What the whistleblower complaint alleges

A whistleblower complaint alleges Donald Trump ordered the FBI to investigate Los Angeles residents protesting his immigration crackdown, with the demonstrations aimed at his deployment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents sent to advance the president's agenda. The document makes sweeping allegations about how the administration responded to the Los Angeles protests in early 2025, and NBC was the first outlet to report them after viewing a copy of the disclosure.

The complaint identifies the whistleblower as Jill Fields, a former supervisory intelligence analyst in the FBI's Los Angeles field office who joined the bureau in May 2016. Fields filed it after the federal response to anti-ICE protests around the city's federal buildings and in a residential area in February 2025.

Fields alleges two chains of command behind the inquiries. In one, Emil Bove, then acting deputy attorney general, told Akil Davis, the head of the field office, to open an investigation into protesters' activities outside federal buildings.

In the second, Fields alleges Trump viewed a TikTok video of protesters in Alhambra, California, who alerted neighbors to the presence of federal immigration officers and advised them of their legal rights. The White House then instructed Patel to direct the Los Angeles field office to open an investigation into those demonstrating in the video, sought, Fields says, because the president was angry about the incident.

Concerns inside the FBI's Los Angeles field office

Fields describes the demonstrations as protected free speech and says several FBI employees in the field office raised concerns about the legality of the requests. Members of her team concluded the protesters' actions were constitutionally protected and that the evidence was insufficient. A colleague whose name is redacted told her the investigation was proceeding because the president wanted it, and her supervisor acknowledged it was unconstitutional but said the directive still had to be followed.

Fields alleges a dedicated immigration squad of 10 agents was created to carry out the White House's requests, some of whom were pulled off active cartel cases. Her supervisor, whose name is also redacted, described the move as optics intended to make a show for the president.

Fields says she knew of no national security threat, federal criminal activity or vulnerability that would have justified assessments or investigations of anti-ICE and CBP protesters at the time. She resigned from the FBI in 2025 after being removed from overseeing several programs, and believes the diminished role resulted from her objections to the protest-related investigations.

Padilla demands answers from the justice department

US senator Alex Padilla, a California Democrat on the Senate judiciary committee, said his office had obtained a copy of the complaint. He called the allegations deeply alarming and said in a statement:

In a letter to attorney general Todd Blanche and Patel, Padilla asks dozens of questions about the reported investigations. They include:

• •whether the investigations resulted in arrests
• •how many directives of this kind the justice department has received from the president
• •how many investigations remain open

White House calls the allegations false

White House spokesperson Lauren Bis called the allegations laid out in the disclosure false in a statement. In it she said, "The first amendment does not protect violent rioting, obstructing law enforcement, and assaulting law enforcement". Bis added that assaulting or obstructing law enforcement is a crime and that anyone who does so will be arrested and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

The FBI and the justice department did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Padilla's letter to Blanche and Patel now awaits answers on arrests, presidential directives and open investigations.