ICE Protests in L.A.
Trump Says He’d Arrest Newsom
Published
CNN
President Trump took his Border Czar’s comments about arresting California officials — including the state governor and the mayor of L.A. — to the next level Monday, declaring he would have Gavin Newsom arrested immediately.
On Saturday night, the second night of street protests — some quite violent — against ICE arrests of undocumented immigrants in Los Angeles County, Trump’s Border Czar Tom Homan appeared to threaten to put California Gov. Gavin Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass in handcuffs if they got in the way of the federal raids.
“I’ll say it about anybody,” Homan said, responding specifically to whether his threat of detaining any obstructionist included state officials like Newsom and Bass. “You cross that line, it’s a felony to knowingly harbor and conceal an illegal alien. It’s a felony to impede law enforcement doing their job.”
MSNBC
Newsom responded angrily and called Homan a “tough guy” on camera Sunday night, and said, “Go ahead and arrest me, let’s go.” The back-and-forth comes as Trump federalized California state National Guard troops and ordered them into L.A. to deal with the protests.
Asked on the White House lawn Monday about Newsom’s provocation of Homan and whether Homan should arrest the governor, Trump said … “I would do it if I were Tom, I think it’s great.”
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… pic.twitter.com/tsTX1nrHAu
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 9, 2025
@GavinNewsom
Trump continued … “He’s done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent.”
Trump also had words for the protesters … “The people that are causing the problem are professional agitators, they’re insurrectionists, they’re bad people, they should be in jail. Thank you.”
Newsom responded with a post on X … “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.”
Fox 11 Los Angeles
Homan on Monday clarified his Saturday night comments, telling NBC News, “I never threatened to arrest Governor Newsom.”