As California Governor Gavin Newsom was verbally bashing President Donald Trump in a Los Angeles auditorium Thursday afternoon, Border Patrol agents swarmed outside and made at least one arrest.
News video showed a group of agents in tactical gear as someone wearing handcuffs was escorted through the crowd.
Newsom acknowledged the law enforcement presence during a speech he was giving inside the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center in Little Tokyo, “Right outside, at this exact moment, dozens and dozens of ICE agents.”
"Donald Trump, you think it’s coincidental? Donald Trump’s minions, [border czar] Tom Homan, decided this was a location they’d advance,” the governor said.
He then referenced a phrase from Senator Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, “Donald Trump, you have poked the bear,” and added, “We will punch back."
Border Patrol Sector Commander Gregory Bovino told NBC4 Los Angeles while the agency was conducting immigration enforcement patrols, it detained one person, who he claimed was in the country illegally.
Bovino told Fox 11 Los Angeles right after the arrest, “We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place since we won’t have politicians that will do that, we do that ourselves.”
Following his speech, Newsom said of the agents outside, “I think it's pretty sick and pathetic.”
“They chose the time, manner, and place to send their district director outside right when we're about to have this press conference, that everything you know about Donald Trump's America...about the authoritarian tendencies of the President,” he told reporters.
Newsom and Trump have ramped up insults against each other after the president deployed about 4,000 National Guard troops and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in June to quell mass protests against his mass migrant deportation efforts.
The governor went as far as to sue the Trump administration over the National Guard’s deployment. A federal judge conducted a three-day trial this week to determine if the deployment is lawful.
The judge is yet to make a ruling. Some 250 National Guard troops remain in Los Angeles, the Associated Press recently reported, citing the Pentagon.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass was fired up over the federal agents’ patrol Thursday, telling reporters, “There is no way this was a coincidence.”
“This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were gonna come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face,” she said.
Bass called the move “unbelievably disrespectful” and “provocative.”
“They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles, and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now,” she said. “There was no danger here. There was no need to detain anyone here. “
Newsom and other Democratic leaders announced Thursday they will continue with a plan to redraw congressional maps in their favor.
With the new maps, the Democrats hope to gain five more House seats in the 2026 election. Newsom called for a special election on November 4, so voters can decide on the new maps. State lawmakers plan to declare the special election next week, per the Associated Press.
The move is in response to a Texas Republican effort to pick up five more seats, which Trump recently told CNBC they are “entitled to.”
Following Newsom’s speech, Senator Schiff wrote on X, “Dear Donald,” and shared an image of the California flag, which displays the famous grizzly bear, with altered text that reads, “Don’t Poke The Bear.”
This is a developing story...
