President Donald Trump said Monday that if he were in the position of border czar Tom Homan, he would arrest California Governor Gavin Newsom, following a weekend of violent anti-ICE
protests in Los Angeles.
“I would do it, if I were Tom,” Trump told reporters after returning to the White House from Camp David. “Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing.”
Trump added, “I like Gavin Newsom. He’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent — everybody knows that.”
The comments came after Newsom publicly challenged Homan during an interview with NBC News on Sunday night, saying, “Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy.”
The escalating war of words follows a weekend of unrest in Los Angeles, where rioters targeted ICE-related infrastructure and even damaged autonomous Waymo vehicles in protest.
Homan has recently warned that both Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could face legal consequences for obstructing federal immigration enforcement efforts. Newsom, in turn, has vowed to sue the Trump administration over the deployment of National Guard troops in California.
The dispute underscores mounting tensions between federal immigration authorities and state leaders who oppose aggressive deportation tactics. Photo by Clyde Charles Brown, Wikiediqa commons.