A day after the Pentagon ordered the withdrawal of half of the National Guard troops deployed in Los Angeles, Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized US President Donald Trump for wasting hundreds of millions of dollars to appear “tough” by punishing immigrants.
Newsom also accused the president of trying to preserve Republican power in Washington by pressuring Texas to redraw congressional districts to elect GOP representatives. The governor repeated a threat to launch a similar effort in California to favor Democrats, The Los Angeles Times reported.
“Everything has changed, and it’s changing in real time,” Newsom told reporters Wednesday. “I’m not going to be the guy that said I could have, would have, should have. I’m not going to be passive at this moment. I’m not going to look at my kids in the eyes and say I was a little timid.”
The comments came at a news conference outside Downey Memorial Christian Church, where Newsom met with the Rev. Tanya Lopez, the senior pastor, to discuss an incident in June where she watched as plainclothes federal agents swarmed and detained a constituent in the parking lot of her church.
Newsom criticized the administration’s immigration crackdown, saying its only goal was to terrorize families and communities — not to pursue violent criminals, which Newsom said he would support. Newsom said the crackdown was also harming family-owned businesses as immigrants who work and shop at stores stay home out of fear.
The governor called the president’s decision to deploy about 4,000 National Guardsmen part of Trump’s “rule of cruelty” and said the decision to remove half the troops came after the Pentagon realized the absurdity of its deployment.
The government wasted of hundreds of millions of dollars on the deployment, Newsom said. He added that the “utilization rate” of the National Guard troops was only about 5%, meaning only that percentage was actively engaged with duties while the rest were held in reserve.
“They’re a solution right now in search of a problem,” he said of the National Guard.
The move to send home some of the troops comes after a legal battle over whether the administration could deploy the troops. A federal appeals court ruled that the president had broad — though not “unreviewable” — authority to deploy the military in American cities.
State and local leaders said the National Guard was not needed to deal with protests over immigration raids that have led to around 3,000 arrests.