A day after the Pentagon ordered the withdrawal of half of the Nationwide Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized President Trump for losing lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} to look “robust” by punishing immigrants.
Newsom additionally accused the president of attempting to protect Republican energy in Washington by pressuring Texas to redraw congressional districts to elect GOP representatives. The governor repeated a menace to launch the same effort in California to favor Democrats.
“The whole lot has modified, and it’s altering in actual time,” Newsom informed reporters Wednesday. “I’m not going to be the man that mentioned I may have, would have, ought to have. I’m not going to be passive at this second. I’m not going to have a look at my youngsters within the eyes and say I used to be a bit timid.”
The feedback got here at a information convention exterior Downey Memorial Christian Church, the place Newsom met with the Rev. Tanya Lopez, the senior pastor, to debate an incident in June the place she watched as plainclothes federal brokers swarmed and detained a constituent within the car parking zone of her church.
Newsom criticized the administration’s immigration crackdown, saying its solely aim was to terrorize households and communities — to not pursue violent criminals, which Newsom mentioned he would assist. Newsom mentioned the crackdown was additionally harming family-owned companies as immigrants who work and store at shops keep residence out of concern.
The governor referred to as the president’s determination to deploy about 4,000 Nationwide Guardsmen a part of Trump’s “rule of cruelty” and mentioned the choice to take away half the troops got here after the Pentagon realized the absurdity of its deployment.
The federal government wasted of lots of of thousands and thousands of {dollars} on the deployment, Newsom mentioned. He added that the “utilization fee” of the Nationwide Guard troops was solely about 5%, which means solely that proportion was actively engaged with duties whereas the remaining had been held in reserve.
“They’re an answer proper now in quest of an issue,” he mentioned of the Nationwide Guard.
The transfer to ship residence among the troops comes after a authorized battle over whether or not the administration may deploy the troops. A federal appeals court docket dominated that the president had broad — although not “unreviewable” — authority to deploy the army in American cities.
State and native leaders mentioned the Nationwide Guard was not wanted to cope with protests over immigration raids which have led to round 3,000 arrests.
On a separate challenge, Newsom repeated the menace that California may redraw its electoral maps to assist Democrats choose up extra congressional seats in response to Trump’s name for Texas and different states to redistrict to learn Republicans within the 2026 midterm elections. Republicans presently maintain energy in each the Senate and Home of Representatives, which have been instrumental in enacting the president’s coverage agenda, together with cuts to healthcare and meals help for Individuals in want.
“They will’t win by the normal video games, in order that they need to change the sport,” Newsom mentioned. “We are able to act holier-than-thou. We are able to sit on the sidelines, discuss the way in which the world must be, or we are able to acknowledge the existential nature that’s this second.”
California voters in 2010 gave an impartial Residents Redistricting Fee the ability to find out the boundaries of state voting districts for the U.S. Home of Representatives as an alternative of leaving that authority with the state Legislature.
Newsom mentioned the California Legislature may move a invoice within the common session or in a particular session that locations a proposed constitutional modification earlier than voters to vary state redistricting legal guidelines via a particular election held in a decent window earlier than the 2026 primaries.
The governor mentioned he’s additionally exploring a possible authorized loophole that would enable the California Legislature to redraw the congressional maps themselves now with a two-thirds vote and keep away from going to the poll.
“That’s an possibility that can also be being thought of and each of these are being superior in actual time, not solely with members of the Legislature, however others which might be , as a result of they really feel the identical pressures I do in regards to the existential menace of what Donald Trump and a few of these Republican states are attempting to do,” Newsom mentioned.
