppose aggressive immigration enforcement, saying, “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.” That is the department’s characterization of the crowd, and there is no public indication that anyone was physically attacked.
A woman described by Fox News Digital as one of the protest organizers told Los Angeles station Fox 11 that the group believed the marshals were “potentially” ICE employees. She then followed a television reporter into the restaurant and told staff not to speak with him, according to that coverage.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said deputies were called to the scene to restore order. In a statement to Fox News Digital, the department said, “Deputies responded to ensure public safety, de-escalated the situation, and facilitated a safe resolution without incident.” The sheriff’s department told the outlet that no one was arrested and no injuries were reported, and it also stated that it does not participate in civil immigration enforcement.
Fox News Digital reported that as deputies escorted the marshals outside, demonstrators continued to shout. In video described by the outlet, one woman can be heard yelling, “F****** goofys,” while another voices, “We’re TSA,” in what the report calls a mocking tone.
Misidentification in a Volatile Policy Fight
The confrontation in Lynwood grew from a basic mistake about who the diners were. TSA and ICE both fall under the Department of Homeland Security, but they perform distinct functions. TSA describes its mission on its official site as protecting the nation’s transportation systems and focusing on security at airports and other transit hubs. ICE states on its website that it enforces federal laws governing border control, customs, trade, and immigration.
In this case, protesters targeted three people whose work is not related to civil immigration enforcement. According to Fox News Digital, the Transportation Security Administration responded by criticizing elected officials who oppose the current immigration policy. TSA spokesperson Nick Dyer told the outlet, “The mob believed these TSA officials were ICE agents. 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.”
Dyer added, “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.” Those comments reflect how TSA leadership is interpreting the Lynwood incident, although the events described that night did not result in criminal charges or reported injuries.
Voices From Outside the Restaurant
After deputies cleared the immediate confrontation, a customer outside the restaurant offered a more conflicted view in remarks captured by local news and cited by Fox News Digital. He said immigration enforcement operations are “emotional” but that “there is a place and time for everything.”
Speaking about the Lynwood incident, the same man added, “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.” His comments underscored two parallel complaints: that protesters had focused on the wrong federal workers, and that federal authorities more broadly cast too wide a net when they carry out immigration enforcement.
A Similar Scene in Minneapolis
Fox News Digital framed the Lynwood episode as part of a pattern. The outlet noted that in Minneapolis, where it has previously reported on tensions around ICE operations and deadly incidents involving opponents of the agency, a separate group of people was heckled after being wrongly identified as plainclothes ICE personnel.
In that Minneapolis case, Alpha News reported, and Fox News Digital repeated, that a group of software engineers, all white men dressed in casual clothes, were eating at Clancey’s Deli when a message appeared in an anti-ICE Signal chat claiming plainclothes agents were inside the restaurant. One of the men, who identified himself as sharing the protesters’ politics, told Alpha News that he received the alert on his phone.
“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,” the man, who gave his name as Lee, told the outlet. After they stepped outside, the men were met with insults. Video cited in the coverage captured shouts including “You’re a f—— bootlicker b—-!” and “Get out of our f—— neighborhood!”
What Is Known and What Is Still Unclear
Across both cities, participants and officials agree on a central fact. In each case, people opposed to ICE confronted individuals who were not immigration agents, based on information that later turned out to be wrong. In Lynwood, an organizer told Fox 11 that the group thought the federal employees were “potentially” ICE. In Minneapolis, Lee said he and his friends were surprised to see themselves described as ICE agents in real time in a protest chat they did not control.
Other details remain less clear from the public record. It is not known exactly how the Lynwood protesters first identified the air marshals as potential ICE personnel, whether any of the demonstrators later learned of the mistake, or whether TSA, ICE, or DHS opened internal reviews of the incident. Fox News Digital reported that it reached out to ICE, TSA, and the Department of Homeland Security for further comment.
What is documented, through the agencies’ statements and the interviews collected by news outlets, is that heavily charged political rhetoric around immigration enforcement can blur important distinctions between different branches of government. When those distinctions are lost in the moment, people who do not actually make immigration arrests can find themselves at the center of confrontations meant for someone else, and others in the same public spaces are left to navigate the fallout.
