This Is My District: Ro Khanna Joins Protesters Outside Super Bowl To Denounce ICE
India-West News Desk
SANTA CLARA, CA – “This is my district and this is a time for elected leaders to be outside with people,” U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna said on February 8, standing on the sidewalk outside Levi’s Stadium as Super Bowl LX crowds streamed past security checkpoints.
Rather than watching the game from a luxury suite, he said, he had chosen to protest ICE agents at the nation’s biggest sporting event, saying his role as the district’s representative required him to be visible and accessible to constituents.
Khanna, who represents the Silicon Valley district that includes the stadium, said he had repeatedly urged both the NFL and the Trump administration to keep Immigration and Customs Enforcement away from the Super Bowl.
“I’ve communicated to the NFL and to the administration to keep ICE out,” the Democratic Congressman said. “But I think physically being here in the community makes a big difference.”
Khanna’s appearance came amid weeks of conflicting signals from Washington and the NFL about whether ICE would be involved in enforcement activity during the game. NFL chief security officer Cathy Lanier had recently said she was confident immigration agents would not conduct operations at the Super Bowl. That reassurance contrasted with earlier remarks from Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who had suggested a tougher enforcement posture.
According to Khanna, that uncertainty triggered a wave of concern from constituents. He said his office received a surge of calls and emails from residents worried about attending the game or even traveling near the stadium. In response, Khanna kept his district office open on Super Bowl Sunday, prepared to assist anyone who encountered ICE agents or needed immediate legal guidance.
Outside the stadium, the protest remained peaceful but pointed with protestors holding up “ICE out” signs and criticizing President Donald Trump’s immigration policies. There were no counter-protesters, and authorities reported no arrests.
Khanna joined the demonstrators, later posting on social media that while the Super Bowl was taking place in his district, he chose not to be in the suites. “I was with activists in my district demanding no new funding for ICE,” he wrote.
Sam
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Why not work with ICE and help remove the illegals. Obama and Biden removed a lot more illegals. You did not protest your Gods!!!
Shameful.
I hope ICE arrests Ro and packs him to Punjab where he can join Khalistanis.
February 9, 2026Don't lemons
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Exactly
February 9, 2026Manny
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I thought he was one of the sensible ones!
February 9, 2026ANUPAM PATEL
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He has no sense! He is looking for a publicity stunt to get attention and get reelected. The removal method of illegal criminals may not be exactly right, but what is wrong with removing them? He should also be removed from his office of Socialists/Communists! I cannot figure out why these types of people bring socialist/communist culture with them. Rajpal in Washington State is also no better.
February 9, 2026Anant Rao
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If an elected official actively interferes with the lawful operations of a federal agency, that is not “civil resistance” – it is obstruction. The rule of law cannot be optional, and political ideology does not grant immunity. If laws were broken, enforcement should follow, exactly as it would for any ordinary citizen.
What makes this behavior especially galling is the staggering hypocrisy behind it. Politicians like Ro Khanna and Premila Jayapal have built substantial personal wealth within the American capitalist system, yet relentlessly attack that very system as immoral, racist, or exploitative. They benefit from free markets, property rights, and institutional stability while campaigning to undermine them.
No one forced them to come to the United States. No one is immigrating here because of their ideology. People migrate to America because capitalism works – because it rewards effort, innovation, and risk in a way socialist systems never have. Their rhetoric has not made the country more just or prosperous; it has made it more polarized.
If these politicians truly believe socialism offers a superior alternative, they should explain why nations built on it consistently produce scarcity, repression, and mass emigration. They never do. Instead, they enjoy the fruits of capitalism while lecturing others on its supposed evils. That is not principled dissent – it is ideological freeloading.
History matters. Even during the Great Depression, when suffering was widespread and acute, Americans rejected socialism. They understood that expanding government control would not create prosperity – it would destroy it. Today, socialism is not being demanded by the desperate masses; it is being marketed by wealthy elites who have already “made it” and now seek to reshape society without bearing the consequences.
Criticism of America is legitimate. But constant denunciation of the country that enabled one’s success, while refusing to live by the standards one promotes, is not reform. It is hypocrisy, plain and simple.
February 9, 2026