Agencies
Washington
President Donald Trump said on Monday that he would support arresting California Governor Gavin Newsom for purportedly obstructing federal immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles.
Trump’s comment came shortly before Newsom and state Attorney General Rob Bonta said they would sue Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for deploying National Guard troops to deal with protests over those enforcement actions.
The suit asks a judge to rule that Trump’s federalization of the California National Guard was unlawful, and to set aside the president’s order.
Trump’s action was the first time a president had activated a state’s National Guard since 1965 without a request from a governor. Trump “flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom said in a social media post.
“The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA,” Newsom wrote in the post on X. “It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing.
“We’re suing him.”
Bonta, in a statement outlining what he said was the failure of Trump’s order to meet the criteria of federalizing the state’s National Guard, said, “Let me be clear: There is no invasion. There is no rebellion.”
“The President is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends,” Bonta said. “Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President’s authority under the law – and not one we take lightly.”
Trump’s comment about arresting Newsom came in response to questions about his border czar, Tom Homan, who threatened to arrest Newsom, LA Mayor Karen Bass, and anyone else who obstructed immigration enforcement actions in California.
“I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great. Gavin likes the publicity but I think it would be a great thing,” Trump said.
Newsome, in a tweet, replied to Trump’s statement.
“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,” Newsom wrote.
“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,” the governor wrote.
Meanwhile, federal prosecutors charged labor leader David Huerta with felony conspiracy to impede an officer. Huerta, president of SEUI California, was arrested on Friday during a protest in LA. He was due to appear in federal court later Monday.
Newsom on Sunday asked Trump to remove the California National Guard from scenes of demonstrations in Los Angeles. Trump had signed an order on Saturday night deploying 2,000 National Guard troops to the protests.
Meanwhile, theLos Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Los Angeles Police Department and California Highway Patrol collectively arrested 42 people, an LASD spokesperson said.
LAPD Officer Madison confirmed that number and said charges include failure to disperse, assault with a deadly weapon on a peace officer, looting and arson.
Sgt Daniel Keene of the CHP said 19 of those arrests were made by his agency.
Over the weekend, throngs of protesters took to the streets of downtown Los Angeles to protest federal immigration raids.
Some of those protests turned violent, with stores broken into, Waymo vehicles burned and rocks and other debris thrown at law enforcement.
