Rep. Maxine Waters didn’t say ‘every undocumented’ protester in Los Angeles should get citizenship

U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters’ district includes much of southern Los Angeles. So it tracks that the California Democrat would speak publicly as the Trump administration sends National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to the city’s immigration raid protests.

But social media posts are asserting she made a massive plea on behalf of the demonstrators.

"BREAKING: Rep. Maxine Waters calls for the United States to grant citizenship to every undocumented protester in Los Angeles," read a June. 8 Facebook post that received 61,000 reactions and included no other information about where or when she may have said this.

(Screenshot from Facebook post.)

An X post shared a similar statement but included a June 8 video of Waters speaking outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in Los Angeles, a detention center run by the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Although Waters spoke about immigrants, the video does not show what these posts credit her with saying.

In the full video, Waters’ explicitly said that immigrants who have come to the U.S., "should be given an opportunity to tell their stories, whom they are and why they are here and ask the United States to please do what the Constitution allows us to do and that is —  give them consideration for having citizenship here." 

But Waters did not say that every protester should be granted citizenship. A reporter asked her, "If there was a message you could send to Donald Trump, what is that message here today?"

Her full comments show she was speaking broadly:

"My message to Donald Trump is you are a cruel human being and that you are using the poorest people in the land, the most vulnerable people in the land, to promote your politics. You are wrong. We know what this is all about. We have people who are immigrants here who are trying to seek a better living, who come from places where they have experienced this kind of thing that he’s doing here today. People who work every day. People who are paying taxes, who are raising their families, who are supporting education. They should not be treated this way. They should be given an opportunity to  tell their stories, whom they are and why they are here and ask the United States to please do what the Constitution allows us to do and that is — give them consideration for having citizenship here." 

Featured Fact-check

X posts

stated on June 8, 2025 in X posts

Video shows a police car burning during June 2025 Los Angeles protests.

Waters posted the same video of her fuller comments on X, saying she went to the Metropolitan Detention Center to check on the safety and conditions of Service Employees International Union California President David Huerta, who was arrested June 6 by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the protests. In the caption of the post she didn’t call for granting citizenship to protesters illegally in the country, she called for due process: "All people deserve to be treated with dignity and due process under the law. Peaceful, nonviolent demonstrations are critical to protecting our constitutional rights!"

Other footage of Waters' statements at the detention center and at the protests don’t show her calling for U.S. citizenship for protesters illegally in the country.

Waters is not the only California official who has spoken against federal actions during the Los Angeles protests. 

California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both Democrats, have disapproved of President Donald Trump’s June 7 order to deploy 2,000 National Guard members to Los Angeles to protect federal officers conducting immigration operations, saying it escalated the situation. Newsom announced plans to sue the Trump administration June 9 over its actions.

Waters didn’t say protesters illegally in the country should be granted citizenship. We rate this claim False.