Trump Threatens California Officials With Arrest If They Interfere With ICE Raids

Yahoo

5 hours ago

President Donald Trump and his border czar said that the contentious immigration raids taking over California will persist, and state officials who interfere, including Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D), could be arrested.
'Officials who stand in the way of law and order, yea, they will face judges,' Trump told reporters on Sunday, according to NBC News.
On Sunday, Trump also said that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Attorney General Pam Bondi and other Los Angeles agencies will 'take such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.'
Trump's remarks came after similar comments from Tom Homan, the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, during an interview with NBC News' Jacob Soboroff on Saturday evening.
'I'm telling you what, we're going to keep enforcing law every day in LA,' Homan said. 'Every day in LA, we're going to enforce immigration law. I don't care if they like it or not.'
Soboroff asked Homan if he would arrest officials like Bass and Newsom if they 'stand in the way of your enforcement operations.'
'I'll say that about anybody,' Homan said. 'You cross that line. It's a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It's a felony to impede law enforcement from doing their job.'
On Saturday night, Trump signed a memo saying he'd send at least 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles as tensions from the raids increased, with about 300 troops arriving by early Sunday. This is the first time a president has sent the National Guard to a state without the governor's request in roughly six decades.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said that active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton could also be deployed if the unrest continues.
Numerous protests have popped up across the county, including in Paramount, Downtown LA, Compton, and more, according to The New York Times' visual timeline of this weekend.
At a protest on Friday outside the Los Angeles Federal Building, federal authorities fired pepper balls at demonstrators and arrested more than 100 people. On Saturday, protesters and law enforcement clashed in Paramount, a city in the southern part of Los Angeles County. Officers used tear gas on the protesters.
There was also a protest in Compton, another city in the southern part of the county, on Saturday night. Officers used flash-bang grenades and rubber bullets against the protesters.
By Sunday afternoon, recently arrived National Guard members and Department of Homeland Security personnel had used smoke and pepper spray on protesters outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, according to The Los Angeles Times.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) appeared to be on the ground at the protest earlier on Sunday, according to The Los Angeles Times.
'Who are you going to shoot?' she asked the soldiers outside of the Metropolitan Detention Center on Sunday. 'If you're going to shoot me, you better shoot straight.'
'Trump hates us, he hates sanctuary cities,' Waters also said. 'He's trying to make an example out of us.'
'I want the crowds to grow and grow and grow. We learned a lot during the Civil Rights Movement,' the 86-year-old congresswoman continued.
Newsom and Bass have insisted that the federal government's deployment of the National Guard is completely unnecessary.
'The federal government is moving to take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers. That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,' Newsom said in a statement on Saturday.
'LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment's notice. We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need. The Guard has been admirably serving LA throughout recovery,' he added. 'This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.'
On Sunday, Bass also condemned the government's escalation in a Sunday morning interview with the Los Angeles Times.
'We tried to talk to the administration and tell them that there was absolutely no need to have troops on the ground here in Los Angeles,' Bass said. 'The protests that happened last night in L.A. were relatively minor, about 100 protesters. Los Angeles has been completely peaceful all day long.'
'This is posturing,' the mayor added. 'This is completely disruptive to a city that has already gone through so much in the first six months of the year.' Bass was likely referring to the multiple Southern California fires in January that the region continues to recover from.
'The city is not out of control,' Bass said. 'The protesters that vandalized since last night, that is unacceptable, and I'm sure they will be arrested and held accountable to the full extent of the law, but to say that the city is out of control, I don't know what city they're talking about.'
Trump Plans To Yank Officers From Ports And Borders To Help Juice Deportation Numbers
National Guard Troops Arrive In Los Angeles On Trump's Orders To Quell Immigration Protests
Trump Deploys National Guard As Los Angeles Protests Against Immigration Agents Continue
Protests And Outrage As Authorities Arrest Dozens For Immigration Violations Across LA