A video clip posted last week on social media by Long Beach mayoral candidate Rogelio Martinez was short and to the point.
“I need to see 55 gang leaders here this coming Monday, we need to take our city back, enough is enough, ICE needs to get out of Long Beach and that’s the only way I know how to get them out; peacefully, but with strong force, but peacefully.”
The video quickly went viral and landed Martinez, who is among the ranks of people challenging Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson in his re-election campaign, in hot water. He found himself overwhelmed with great anger, he said, especially towards those who keep the law.
“I had a lot of death threats, especially from MAGA white people because I didn’t call the gangs, so I think they were upset about that,” Martinez said in an interview Thursday.
Martinez said he filmed the video while standing outside City Hall on January 30, a day of solidarity when people are asked not to shop or work and protest Trump’s firing en masse.
He said that he posted this video on Facebook and Instagram with the aim of raising awareness about the attacks on immigrants in his city and that he was not inciting violence against federal immigration agents.
“There will be no war between gang leaders and ICE,” he said. “I don’t know how many gangs there are in Long Beach, I chose 55 because I’m 55. Nobody asked me how [I] he brought it [that number].”
Department of Homeland Security officials could not be reached Thursday for comment.
Martinez said he spoke with Long Beach police and received a call from the FBI after the video was posted. “I was like, holy Toledo, this is really the FBI,” he said, recalling the call.
He said the federal agent had questions for him:
“Has any member of the gang reached out to you?”
He told her no, they didn’t.
“Have you reached out to any gang members?”
No, he didn’t.
“And what are you waiting for today?”
He only told him “a peaceful public meeting should be quiet.”
When he asked how many people were expected to come, he told him only one – himself.
“I learned in life that you can only rely on yourself,” he said.
The call ended quickly, he said.
For the record:
7:46 am Feb. 6, 2026A previous version of this article described Cynthia Gonzalez as a Huntington Park councilwoman. He is a councilor in Cudahy.
This is not the first time that a video like this has sparked outrage. Last year, In the morning Councilor Cynthia Gonzalez he found himself in the limelight throughout the country when he posted a video on social media calling on street gangs to organize when immigrants are swept.
His lawyer at the time said the council member’s message was meant to encourage peaceful protests against the plan – not violence.
Gonzalez took down the video and later issued a public apology.
But Martinez said he did not delete his video. Instead, he said, Meta removed the video from its platforms.
Nevertheless, the video version continued to spread on social media; some versions are reduced as people respond to the video. It even caught the attention of Michael Franzese, a former crime boss, who was disturbed by what he heard and took to Instagram to express his opinion.
“You can’t fix these things,” Franzese said in his reply video.
Martinez said that despite his “off the cuff” video, he is taking his mayoral race seriously. He said he plans to focus on local jobs and unemployment.
