Gavin Newsom dares Trump admin to arrest him over anti-ICE riots, chaos in LA

Newsom said he told Trump directly to “just get it over with” and arrest him after Trump said that if he was in border czar, arresting Newsom would be a “great thing.”

Newsom made his remarks in response to reports that Immigration and Customs Enforcement had established checkpoints and was checking IDs in Los Angeles neighborhoods. “We’ve never seen this kind of deployment in so many accents,” he said. “It’s mass panic out here in the nation’s largest county, in the nation’s largest state. Good, hardworking people, decent people. These are not the criminals. These are not the thugs.”

“Stop messing with four-year-olds. Kids in elementary school. We've got kids. We have hundreds of graduations down here. Kids are not going to their own graduations, families, grandparents, here legally. Mixed status families in some cases, scared to death to go to a graduation,” Newsom said.

Newsom also posted, “Trump’s border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out. Come and get me, tough guy. I don’t give a damn. It won’t stop me from standing up for California.”

Border Czar Tom Homan, who previously led ICE and currently advises the administration on immigration, had warned that elected officials interfering with federal operations could face charges. “Those harboring illegal immigrants would face the law,” Homan said, and confirmed “the Democratic governor of California is not excluded from that.” However, he also clarified there had been no formal plans to arrest Newsom.

The raids have triggered riots throughout Los Angeles. Homan has made clear that ICE operations would continue regardless of opposition.

The state has also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration over its deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, without the consent of the governor. The complaint argues that Trump “invoked emergency powers to exceed the bounds of lawful executive authority.”

Adding to the situation, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said, “I’m not going to give you legal analysis on whether Gavin Newsom should be arrested, but he ought to be tarred and feathered, I’ll say that.”