Anti-ICE riots force HUD offices to close weeks after ‘Squad’ Dem, Maxine Waters said Trump would close them

Three Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) field offices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City have temporarily closed their doors in the face of violence stemming from anti-ICE riots and protests, HUD confirmed to Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

The temporary closures due to the violence come just weeks after Democrats such as California Rep. Maxine Waters and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib claimed HUD field offices would permanently close due to Department of Government Efficiency efforts, with Waters saying such closures would affect “families and communities across the country who rely on HUD for housing assistance, community and economic development projects.” 

HUD Secretary Scott Turner exclusively told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that liberals’ claims in recent weeks that HUD would shutter field offices were “fake news” while lambasting Democrats for “encouraging riots” that have caused the three offices to temporarily shutter. 

“The left and legacy media spread fake news over false reports that HUD is closing field offices,” Turner told Fox News Digital Tuesday. “Now they’re encouraging riots that have actually forced at least three field offices to temporarily close.”

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“Democrat-run blue states like California are suffering from failed leadership, resulting in record homelessness, unchecked illegal alien crime and, as we’re seeing now on full display, pandemonium, chaos and destruction,” he added. “The American people deserve better. HUD will continue to serve communities in the face of this reckless violence while prioritizing safety and security.”

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Now, three field offices are temporarily closed as riots and protests spiral in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City. Los Angeles has seen widespread riots since Friday, when federal law enforcement officials converged on the city to conduct immigration raids as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign vow to deport the millions of illegal immigrants who crossed the border under the Biden administration.

Other anti-ICE protests have broken out in New York City and San Francisco since the L.A. riots began, which have led to dozens of arrests. 

Fox News Digital obtained more than a dozen images showing graffiti strewn across a federal building in downtown L.A., which is home to a HUD field office. HUD’s satellite office is located just blocks from City Hall, where some of the violent riots have unfolded.

Media outlets earlier in 2025 ran headlines that the Trump administration had plans to shutter dozens of HUD field offices across the country, which was reported as a potential violation of federal law as HUD must be represented in each state. Turner said on X on Tuesday that his department “hasn’t closed a single field office.” 

Waters led a group of Democrat lawmakers and anti-DOGE protesters in March in an attempt to enter HUD headquarters and hand-deliver a protest letter to Turner that demanded “answers on efforts to decimate federal housing programs.”

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Waters, and a handful of other House Democrats, were permitted to enter HUD headquarters, while the California Democrat warned they would “stay all night” until they met with Turner, Breitbart News exclusively reported in March. HUD staffers informed the group they would deliver the letter to Turner, while Waters protested for a meeting with the HUD secretary.

Tlaib also attempted to take part in the gaggle of lawmakers demanding to meet with Turner, but was seen stopped at HUD’s entrance in video footage. Tlaib was heard shouting,”You don’t give a sh–!” at HUD employees as the group of lawmakers and DOGE protesters ultimately left the building without meeting with Turner. 

A month after the HUD trip, Waters sent a letter in April to the Government Accountability Office’s comptroller and HUD’s acting inspector general calling for an investigation into allegations “the Administration plans to shut down local field offices and terminate housing agency staff.”

“I am concerned about what effects this will have on families and communities across the country who rely on HUD for housing assistance, community and economic development projects, as well as enforcement of federal fair housing and civil rights laws,” Waters wrote in the letter.

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“Employees across approximately 54 field offices have localized expertise and work in communities to carry out face-to-face technical assistance, provide timely guidance to local grantees and officials to help speed up project timelines, and manage oversight and enforcement of federal statutes in each region,” she continued. “The Trump Administration’s proposal to close 34 field offices would severely disrupt federal housing programs, stall local development projects, and threaten the jobs of approximately 360 full-time employees.” 

Fox News Digital reached out to Waters’ and Tlaib’s respective offices inquiring whether they are still concerned about HUD office closures due to violence in the left-wing cities, but did not immediately receive responses. 

Riots broke out in L.A. on Friday evening after federal law enforcement officials converged on the city to carry out immigration raids. Local leaders such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom quickly denounced the raids in public statements while offering words of support for illegal immigrants in the state.

Protests over the raids soon devolved into violence as rioters targeted federal law enforcement officials, including launching rocks at officials, with videos showing people looting local stores, setting cars on fire and taking over a freeway. 

Trump announced on Saturday that he was deploying 2,000 National Guard members to help quell the violence, and the administration deployed hundreds of Marines to respond to anti-immigration chaos on Monday evening as the violence continued. 

“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now,” Trump posted to Truth Social on Tuesday morning.