Border Patrol Arrest Outside Newsom Redistricting Event Ignites Clash With LA Leaders

A U.S. Border Patrol squad led by El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino positioned itself outside the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles on Thursday as Governor Gavin Newsom launched a campaign to put new congressional maps before California voters. Agents in tactical gear detained at least one man minutes before the governor’s remarks, an arrest captured by local television cameras and posted widely on social media. Newsom interrupted his speech to denounce the operation, telling attendees that “dozens and dozens of ICE agents” were outside and calling their timing an intimidation tactic. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, speaking to reporters later, said the show of force was “unbelievably disrespectful” and had “nothing to do with public safety.” Bovino rejected the accusation, saying agents were conducting routine “roving patrols” that have been underway city-wide for two months. “We’re here making Los Angeles a safer place,” he told Fox 11. The Department of Homeland Security echoed that position, with Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin writing that enforcement actions are “about enforcing the law—­not about Gavin Newsom.” The encounter deepens tensions between California officials and federal immigration authorities following a series of raids that state and local leaders argue violate a Ninth Circuit order limiting roving patrols. It also overshadowed Newsom’s unveiling of a November ballot measure that would redraw California’s congressional districts, part of a broader Democratic effort to counter Republican-backed redistricting moves in Texas.