Los Angeles Police Department officers were called to a Lynwood restaurant after a large crowd of anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) protesters misidentified two Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officers as ICE agents on Wednesday, Jan. 28.
FOX 11 Los Angeles reporter Matthew Seedorff shared an on-scene video Wednesday night, reporting that dozens of protesters gathered outside the restaurant. The footage shows vehicles honking loudly and people blowing whistles outside the establishment.
It remains unclear whether the person who claimed the two TSA officers were ICE agents was a restaurant employee, a patron, or someone who saw them entering the restaurant.
When Seedorff attempted to ask an “organizer” what happened, the woman declined to comment, saying she did not trust Fox. However, there is a distinction between local Fox affiliates and Fox News, which the woman appeared to believe Seedorff represented.
LATEST: TSA workers eating dinner were mistaken for ICE agents, drawing dozens of protesters to a Lynwood restaurant.
We tried speaking with an apparent organizer but received little explanation. pic.twitter.com/5Y6HH0ikqQ
— Matthew Seedorff (@MattSeedorff) January 29, 2026
The organizer then followed Seedorff inside the restaurant as he tried to speak with employees. She began communicating with workers in Spanish and instructed them not to speak with the media.
“You’re not getting nobody to talk to you,” the woman told Seedorff.
It was not immediately known whether Los Angeles Police Department officers arrested any of the protesters.
“I think there’s a place and time for everything,” one man told Seedorff. He added, “People get very emotional, so they easily make mistakes. It happens when you’re taking on the wrong people, which [is] the same thing as ICE.”
Created in November 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks, the Transportation Security Administration is a federal agency responsible for security across mass transportation systems, including airports, trains, and buses. Like ICE, TSA operates under the Department of Homeland Security.
.@RealTomHoman on the Patriots of @ICEgov: “Day after day, can’t eat in restaurants. Day after day, having people spit on you and blow whistles at you. Day after day, having all these threats at you. Day after day, having people trying to interfere with you… They’re human.” pic.twitter.com/Fhrbe6NLsP
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) January 29, 2026
Wednesday’s protest in Lynwood is the latest in a series of anti-ICE demonstrations nationwide. Minnesota has seen sustained protests for more than a month, with tensions escalating following two DHS-involved fatal shootings. ICE agents shot and killed Renee Nicole Good earlier this month after her vehicle moved while an agent was directly in front of it, and another agent had an arm inside the vehicle. ICE and DHS have said the shooting was an act of self-defense and alleged that Good intended to use her vehicle in an act of domestic terrorism.
Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, was fatally shot by Border Patrol agents last weekend. Homeland Security officials claimed Pretti was armed with a 9 mm pistol and “violently resisted” efforts to disarm him, though video footage shows Pretti holding a phone in his hand. Although a firearm was recovered moments before the shooting, footage appears to show an agent running away with the weapon.
Videos showing Pretti arguing and cursing at DHS officials during a previous interaction have gone viral on X in recent days. As of publication, it remained unclear whether federal officials recognized Pretti prior to the shooting.
