California Governor Gavin Newsom used a Los Angeles news conference on 14 Aug. to unveil legislation that would ask voters in a 4 Nov. special election to approve new congressional maps aimed at reducing Republican seats—an effort he said counters mid-decade redistricting moves by GOP-led Texas and other states. Shortly after the event began, more than two dozen armed and masked U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers positioned themselves outside the venue and made several immigration-related arrests. Visibly angered, Newsom called the action a deliberate show of force by “Donald Trump and his minions,” describing the former president as “weak” and “failed.” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass echoed the criticism, saying the agents had come to “thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face.” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem rejected accusations of political intimidation, telling Fox News the operation was planned in advance and focused on “the worst of the worst” criminal offenders. Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Greg Bovino said the agents were “making Los Angeles a safer place.” The raid is part of a broader federal immigration crackdown in Southern California that is being challenged in court and has drawn appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court. Newsom insisted the ballot measure will proceed unless Republican-controlled states abandon their own mid-cycle map-drawing plans, declaring, “We will not be intimidated.” The confrontation underscores escalating tensions between California officials and the Trump administration over both immigration enforcement and election rules.