The symbolism of the Border Patrol’s gratuitous show wasn’t misplaced on the management of the Japanese American Nationwide Museum, the place the occasion was held.
The US Border Patrol produced a present of power exterior the Japanese American Nationwide Museum the place California Governor Gavin Newsom was holding a redistricting press convention on Thursday, August 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.
(Carlin Stiehl / Los Angeles Occasions)
We’ve seen flashes of Trump administration fascism everywhere in the nation just lately, from his takeover of the Washington, DC, police division and his Nationwide Guard deployment there to the continuing arrests and removing of law-abiding immigrants with court docket dates at New York’s Federal Plaza, to raids at Residence Depots and automotive washes in Los Angeles. On Thursday, although, there was a gratuitous show of federal muscle at a Los Angeles event that had nothing to do with crime or immigration: a press convention by California Governor Gavin Newsom and different state officers asserting plans to redistrict his state, and create extra Democratic congressional seats, if the Texas GOP goes forward with its plans to do the alternative.
Dozens of masked and armed Border Patrol brokers turned up on the press convention, held on the Japanese American Nationwide Museum in Little Tokyo. Regional Border Patrol chief Gregory Bovino declared that his crew was making “Los Angeles a safer place, since we don’t have politicians who can try this. We try this ourselves.” A few of his males brandished rifles.
“They determined they have been going to return and thumb their nostril in entrance of the governor’s face,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass instructed reporters. “That’s unbelievably disrespectful. It’s a provocative act.”
Newsom, who’s been trolling Trump on social media, imitating his ludicrous, all-caps braggadocio, instantly posted via his press office on X: “BORDER PATROL HAS SHOWED UP AT OUR BIG BEAUTIFUL PRESS CONFERENCE! WE WILL NOT BE INTIMIDATED!”
Flanked by Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, Newsom additionally mocked Trump throughout his remarks on redistricting. “Who else sends ICE [at the] identical time we’re having a dialog like this?“ Newsom mentioned. ”Somebody who’s weak. Somebody who’s damaged. Somebody whose weak spot is masquerading as power.”
The symbolism of the Border Patrol’s harassment wasn’t misplaced on the chair of the museum, William Fujioka. The museum sits on the positioning the place Japanese People who lived in Los Angeles “have been instructed to return right here and placed on buses and despatched to camps,” he mentioned, calling the present of power “a parallel of what occurred in 1942.”
Whereas Democrats nationally admire Newsom’s daring maneuver—New York’s Kathy Hochul, Illinois’s J.B. Pritzker, and Maryland’s Wes Moore have all expressed curiosity in comparable strikes—his redistricting initiative, which he’s labeled the “Election Rigging Protection Act,” isn’t a given to move when Democrats put it on the poll this November. It’s underwater with all voters, particularly independents, after Newsom and different Democrats have spent years pushing for an impartial bipartisan fee to attract congressional boundaries, a system imposed in 2010. The governor insists that he has to combat “fireplace with fireplace,” and if GOP states stand down on their plans to gerrymander extra seats, California will retain the present system.
On Tuesday, tons of of Angelenos, many carrying union T-shirts, protested ICE abuse at MacArthur Park. Protesters instructed of even authorized immigrants being afraid to go away their homes, and of dwindling enterprise for native shopkeepers. “This can be a looking of individuals,” mentioned a neighborhood resident of 40 years, who misplaced his garment trade job attributable to ICE raids. He describes “panic” at “the considered being detained and being separated from my household.” Nonetheless, he got here out to protest anyway.
Present Problem
On Thursday, just one man was detained by the Border Patrol close to the press convention: a employee named Angel delivering strawberries to a Little Tokyo courthouse. (Dozens of Border Patrol brokers, one detainee. Nice work, chief Bovino!) Coworker Carlos Franco got here to verify on Angel and located him taken away, his supply van nonetheless parked exterior the museum. He suggested folks “to watch out basically, whether or not you’re undocumented or not.”
Additionally Thursday, an individual was reported killed by an SUV, as they have been fleeing an immigration raid at a Monrovia Residence Depot, simply south of Los Angeles. Method to make our cities safer, Mr. President.
Newsom, extensively thought of a 2028 contender, alienated some progressives early in Trump’s second time period, when he hosted wing nuts like Charlie Kirk and Steve Bannon on his podcast, instructed Democrats may need to compromise on transgender rights, and referred to as the seizure of Kilmar Ábrego García a “distraction” from the kitchen-table points Democrats must be addressing. However Trump’s assault on Los Angeles and its immigrant inhabitants gave Newsom again his backbone.
It’s not clear whether or not he has the political clout to persuade cautious voters to again his most popular maps, however he’s actually gotten their consideration.
On this second of disaster, we want a unified, progressive opposition to Donald Trump.
We’re beginning to see one take form within the streets and at poll bins throughout the nation: from New York Metropolis mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani’s marketing campaign targeted on affordability, to communities defending their neighbors from ICE, to the senators opposing arms shipments to Israel.
The Democratic Get together has an pressing option to make: Will it embrace a politics that’s principled and standard, or will it proceed to insist on dropping elections with the out-of-touch elites and consultants that acquired us right here?
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Bhaskar Sunkara
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