NEW YORK (AP) Several conservative media figures in the U.S. have taken up the cause of Canadian truckers who have occupied parts of Ottawa and blocked border crossings to protest COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates.

Fox News Channels Sean Hannity cheered the truckers on while showing three live reports from Ottawa this week, while Tucker Carlson s online store is selling I (heart) Tucker t-shirts edited to say I (heart) Truckers.

Please tell these truckers that the American working people, people in this country, stand in solidarity with what they are doing and for the freedom movement that theyre leading, Hannity told reporter Sara Carter on his show Wednesday. She delivered his message to protesters in Ottawa.

In a bulletin to local and state law enforcement officers, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security warned that it has received reports of similar protests being planned in the United States.

The agency said the protest could begin in Southern California as early as this weekend and potentially spread to Washington around the State of the Union address in March.

COVID-19 vaccines, usually administered in two doses and supplemented with a booster shot, are considered highly effective in preventing serious illness and death. Some people can still get the coronavirus, particularly the Omicron variant, while vaccinated, but most cases are mild. The vast majority of people who get serious cases of the disease are unvaccinated.

Between Jan. 18 through Wednesday, Fox News Channel has devoted 8 hours, 43 minutes of airtime to the story, according to the liberal watchdog Media Matters for America, which frequently criticizes the network.

But its not just Fox.

Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire said on his show, sitting in front of a headline that said Canadians were fed up with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, that mandates had to stop. The protesters are particularly upset about a requirement that all truck drivers entering the country be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus. An estimated 90 percent of Canadian truckers already are.

Nobody wants giant bridges shut down, Shapiro said. Obstructing traffic is bad no matter what you are protesting for. However, the cause of this protest happens to be righteous.