Following the large-scale national "No Kings" protests on Saturday, as well as days of unrest in Los Angeles where thousands of protesters swarmed the streets to show discontent with President Donald Trump's immigration policies, California Gov. Gavin Newsom took to Fox News to condemn the administration.
In a recent op-ed published on Fox News, which is extremely favorable of Trump, Newsom, who has become a leading national Democrat in opposing the administration, wrote about the dangers of increased workplace raids, particularly in his home state.
"While California is no stranger to immigration enforcement, what we're seeing is a dangerous ploy for headlines by an administration that believes in cruelty and intimidation," Newsom wrote in a passage of the op-ed, titled "Trump is trying to destroy our democracy. Do not let him."
"Instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and border security— a strategy both parties have long supported— the Trump administration is pushing mass deportations, targeting hardworking immigrant families, regardless of their roots or risk, in order to meet quotas," he added.
Newsom pointed out that the number of migrants arrested with no criminal charges or convictions rose from about 860 in January to 7,800 this month— a more than 800% increase. Meanwhile, those arrested and detained with criminal charges or convictions rose at the much lower rate of 91%.
As a result, he wrote, Californians, who have a history of peaceful demonstrations and civil rights activism, took to the streets to defend democracy. He said that the majority of protests were peaceful, partly due to California Law Enforcement's training to ensure order, despite having several cases of property damage and attempts to attack police officers.
Nevertheless, Newsom defended the protests, saying Americans have a "constitutional right to free speech and assembly," and in this case, to protest the government's actions.
"Our system of democracy was created in direct opposition to the monarchy and designed to bolster individual freedom and liberty so that we are never again subjugated to a king. It is that idea, that sacred value, that is being destroyed," Newsom wrote.
The governor also condemned the Trump administration for deploying more than 700 active duty U.S. Marines to the state, saying they are trained "in foreign combat, not domestic law enforcement." Newsom wrote that with that decision, the president "betrayed our soldiers, the American people, and our core traditions."
As of Tuesday, protests across the country slowed down following the weekend's "No Kings" protests, a series of over 2,100 demonstrations that gathered millions of people across 20 countries in one of the largest mass demonstrations in U.S. history, according to Axios.
Building off the success of Saturday's rallies, Transformative Justice Coalition announced Monday the next series of protests are planned for July 17 in honor of Civil Rights activists and lawmaker John Lewis who died on that date in 2020.
"We're going to center racial justice, because this country will never be right until it's racially just... we're going to center voting rights for all, because voter suppression has no, no right to be in this country. We're going to talk about our continued and united fight for a just, inclusive and strong democracy that is our goal, that is our obligation in these times," said Transformative Justice Coalition's Barbara Arnwine.
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