Staff Reports
Video from a recent California conference shows Cal State Los Angeles professor Melina Abdullah naming a specific ICE agent, saying where he was staying, and urging a crowd to “f**k him up.” The footage is raw and damning: a university professor publicly naming a federal officer, giving a hotel location in Oxnard, and encouraging violent action while recommending a book on guerrilla warfare. This isn’t protest theater — it’s targeted doxxing and open incitement, and it demands real consequences.
What the video actually shows
In the clip, Abdullah repeats the ICE agent’s first and last name, tells people he “may be staying” at the Hilton Garden Inn in Oxnard and promises to show his picture to the crowd. She then says, multiple times, “f**k him up,” and urges people to study guerrilla warfare and use every tool “in your toolbox.” The event was billed as “La Defensa del Pueblo” and involved groups like Ventura County Defensa, the National Day Laborer Organizing Network, and the United Teachers Los Angeles. The message was clear: identify a federal officer, give his location, and mobilize people to make him uncomfortable — or worse.
Why this crosses a legal and ethical line
There’s a difference between harsh speech and criminal behavior. Naming a federal officer and directing a crowd to find and “f**k him up” lands squarely in the dangerous zone between protected protest and criminal incitement or harassment. Doxxing puts someone and their family at risk. Encouraging violence — even in vague terms — invites real-world attacks. California and federal law can be used to charge people who incite violence or make credible threats against law enforcement. If law enforcement doesn’t investigate and campus officials don’t act, they send the wrong message: some people are above the rules.
Universities, unions and accountability
It’s also worth noting the setting. A professor at a public university should know better than to put a name and street address out into a crowd and egg people on. The involvement of teachers’ unions and activist groups makes this more than a fringe incident — it shows a network willing to normalize threatening rhetoric. If universities want to claim they foster safe debate and civic values, they must discipline staff who step over the line into intimidation. Turning a classroom into a megaphone for doxxing is not academic freedom; it’s negligence.
At the end of the day, the video is a test of whether institutions and the law will protect federal officers and enforce basic norms. Calls for criminal charges are reasonable when a public figure names a federal agent and urges people to “f**k him up.” Authorities and campus leaders should investigate, and if wrongdoing is found, pursue discipline or prosecution. The rule of law matters — and no cause justifies turning citizens and public servants into targets. If we let this pass, we accept a new standard: identify, shame, and threaten. That is not the America most of us want.
