Both Trump and his “border czar,” Tom Homan, have said California officials could face arrest if they’re perceived as impeding ICE operations.
By Jacob Soboroff, Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Yamiche Alcindor and Sarah Dean
LOS ANGELES — California Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed back against threats of arrest by Trump administration officials, remaining defiant as he oversees clashes between law enforcement agents and protesters in response to immigration raids across Los Angeles while also managing an ongoing power struggle with the federal government.
Trump’s “border czar,” Tom Homan, warned Saturday that immigration operations and the presence of federal personnel would continue in the city despite criticism from Democratic leaders who’ve warned it could further escalate protests. He threatened arrest for anyone who obstructs the immigration enforcement effort, including Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass — though he acknowledged that neither yet had “crossed the line.”
“I’ll say 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 doing their job.”
In an interview for MSNBC with NBC News’ Jacob Soboroff, Newsom called Homan’s bluff, urging him to “just get it over with” and move ahead with the arrest.
“He’s a tough guy. Why doesn’t he do that? He knows where to find me,” Newsom said. “That kind of bloviating is exhausting. So, Tom, arrest me. Let’s go.”
Bass, meanwhile, dismissed Homan’s warning as unnecessary, emphasizing Sunday that while she opposed the decision to deploy National Guard troops, she has no interest in brawling with the federal government.
“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.”
Trump doubled down on Homan’s warning Sunday, telling reporters that “officials who stand in the way of law and order” will “face judges.” He then told reporters on Monday that “I would do it if I were Tom.”
But two White House officials tell NBC News that, as of now, federal officials and Trump are not seriously looking into plans to arrest Newsom or Bass.
One senior White House official said, “It’s not being actively planned or considered, but anyone who breaks federal law puts themselves at risk of being arrested. That’s just a basic fact.”
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A second White House official said that if Newsom or Bass do “something to get themselves arrested,” then they could be detained. But, the person added, the optics of arresting the California officials wouldn’t look good for Republicans right now, as it doesn’t appear they’ve broken any laws.
In an interview with Fox and Friends on Monday, Homan said he never had discussions about arresting Newsom and his comments Saturday were hypothetical. “The reporter asked me, well, could Gov. Newsom or Mayor Bass be arrested? I said ‘Well, no one’s above the law. If they cross the line and commit a crime, absolutely they can.’ So there was no discussion about arresting Newsom.”
Newsom said Sunday that Trump hadn’t expressed any concern about his ability to manage the growing protest in Los Angeles or the prospect of federalizing National Guard troops during a phone call after protests started Friday.
“We talked for almost 20 minutes, and he barely — this issue never came up,” Newsom said. “We had a very decent conversation.”
Newsom and Bass have intensely criticized Trump’s decision to authorize the deployment of at least 2,000 National Guard troops in response to the protests, arguing they would only inflame tensions in the city already heightened by the large-scale immigration operations.
In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Newsom requested that Trump rescind his order federalizing the troops in Los Angeles County “and return them to my command.”
“In dynamic and fluid situations such as the one in Los Angeles, State and local authorities are the most appropriate ones to evaluate the need for resources and safeguard life and property,” Newsom said in the letter.
Threats by the administration to arrest elected officials have been a hallmark of Trump’s second term, particularly after the high-profile arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka outside an ICE detention facility in New Jersey. The charges were dropped, though the Justice Department charged another elected official with Baraka, Democratic Rep. LaMonica McIver, with two counts of assaulting, resisting and impeding law enforcement officials in connection with the incident
