California Gov. Gavin Newsom is pushing back against the Trump administration after Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to immigration protests.
In an interview for MSNBC, Newsom taunted Trump's “border czar,” Tom Homan, who recently said he would arrest anyone—even Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass—if they interfere with immigration operations and the presence of federal personnel in LA.
“Come after me, arrest me,” Newsom told MSNBC in a clip he shared to X. “Let’s just get it over with, tough guy. I don’t give a damn. But I care about my community—I care about this community.”
“The hell are they doing? These guys need to grow up, they need to stop, and we need to push back. And I’m sorry to be so clear, but that kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let's go."
“I’ll say about anybody,” Homan said, referencing his arrest comments, per NBC News, “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.”
Trump echoed Homan’s remarks on Sunday, telling reporters that “officials who stand in the way of law and order" will "face judges." He also agreed with Newsom’s arrest, saying it would be “great.”
While Newsom was unfazed by Homan’s warning, Bass said Homan’s threats were unnecessary. She also said that she’s against the National Guard occupying LA, but she isn’t interested in quarreling with the Trump administration.
“He had absolutely positively no reason to even say that,” Bass said. “I spoke to him last night. He understands that I am the mayor of the city; the last thing in the world I’m going to do is get into a brawl with the federal government. So that just made no sense. There was no reason for that comment.”
On Sunday (June 8), Trump sent 300 troops to LA to protect federal buildings, like the downtown detention center where protesters were assembling. The last time a president bypassed a governor to deploy troops in response to civil unrest was in March 1965, on the eve of the Selma to Montgomery marches, when Lyndon B. Johnson sent the Guard to Alabama without the cooperation of Alabama’s then-governor, George Wallace.
