Jimmy Kimmel lives behind walls.
His home in one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Los Angeles is gated, secured, and insulated from every consequence of the policies he advocates.
On Monday, he stepped outside that bubble to attend an anti-ICE protest in the South Bay area of Los Angeles County.
He brought his wife. He brought his children.
And he handed his kids signs celebrating people who were shot while confronting federal law enforcement officers.
The Signs Tell the Story
Kimmel’s family held signs reading “Deport ICE” and “Raise Good Girls and Pretti Boys” — references to Nicole Renee Good and Alex Pretti, both killed during confrontations with federal immigration agents.
His son held a sign reading “Paid Agitator” — a sarcastic reference to Trump’s claim that anti-ICE protesters are being paid.
Let’s talk about who Kimmel is teaching his children to lionize.
Nicole Renee Good drove her vehicle at ICE agents during an enforcement operation. The vehicle was classified as a weapon.
Alex Pretti had a loaded 9mm handgun and extra magazines when he confronted Border Patrol agents. He had been involved in a prior confrontation 11 days earlier where he cursed at agents, kicked their vehicle, and was found with a gun. He was part of an anti-ICE network according to his neighbors.
These are the heroes Kimmel wants his children to admire. People who physically confronted armed federal agents and suffered predictable consequences.
Crying on Monday, Protesting on Saturday
Last week, Kimmel wept on camera during his monologue.
“I spent this weekend feeling shocked and sick about what is happening in Minneapolis.”
He called ICE agents “mask-wearing goons” committing “vile, heartless, even criminal acts.”
The tears got the clips. The outrage got the headlines. The performance served its purpose.
One week later, he’s at a protest with his family, smiling for Instagram, captioning the photo with jokes about “paid agitators.”
The tears were real — real performance. The protest was the payoff. Monetize the emotion on Monday, signal the virtue on Saturday.
“Pretti Did Not Ever Draw” His Gun
Kimmel told his audience that Pretti “had a license to carry, in an open-carry state” and that his gun “was taken from him by one of the agents before he was shot dead.”
He left out everything that matters.
Pretti confronted ICE agents 11 days before his death. He cursed at them. He kicked their vehicle. He had a gun visible in his waistband. The agents showed extraordinary restraint and released him.
He came back. With a loaded 9mm and extra magazines. To another confrontation with federal agents.
His neighbors confirmed he was part of an anti-ICE network. BBC facial recognition matched him to the earlier confrontation video at 97% confidence.
Pretti wasn’t an innocent bystander caught in crossfire. He was a repeat confronter who returned armed to a second encounter with federal agents after facing zero consequences for the first.
Kimmel’s audience heard none of this. Because the full story doesn’t produce tears. It produces understanding. And understanding doesn’t serve the narrative.
Teaching Children to Hate Law Enforcement
Kimmel brought his children to this protest.
Think about what those children absorbed.
Federal agents who enforce the law are “goons.” People who confront those agents with weapons are heroes. Carrying a sign that mocks the president is brave. Standing in a crowd chanting against immigration enforcement is patriotic.
These children live in gated luxury. They attend private schools. They are driven in expensive vehicles by parents who will never, ever experience the consequences of mass illegal immigration.
They will never compete with illegal immigrants for jobs. They will never attend overcrowded schools. They will never live in neighborhoods where criminal aliens operate freely.
But they’ll carry signs celebrating people who attacked federal agents. Because their father told them to.
Kimmel’s Neighborhood Versus Reality
Kimmel lives in a world where immigration is an abstraction.
His neighborhood doesn’t have MS-13. His children’s school isn’t overcrowded with non-English-speaking students. His emergency room isn’t packed with uninsured patients. His property values aren’t affected by the social costs of illegal immigration.
For Kimmel, immigration enforcement is something that happens to other people in other neighborhoods. Something he can cry about on television and protest against on weekends without ever encountering the reality.
The Americans who live in communities actually affected by illegal immigration don’t have time for Saturday protests. They’re working. They’re trying to keep their families safe. They’re dealing with the consequences that Kimmel will never face.
“Paid Agitators” As Comedy
Kimmel captioned his Instagram: “We were proud to see so many paid agitators (AKA patriotic Americans) marching en masse for the ICE OUT rally.”
His son’s sign read “Paid Agitator.”
It’s all a joke to him.
Trump said the protests are coordinated and funded. Joe Rogan said they’re “not organic.” Evidence suggests organized networks are directing the anti-ICE movement, transporting protesters, providing supplies, and funding operations.
Kimmel turns that into a punchline. Because acknowledging coordination would mean acknowledging that the movement isn’t grassroots outrage — it’s manufactured resistance funded by organizations with political agendas.
Easier to make it a joke. Put the funny sign in the kid’s hands. Post it on Instagram. Collect the likes.
The Kyle Rittenhouse Comparison That Backfires
Kimmel tried to invoke Rittenhouse to expose conservative hypocrisy.
“A right many of the same people screamed very loudly about when it was Kyle Rittenhouse carrying the gun.”
Rittenhouse carried a rifle legally and used it in self-defense when attacked by multiple assailants. A jury acquitted him on all charges after reviewing the evidence.
Pretti brought a concealed weapon and extra magazines to a deliberate confrontation with federal agents after a prior confrontation where he was already known to be armed.
Rittenhouse was retreating from attackers. Pretti was advancing toward agents.
Rittenhouse was defending himself. Pretti was escalating a conflict.
The comparison doesn’t expose conservative hypocrisy. It exposes Kimmel’s inability to distinguish between self-defense and aggression.
The Instagram Economy of Outrage
Kimmel posted his protest photo on Instagram.
Not on his show. Not in a monologue. On Instagram, where the algorithm rewards engagement and controversy drives likes.
This is the modern celebrity activism cycle:
Cry on camera. Generate sympathy clips. Attend a protest. Post the photo. Collect engagement. Reference it in the next monologue. Repeat.
Every step generates content. Every piece of content generates revenue. The outrage is real in the sense that it’s really profitable.
Kimmel’s tears, his protests, his children’s signs — all of it feeds a content machine that pays him tens of millions of dollars per year to perform political activism disguised as comedy.
ICE Was Targeting a Domestic Abuser
Here’s what Kimmel never mentions.
The operation where Pretti was killed was targeting Jose Huerta-Chuma — an illegal immigrant with a criminal history including domestic assault, disorderly conduct, and driving without a valid license.
ICE was removing a man who beat someone. That’s who Kimmel’s protest was protecting. That’s who the “ICE OUT” signs were defending.
Not an innocent family. Not a contributing community member. A domestic abuser who was in the country illegally.
Kimmel’s children held signs defending the right of a domestic abuser to remain in their country.
But sure. “Raise Good Girls and Pretti Boys.”
Walls for Me, Open Borders for Thee
Jimmy Kimmel goes home after the protest to his gated, guarded, insulated life.
The communities where ICE operates go back to dealing with the criminals ICE is trying to remove.
Kimmel’s children will grow up safe, wealthy, and completely disconnected from the consequences of the ideology their father is teaching them.
Other children — the ones in neighborhoods where criminal aliens actually live — don’t get that luxury.
They don’t get walls. They don’t get gates. They don’t get private schools and Instagram photo ops.
They get the reality that Kimmel protests against from the safety of his compound.
That’s the divide. That’s the hypocrisy. That’s the story behind the sign.