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California Governor Gavin Newsom has announced a crackdown of his own on lawlessness, in response to threats of further federal interventions by the Trump administration.
Since the beginning of the summer, President Trump has used federal resources and state National Guard to aid immigration and law enforcement, including in California.
National Guard soldiers and Marines were deployed to the Los Angeles area in June to aid Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents after they faced significant protests and rioting conducting detention raids.
This month, President Trump deployed National Guard troops to the streets of the capital “to rescue our nation’s capital from crime, bloodshed, bedlam, and squalor, and worse.”
Thousands of troops from multiple states have now been committed to the crackdown in Washington, with President Trump promising to similar interventions in other cities and states, including Chicago and California. President Trump singled out Oakland as “very bad.”
On Thursday, the California Governor’s Office announced that it would deploy new California Highway Patrol “crime suppression” teams to work with local law enforcement in major cities, including Los Angeles, San Diego, the Inland Empire, Central Valley, and San Francisco Bay Area.
“We’re going to be expanding this operation, building on the success that has included over 9,000 arrests statewide,” the governor said at a press conference, making reference to previous deployments to San Bernardino, Oakland, and Bakersfield.
“And we’re going to expand this in a collaborative that continues to include the cities and counties, our partners in sheriff’s offices and local law enforcement agencies.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass thanked the governor for being a “collaborative partner,” and said she looks forward to “working with CHP to identify the best use of these additional resources.”
Newsom has emerged as one of the most high-profile critics of President Trump in recent months, and this has pushed him to the head of the potential candidates for the Democrat presidential ticket in 2028.
An Aug. 29 poll by Emerson College shows Newsom well in front of other prospective Democrats. His support increased to 25% from 12% in June.
Nineteen Democratic governors across the country this week issued a statement criticizing Trump’s “chaotic federal interference” in their states’ National Guard.
“Instead of actually addressing crime,” they wrote, “President Trump cut federal funding for law enforcement that states rely on and continues to politicize our military by trying to undermine the executive authority of governors as commanders in chief of their state’s National Guard.”
