Newsom Files Records Request For ICE Operation Near Redistricting Press Conference
Authored by Jill McLaughlin via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office has filed an official open records request to the Trump administration seeking information about a federal immigration enforcement operation that took place outside the venue where the governor was holding a press conference on Aug. 14.
The California governor filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for all documents, communications, and records from the Trump administration about the deployment of federal agents outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles.
Inside the museum on Aug. 14, Newsom and several other Democrats were announcing legislation dubbed the “Election Rigging Response Act”—a plan to allow voters to approve a new Democrat-drawn congressional district map that would bypass California’s independent redistricting commission in response to a redistricting effort by Republicans in Texas.
California’s Democratic Party plans to hold a referendum in November to ask voters to accept their redrawn map to favor at least five more Democratic seats in the U.S. House of Representatives.
The governor’s press office posted the information request on X Aug. 17.
“Did [President Donald] Trump or [Homeland Security Secretary] Kristi Noem send the masked agents to intimidate us?” his press office posted. “We’ll find out.”
The DHS disputed Newsom’s claims on Aug. 18. The U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) was conducting ongoing deportations in downtown Los Angeles targeting criminal illegal immigrants, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.
“DHS is a law enforcement agency—we enforce the law,” McLaughlin told The Epoch Times in an email. “Our brave men and women of CBP patrol ALL areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams to arrest criminal illegal aliens.”
On the day of Newsom’s press conference, federal agents arrested two illegal immigrants in the vicinity of the Japanese American National Museum in the downtown area, according to DHS.
“DHS is focused on enforcing the law, not on [Newsom],” McLaughlin said. “These arrests include an alleged Tren de Argua gang member and narcotics trafficker.
“Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, if you break the law, you will face the consequences,” she added. “Criminal illegal aliens are not welcome in the United States.”
In a letter to the Department of Homeland Security, Newsom’s office alleged U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents descended on the museum grounds in an “attempt to intimidate the people of California from defending a fair electoral process” and called the operation a “grotesque use of federal government resources for political grandstanding.”
Newsom alleged in a statement Aug. 17 that the president’s use of military and federal law enforcement was meant to “try to intimidate his political opponents.”
Newsom released a barrage of social media posts following last week’s event.
He said his redrawn districts would end Trump’s presidency in an all-caps social media post on Aug. 13, which read in part: “No deal=perfect, beautiful maps that will ‘end’ his presidency. Soon he will not be ‘47.’ Patriots will take back our congress… –GCN.”
Newsom’s office did not provide further comment, but instead referenced prior social media statements that indicated Newsom intends to help take back the Democratic Party’s control of Congress by electing more Democrats in California.
Tyler Durden
Tue, 08/19/2025 – 20:05
