California Gov. Gavin Newsom said Sunday the state will sue the Trump administration over what he called an illegal and provocative deployment of the National Guard to Los Angeles, following days of civil unrest sparked by aggressive immigration raids.
The move comes as former ICE director and President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan threatened the arrest of elected officials — including Newsom himself — for allegedly interfering with immigration enforcement operations.
Newsom, who did not request the federal intervention and later demanded that Trump call off the troop deployment, responded furiously on social media.
“Trump’s border czar is threatening to arrest me for speaking out. Come and get me, tough guy,” Newsom fumed. “I don’t give a damn. It won’t stop me from standing up for California.”
The protests, now stretching into a fourth day, were triggered by ICE raids across the Los Angeles area. Demonstrators clashed with federal agents and local law enforcement across downtown, Paramount, and Compton.
Videos showed protestors swarming federal vehicles, lighting self-driving cars on fire, and hurling objects at officers. In return, police used flash-bangs, tear gas, and non-lethal rounds. During the mayhem, a rubber bullet struck a reporter from Australia, leaving her badly bruised. By Sunday night, authorities had arrested dozens and declared downtown Los Angeles an unlawful assembly zone.
Despite pushback from city and state leaders, Trump ordered in 300 National Guard troops, with 2,000 more possibly on the way, and left the door open to deploying Marines as well. This marks the first time in decades that a president has sent the Guard into a state without the governor’s request or consent.
“Governor Gavin Newscum and ‘Mayor’ Bass should apologize to the people of Los Angeles for the absolutely horrible job that they have done, and this now includes the ongoing L.A. riots,” Trump ranted on Truth Social. “These are not protesters, they are troublemakers and insurrectionists. Remember, NO MASKS!”
Trump has repeatedly framed the situation as a law-and-order crisis fueled by “radical left protests” and “paid troublemakers.” Before departing for Camp David from his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on Sunday evening, he reiterated his stance: “I think it was a riot. I think it was very bad. It was covered as a riot by almost everybody.”
Democrats have blasted Trump’s show of force, drawing a sharp contrast with his inaction during the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, accusing him of rushing to crack down on immigration protests while having all but sat on his hands as a mob stormed Congress four years ago.
Late Sunday, Mayor Karen Bass said Los Angeles had become a “tinderbox” as violence escalated around the Metropolitan Detention Center, where detained immigrants were being held. Demonstrators tried to block ICE transport vans and clashed with police outside the facility. One protester was reportedly struck by a car while attempting to halt its movement.
The LAPD arrested 11 people Saturday, and dozens more were detained throughout the weekend by both city and state law enforcement. The California Highway Patrol made 17 arrests on the 101 Freeway, and in San Francisco, police reported 60 arrests and three injured officers as solidarity demonstrations erupted.
ICE acknowledged the source of the unrest, revealing it had arrested 118 immigrants in L.A. during the past week. Though the agency said the focus was on public safety threats, Homan signaled a broader scope.
“I’ve said a thousand times that aperture will open,” Homan told NBC News. “And I said, if you’re in the country illegally, you’re not off the table.”
Raids targeted workplaces, Home Depot locations frequented by day laborers, and even scheduled court appointments. Homan defended the strategy while denying reports that ICE had conducted operations at schools, hospitals, or churches, calling those “misinformation.”
Still, the former ICE chief didn’t shy away from taking aim at California’s sanctuary policies and Newsom’s leadership.
“If [Newsom] cared about public safety in the state of California, he would not have a sanctuary for criminals, where criminals get released to the street in this state every day because of his policy,” Homan said, branding the governor an “embarrassment for the state.”
He also warned, “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.”
When asked if Newsom or Mayor Bass had crossed that line, Homan answered carefully.
“I’ll say it about anybody,” he said. “I don’t believe she’s crossed the line yet,” he added about Bass.
Tensions then exploded across the airwaves Monday morning when Homan lit into NBC News correspondent Jacob Soboroff during a fiery appearance on “Fox & Friends.” Homan didn’t hold back, calling Soboroff a “joke” and a “dishonest reporter” for how he handled the interview with Newsom over the weekend.
But the jab didn’t go unanswered. Newsom fired back later with a dare, challenging Homan to come arrest him in person. “Tom, arrest me. Let’s go,” the governor snapped.
The back-and-forth erupted after Soboroff questioned Homan during a Saturday interview, pressing him on whether his tough talk about arresting people who obstruct ICE operations included Newsom or Bass.
“There have been threats previously that if you stand in the way of your enforcement operations, you could be subject potentially to arrest,” Soboroff said. “Are you saying that about Mayor Bass and Gov. Newsom? Are they at risk of being arrested?”
“I’ll say it about anybody,” Homan replied. “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.”
Soboroff took that message straight to Newsom during an interview the next day. “Tom Homan, the Border Czar, said to me yesterday, he did not rule out arresting you nor Mayor Bass if you interfere,” he told the Governor, referring to the escalating immigration crackdown in Los Angeles and President Trump’s controversial use of National Guard troops.
Newsom bristled. He condemned what he saw as a show of brute federal power, warning that the Trump administration was veering toward authoritarianism.
“He’s a tough guy. Why doesn’t he do that? He knows where to find me,” Newsom said, eyes flashing. “But you know what? Let your hands off 4-year-old girls who are trying to get educated. Let your hands off these poor people. They’re just trying to live their lives, man. Trying to live their lives, paying their taxes. Been here for 10 years. The fear, the horror.”
Back on “Fox & Friends,” the morning segment cut to fiery street scenes — burning cars, crowds, chaos — and then played Newsom’s defiant words. Host Lawrence Jones turned to Homan for his response.
“Well, first of all, it’s just ridiculous,” Homan said, brushing off the governor’s remarks and doubling down on his earlier criticism of Soboroff. “That reporter from MSNBC? He’s a joke. He’s a dishonest reporter.”
Homan defended his stance, emphasizing that the issue wasn’t about protest but about action that crosses legal boundaries. “You can protest, you get your First Amendment rights. But when you cross that line, you put hands on an ICE officer, or you destroy property… that’s a crime. And the Trump administration is not going to tolerate it.”
He then made his point clear: “Then 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.”
In reality, California’s Department of Corrections routinely works with ICE, notifying the agency of eligible detainees up to 90 days before their release. However, the state does not hold individuals beyond their scheduled release dates if ICE fails to pick them up.
Despite Homan’s warnings and Trump’s hardline stance, Democratic governors across the country issued a joint statement supporting Newsom.
“It’s important we respect the executive authority of our country’s governors to manage their National Guards,” they wrote, “and we stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation.”
The protests, according to intelligence analysts, were largely sparked by immigration raids and the unexpected National Guard deployment. But officials also noted the presence of “professional rioters” and agitators in the crowd.
Homan himself sounded the alarm over the violence: “The rhetoric keeps rising and rising and rising — someone’s gonna get hurt,” he warned. “If this violence isn’t tamped down, someone’s gonna die, and that’s just a cold fact of life.”
While officials brace for more unrest, the political fight over immigration enforcement — and the broader clash between federal authority and state autonomy — appears poised to escalate. California, a sanctuary state at odds with the Republican administration, has long resisted federal efforts to crack down on cities that have offered shelter to migrants amid the ongoing immigration crisis.