{"id":21981,"date":"2026-07-30T11:54:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:54:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21981"},"modified":"2026-07-30T11:54:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:54:33","slug":"ice-presence-at-newsom-presser-was-stunt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21981","title":{"rendered":"ICE Presence at Newsom Presser Was &#8216;Stunt&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<div id=\"attachment_5659495\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-5659495\" class=\"wp-image-5659495 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/am13.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Gavin Newsom, Donald Trump\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" srcset=\"https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-1200x800.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/am11.mediaite.com\/med\/cnt\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-2048x1365.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2560px) 100vw, 2560px\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-5659495\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein, File<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Newly released court filings appear to undercut the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s public explanation for an immigration operation outside a press event hosted by California Gov. <strong>Gavin Newsom<\/strong>, with one federal agent privately calling the deployment \u201ca stunt\u201d and \u201cjust a political agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The records were filed in federal court this week as part of a lawsuit challenging immigration enforcement operations in Southern California.<\/p>\n<p>The case, brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, and other legal groups on behalf of several plaintiffs, alleges federal agents carried out unconstitutional stops and arrests based on racial profiling and without reasonable suspicion.<\/p>\n<p>Among the exhibits are text messages exchanged after Border Patrol agents appeared outside a Newsom press conference in Los Angeles last August.<\/p>\n<p>The event launched the governor\u2019s campaign for Proposition 50, a ballot initiative that ultimately <a href=\"https:\/\/calmatters.org\/politics\/2025\/11\/proposition-50-overnight-results\/\">passed<\/a> and redrew California\u2019s congressional map.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2025-08-17\/border-patrol-at-news-conference-newsom-demands-information-from-trump\">statement<\/a> to the <em>Los Angeles Times<\/em>, DHS officials maintained the operation was unrelated to Newsom.<\/p>\n<p>Yet, as one federal agent wrote of the \u201cstunt,\u201d in a text message to colleagues released in case filings, \u201cWe\u2019re told to assist with targeted enforcement\u2026 That is not target enforcement. That was just a political agenda. Hopefully I can get replaced soon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The filings also include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sfchronicle.com\/politics\/article\/border-patrol-newsom-raid-22365832.php\">sworn testimony<\/a> from the same agent, who added, \u201cThey marched to a Democratic governor\u2019s press conference. It seemed to be purely political\u2026 It did not seem like there was a good operational basis to be doing that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When asked whether the operation had become \u201cthe straw that broke the camel\u2019s back,\u201d the agent replied, \u201cIt was definitely one of them, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elsewhere in the filings, a Border Patrol agent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thedailybeast.com\/dhs-agents-raging-texts-about-stunt-targeting-gavin-newsom-revealed\/\">testified<\/a> that officers selected the site of an enforcement operation by searching Google for nearby car washes before choosing one in Whittier because it \u201cwas one of the places that came on the list as the nearest location.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[President <strong>Donald<\/strong>] <strong>Trump\u2019s<\/strong> own immigration agents admit it,\u201d wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tag\/gavin-newsom\/\">Newsom<\/a> on Wednesday via X. \u201cThey were ordered to target last summer\u2019s redistricting rally in LA\u2026 That is blatant authoritarianism, ordered by Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed_container\" id=\"8a3da9a095f11f39a92d0a97c82d7413\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trump&#8217;s own immigration agents admit it: they were ordered to target last summer\u2019s redistricting rally in LA.<\/p>\n<p>Use federal law enforcement to target political opponents.<\/p>\n<p>Politicize the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n<p>Defy court orders.<\/p>\n<p>That is blatant authoritarianism, ordered by\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yBPcY78mKD\">https:\/\/t.co\/yBPcY78mKD<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OEJpeO1zgY\">pic.twitter.com\/OEJpeO1zgY<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Governor Gavin Newsom (@CAgovernor) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/CAgovernor\/status\/2082536334498169040?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 29, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<p>\u2014<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein, File Newly released court filings appear to undercut the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s public explanation for an immigration operation outside a press event hosted by California Gov. Gavin Newsom, with one federal agent privately calling the deployment \u201ca stunt\u201d and \u201cjust a political agenda.\u201d The records were filed in federal court this&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21982,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/AP25245498337567-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}