Former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told Jimmy Kimmel on Wednesday that the media is making Los Angeles out to be a "war zone" and argued that the anti-ICE riots are impacting very small portions of the city.
The actor claimed that "maybe 0.001% of the area of Los Angeles has problems" stemming from the ongoing violent demonstrations and said that he doesn't want tourism in the city to suffer because of "what they see on television."
President Donald Trump activated around 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines after violent mobs took to the streets over the weekend, burning and damaging property while some threw rocks and Molotov cocktails at law enforcement.
Schwarzenegger argued that the anti-ICE protests in LA have been overblown by the media and that "maybe 0.001% of the area of Los Angeles has problems." (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images)
Schwarzenegger told Kimmel that he agreed with the late-night host's recent take on the current state of LA, in which Kimmel mocked the media for portraying the anti-ICE protests as "some kind of totalitarian hellscape" and condemned the Trump administration for deporting "people who have lived here their whole lives."
"I totally agree with you, by the way, Jimmy, because they make it out like it is a war zone — the whole Los Angeles — the whole city or the county," he argued. "The fact of the matter is it's maybe like 0.001% of the area of Los Angeles has problems and there's a protest."
Kimmel agreed with Schwarzenegger and took his argument a step further, claiming that "none of Los Angeles is a war zone."
The "Terminator" star then claimed that the anti-ICE protests wouldn't have even happened "if the politicians would do the work," arguing that comprehensive immigration reform has been kicked down the road by both sides of the aisle for decades.
National Guard and DHS police stand guard outside the Metropolitan Detention Center, Wednesday, June 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)
"Democrats and the Republicans — both of the parties — have no interest in solving this problem [comprehensive immigration reform] because they use that to raise money," he claimed. "So what they do is they just keep pointing the finger at each other, and then they're surprised if all of a sudden we are using our middle finger on them."
Schwarzenegger went on to analogize the symbols of the two parties, noting that the Democratic Party is symbolized by a "jackass" and the Republican Party an elephant — which leaves "a pile of dump" wherever it goes.
"And I just get very frustrated, because we send these politicians to Washington to solve the problems, and all they are is — instead of public servants, they’re party servants," the actor asserted. "I think this is really the bad thing about it, you know? It should be public servants."
Fox News' Michael Dorgan contributed to this report.