This post was updated April 23 at 9:03 p.m.
The United States Department of Homeland Security condemned a protest held at UCLA against the agency’s top lawyer Wednesday.
More than 50 people disrupted and walked out of a Tuesday event hosted by the UCLA Federalist Society – a conservative legal group – which featured DHS general counsel James Percival. The DHS called demonstrators’ behavior “gross” in a Wednesday post on X, responding to a Fox News segment featuring videos of the event disruptions.
Demonstrators held up pieces of paper with statements such as, “Stop kidnapping people,” booed and played sound effects throughout the event. Percival and Gregory McNeal – the event’s moderator and a professor of law at Pepperdine University – continued speaking through most of the disruptions.
[Related: Demonstrators protest UCLA event hosting DHS General Counsel James Percival]
Michael Waterstone, the dean of the UCLA School of Law, said in a written statement that some demonstrators who did not show respect or civility either left or were escorted out after receiving warnings but added that not all protest activity at the event was disruptive. The event was able to run in full, Waterstone said.
“Students should have the ability to challenge content they disagree with, and speakers cannot be limited because some disagree with the content of their speech,” Waterstone said in the statement. “Anything less is antithetical to our profession, and commitment to academic freedom and the open exchange of ideas.”
Videos taken of the event disruptions by Yitzchok “Yitzy” Frankel – an alumnus of UCLA Law who sued the university in June 2024, alleging that it allowed an antisemitic environment during the first Palestine solidarity encampment – have amassed nearly two million views on X. The DHS added in its post that the demonstrators created disorder as Percival attempted to speak.
“This continued dehumanization of DHS and the patriots who protect our Homeland must end,” the agency said on X.
The disruptions also drew attention from Harmeet Dhillon – a DOJ attorney who has led several investigations into UCLA – who condemned the demonstrators in two X posts.
The demonstrators who walked out of the event joined more protesters outside the UCLA School of Law, with the total crowd reaching more than 150 people at its peak. Demonstrators gave speeches condemning Percival’s involvement in President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, housed under DHS, arrested 1,264 people per day on average between December 2025 and January 2026 – a 300% increase from the year before, according to the American Immigration Council. Federal immigration officers arrested more than 14,000 people in Los Angeles in 2025 – about 10,000 more than in 2024 – according to LAist.
Students walked out of the event after the moderator said he would only ask pre-selected questions. The event was marketed as a conversation with the UCLA Law community, said law student Mitchell An-Ebbott.
“They advertise this as an event that was a celebration of free speech that was about dialogue between disagreeing people, and then they completely shut out any dialogue,” he said. “They know exactly what this was and how aggressive a move it was to invite him here in the midst of the threat that his organization poses to everyday Angelenos.”
Contributing reports by Phoebe Huss, Daily Bruin staff
