LOS ANGELES — Internal emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show Acting Department of Homeland Security General Counsel Joseph Mazzara advocated for law enforcement to use physical force against Los Angeles protesters during demonstrations. The emails were obtained by the nonprofit watchdog American Oversight.

"They should have, when they brought the line in, just started hitting the rioters and arresting everyone that couldn't get away from them. No one likes being hit by a stick, and people tend to run when that starts happening in earnest," Mazzara wrote in one email. In another message, he wrote, "Every time I read about the battering ram incident I'm just floored at how wild that is."

Under the subject line "California DOD Lawsuit," Department of Homeland Security attorneys coordinated legal filings defending the Trump administration, according to the internal emails. The coordinated legal filings included a draft declaration by the Los Angeles field office director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement supporting the deployment of military forces.

A panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals wrote in a June 19 order that protesters threw objects at ICE vehicles, pinned down Federal Protective Service officers, and threw concrete chunks, bottles of liquid, and other objects, according to court documents. The court also wrote that protesters used large rolling commercial dumpsters as a battering ram to attempt to breach the parking garage of a federal building.

Mazzara served as acting general counsel of the Department of Homeland Security at the time of the emails. He was later appointed deputy commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. "They reveal a level of hostility toward protesters that is deeply at odds with the government's obligation to protect civil liberties — and there's no FOIA exemption that justifies hiding them," said Chioma Chukwu, executive director of American Oversight.

The U.S. Supreme Court cast doubt on the Trump administration's legal theory for using troops in domestic law enforcement operations. In December, President Trump began removing the National Guard from Los Angeles and other Democratic-led cities.

"He's doing a disservice to the people that are on the front line, that rely on him and his colleagues to give them the parameters of what they can and can't do. If you give them bad legal advice, you are setting them up for liability," said Kerry Doyle, a former top ICE attorney during the Biden administration.