Kim Kardashian is singing a different tune than one would expect just months after promoting Tesla and fawning over Melania Trump’s inauguration outfit.
Kardashian called out ICE on her Instagram Stories amid ongoing protests in L.A. against Donald Trump’s raids and sweeping deportations.
“When we’re told that ICE exists to keep our country safe and remove violent criminals—great. But when we witness innocent, hardworking people being ripped from their families, we have to speak up,” she wrote, “We have to do what’s right.”
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Trump deployed about 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 active-duty Marines to protests in Los Angeles, which according to L.A. mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom, were under control until the armed forces incited violence in the city.
The billionaire influencer’s take on the protests is a sharp rebuke of Trump, who’s called L.A. immigrants and demonstrators “animals” and “a foreign enemy.”
Her comments are her latest effort to speak out against “injustice”—an endeavor that’s consistently yielded the recent law school grad mixed results. This time around, however, she finds herself directly at odds with Trump, her one-time collaborator on her prisoner reform cause.
(Trump previously griped that Kardashian didn’t publicly support him after he worked with her to release several incarcerated people. He also called her “the most overrated celebrity.”)
The Trump administration leaned into the fight and went after Kardashian on Wednesday. Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin posted several photos of various men to X, whom she claimed were “illegal criminals who have been picked up in the last 72 hours” and asked Kardashian “which one of these convicted child molesters, murderers, drug traffickers, and rapists would you like to stay in the county?” (It seems she may have meant to write “country.”)
Kardashian didn’t endorse a candidate or comment on the heated 2024 election, but she did flirt with MAGA when she posted a photo of the first lady on Trump’s inauguration day, which many social media users interpreted as an indication of her preferred candidate.
Others speculated she was simply admiring Melania Trump’s fashion choices. Yet still, in the months prior to the election, Kardashian posted a series of photos and videos interacting with Elon Musk’s Tesla products, as the billionaire funneled millions of his own money into Trump’s campaign.
Days after other celebrities called out ICE’s response to the L.A. protests to positive feedback from fans, Kardashian threw her own hat in the ring on Tuesday.
“Growing up in LA, I’ve seen how deeply immigrants are woven into the fabric of this city. They are our neighbors, friends, classmates, coworkers, and family,” she wrote in the post. “No matter where you fall politically, it’s clear that our communities thrive because of the contributions of immigrants.”
Kardashian concluded, “There HAS to be a BETTER way,” as she declared, “We can’t turn a blind eye when fear and injustice keep people from living their lives freely and safely.”
