California Governor Gavin Newsom told President Donald Trump to “just get it over with, arrest me” as the pair clashed over immigration raids in Los Angeles and how to handle the disorder that erupted from the protests against them.
Trump had said he would arrest Newsom if he were the White House border czar Tom Homan, calling the prospect a “great thing.”
Homan had earlier said those harboring illegal immigrants would face the law, and the Democratic governor of California is not excluded from that.
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Why It Matters
Wide-scale protests broke out in L.A. on Saturday after ICE carried out multiple raids across the city.
The situation rapidly escalated after the Trump administration deployed the National Guard, despite objections from Newsom and other state and city officials.
While the raids are based on federal authorities’ legal directives, protests broke out following reports that detainees were being held in the basement of a federal building.
ICE denied these allegations, a spokesperson previously telling Newsweek the agency “categorically refutes the assertions made by immigration activists in Los Angeles.”
What To Know
Newsom in fresh remarks to MeidasTouch, called it a “sober and serious moment,” a liberal activist media group, on Monday evening.
“This is why I told the president, just get it over with, arrest me, move on. If you need some head to scalp, do it with me, but stop messing with these kids,” Newsom said.
“Stop messing with four-year-olds. Kids in elementary school. We’ve got kids. We have hundreds of graduations down here.
“Kids are not going to their own graduations, families, grandparents, here legally. Mixed status families in some cases, scared to death to go to a graduation. People are scared to walk down the streets.”
Newsom said he was aware of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) running “checkpoints, checking people’s IDs” in Los Angeles.
“We’ve never seen this kind of deployment in so many accents,” Newsom said.
“It’s mass panic out here in the nation’s largest county, in the nation’s largest state. Good, hardworking people, decent people. These are not the criminals. These are not the thugs.”
It comes after Homan vowed to continue the ICE raids every day despite the protests, and warned that anyone who tried to interfere could face federal charges, including elected officials.
Both Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass responded to the comments on Monday, with Bass calling the threat “unnecessary” and saying she won’t brawl with the federal government.
Meanwhile, Newsom then told Homan to “come and get me.”
“Trump’s border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out,” Newsom said in a post on X. “Come and get me, tough guy. I don’t give a damn. It won’t stop me from standing up for California.”
But in an appearance on Fox News on Monday, Homan said that there had been no discussion about arresting Newsom.
The state of California has filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its order to deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles without Newsom’s approval.
The lawsuit says Trump “invoked emergency powers to exceed the bounds of lawful executive authority.”
Newsom would ordinarily have control over California’s National Guard, but Trump federalized part of the troops to “address the lawlessness.” The president used Title 10 authority, which makes him the commander of the National Guard instead of the governor, Newsom’s office said.
Federal military forces are generally not allowed to be used for civilian law enforcement unless there is an emergency, usually determined with an 18th-century wartime law called the Insurrection Act.
The last time a U.S. president circumvented a governor to deploy the National Guard was in 1965, when Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights activists.
Newsom’s confrontation with the president is the latest in a string of disagreements he has shared with Trump, who has nicknamed the governor “Newscum.”
The pair clashed earlier this year when Trump blamed Newsom for the California wildfires that destroyed thousands of homes and called for his resignation.
What People Are Saying
Tom Homan told CBS on Monday: “There’s no intention to arrest the governor right now. I don’t know if he crossed that line.”
Gavin Newsom said in a post on X, on Monday, “The President of the United States just called for the arrest of a sitting Governor. This is a day I hoped I would never see in America. I don’t care if you’re a Democrat or a Republican this is a line we cannot cross as a nation — this is an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
Trump doubled down on Homan’s warning on Sunday, telling reporters that “officials who stand in the way of law and order…will face judges.”
What Happens Next
It remains unclear how long the Guard will remain stationed in Los Angeles. There are also currently no plans to arrest Newsom or any California officials.
