Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a stark warning on Thursday, threatening legal action against California officials who support the arrest of federal immigration agents. This move intensifies the ongoing conflict between the Trump administration and local leaders in the state.
Blanche’s warning came in a letter, a day after several prominent San Francisco officials, including former Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi and District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, indicated they might seek to arrest federal agents found violating California law during immigration operations.
Ms. Jenkins explained her reasoning, citing repeated instances of agents using excessive force against individuals in Los Angeles and Chicago. While she didn’t envision local police physically arresting federal agents on the spot, she stated her intent to use video evidence to identify agents employing excessive force and then seek arrest warrants from a judge.
The core idea was to prosecute immigration agents who exceed their authority, for example, through brutality. However, the legal precedent for states to arrest federal officers performing their duties is notably thin.
In his letter, which he publicly shared on social media and addressed to California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General Rob Bonta, along with Ms. Pelosi and Ms. Jenkins, Blanche asserted that arresting federal agents while they perform their duties would directly violate federal laws prohibiting interference with enforcement operations.
He further emphasized that the Constitution’s supremacy clause generally shields federal officers from state criminal charges if the alleged offense occurred during the performance of their federal responsibilities.
Blanche explicitly stated, “The Department of Justice will investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statutes, or directs or conspires with others to violate them.”
He concluded by affirming that “federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities.”
Earlier in the week, the Trump administration announced it was deploying U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents to Alameda, California, as preparation for an operation across the San Francisco Bay Area. However, President Trump later Thursday called off the specific crackdown in San Francisco, leaving the status of operations in the wider Bay Area unclear.
President Trump has consistently deployed federal agents and troops to various cities, including Chicago, Los Angeles, Memphis, Portland, Oregon, and Washington, D.C. He claims these deployments aim to reduce crime and illegal immigration. Critics, however, argue that these actions are intended to punish Democratic-led cities and instill fear within immigrant communities.