Gavin Newsom’s Dishonest Anti-Trump, ICE Op-Ed Debunked

California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) denounced the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Los Angeles in a Tuesday op-ed for Fox News Digital, arguing that they are being carried out by “an administration that believes in cruelty and intimidation.”

The far-left governor repeatedly pushed falsehoods and distortions of the truth on recent ICE detainments, President Donald Trump’s deployment of U.S. service members to quell violent anti-deportation riots, and the legal trouble that multiple Democrat lawmakers are in due to their over-the-top protest methods.

“Over the past two weeks, federal agents conducted large-scale workplace raids around Southern California. They jumped out of unmarked vans, indiscriminately grabbing people off the street, chasing people in agricultural fields,” Newsom wrote. “A woman, 9 months pregnant, was arrested in LA; she had to be hospitalized after being released.”

The pregnant woman in question is Cary López Alvarado, a 28-year-old American citizen who was arrested in Hawthorne by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials alongside two illegal migrants, one of whom is her partner, NBC News reported.

According to Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Assistant Sec. Tricia McLaughlin, López Alvarado was arrested because she “obstructed federal law enforcement by blocking access to a car that had two Guatemalan illegal aliens in it,” 

McLaughlin told the outlet that “agents were assaulted, and an additional subject was taken into custody after he pushed an officer” during last weekend’s incident. 

“Additionally, rioters began throwing wrenches and batteries at agents. Anyone who actively obstructs or assaults law enforcement, including U.S. citizens, will of course face consequences which include arrest.”

While López Alvarado did go to the hospital after she was arrested and released on the same day, doctors only kept her for a day to monitor the baby after the expecting mom said she was experiencing stomach pain, NBC reported.

Newsom claimed that while “California is no stranger to immigration enforcement, what we’re seeing is a dangerous ploy for headlines by an administration that believes in cruelty and intimidation.”

He continued:

Instead of focusing on undocumented immigrants with serious criminal records and border security – a strategy both parties have long supported – the Trump administration is pushing mass deportations, targeting hardworking immigrant families, regardless of their roots or risk, in order to meet quotas.

However, DHS has confirmed that migrants arrested in the raids include convicted rapists, drug traffickers, and human smugglers.

Longtime television journalist Dr. Phil McGraw, who was on the ground at ICE’s Los Angeles headquarters and interviewed Trump border czar Tom Homan before and after the raids were being conducted that weekend, reported that the “primary” business targeted in said raids was a clothing company “suspected of involvement in criminal activity.”

While Newsom and other Democrats drum up sympathy for the few dozen illegal migrants that were detained, the veteran TV host said ICE “did not conduct a random round-up of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles,” in a Thursday op-ed in the Daily Mail. 

“Rather, their coordinated multi-agency operations were conducted pursuant to a duly authorized federal search warrant — not a rumor nor hunch,” he continued, before naming Ambiance Apparel as the Los Angeles-based business that is under investigation. 

In a sit-down interview with Homan, the border czar told McGraw that the clothing warehouse is part of a “bigger investigation” into alleged money laundering, tax evasion, and customs fraud — which could be connected to larger criminal organizations like Latin American cartels.

Hilariously calling California “the home of the free speech movement,” Newsom also said the state is “no stranger” to the anti-ICE protests, which led to injured law enforcement officers, local businesses getting looted, and property getting destroyed.

“Although there were incidents of violence and property damage, state and local law enforcement officials restored and maintained order,” Newsom wrote. “So it’s no surprise that – without any request or input from me – [Trump] illegally commandeered 4,000 of our state’s National Guard members to deploy on our streets.”

According to the governor, Trump “betrayed our soldiers, the American people, and our core traditions” by deploying the National Guard and U.S. Marines to contain the dangerous situation.

“When Donald Trump asserted blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard, he made that order apply to every state in this nation,” he continued, before arguing that “California may be first, but it won’t be the last.” Newsom went on:

Other states are next. Democracy is next… His administration has manhandled and handcuffed U.S. Senator Alex Padilla for asking the Secretary of Homeland Security a question. For doing his job. Newark Mayor Ras Baraka was was arrested as he accompanied members of Congress to inspect a federal immigration detention center. Rep. LaMonica McIver has now been indicted in connection with the same incident.

While Newsom and other Democrats, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, continue to back Sen. Alex Padilla (D-CA) after his forceful removal from DHS Sec. Kristi Noem’s press conference last week, DHS defended the Secret Service’s actions:

“Senator Padilla chose disrespectful political theatre and interrupted a live press conference without identifying himself or having his Senate security pin on as he lunged toward Secretary Noem,” officials said. “Mr. Padilla was told repeatedly to back away and did not comply with officers’ repeated commands. @SecretService thought he was an attacker and officers acted appropriately.”

Officials also noted that Noem met with Padilla after the incident. 

While Newark, New Jersey Mayor Ras Baraka was arrested for allegedly criminally trespassing at an ICE facility in his home state on May 9, U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced that the charges would be dropped later that month, CBS News reported.

While the case against Baraka was dropped, Habba announced her office has charged Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, who was at the ICE facility when the mayor was taken into custody.

Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) is still facing charges for “assaulting, impeding and interfering with law enforcement” during the same incident, Noem said. 

Chaotic footage from the day, featuring Baraka, Reps. McIver, Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), and Robert Menendez (D-NJ) at the Delaney Hall ICE center, shows McIver pushing law enforcement officers:

Newsom concluded his desperate article with a plea.

“Many of you are feeling deep anxiety, stress, and fear. But you are the antidote to that fear and anxiety. What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence,” he wrote. “Do not give in to him. Do not let him win. If we stand together, as neighbors, as communities, as states, we will win.”

Olivia Rondeau is a politics reporter for Breitbart News based in Washington, DC. Find her on X/Twitter and Instagram.