The Department of Justice warned multiple top Democratic California politicians, including Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, of potential charges on Thursday, after Pelosi suggested that federal immigration agents could be arrested by state and local police.
Earlier this week, Pelosi, along with Democratic Rep. Kevin Mullin, threatened that ICE agents could be detained as President Donald Trump considered a major immigration operation in San Francisco. In response, U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche sent a letter to Newsom, Pelosi, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, urging them to “abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy.”
“The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile,” Blanche wrote. The deputy attorney general then cited multiple federal laws that prohibit interfering with federal law enforcement operations.
The California Democrats addressed in the letter were told to “preserve all written and electronic communications and records related to any attempts to or efforts to impede or obstruct federal law enforcement officials.”
“We urge you and other California officials to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy, to stop threatening law enforcement, and to prioritize the safety of your citizens,” Blanche added. “In the meantime, federal agents and officers will continue to enforce federal law and will not be deterred by the threat of arrest by California authorities who have abdicated their duty to protect their constituents.”
California politicians want to arrest federal agents for enforcing federal law.
We just sent them a letter: Stand down or face prosecution.
No one threatens our agents. No one will stop us from Making America Safe Again. pic.twitter.com/xe0EK8QssO— Todd Blanche (@DAGToddBlanche) October 23, 2025
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi told Fox News host Jesse Watters Thursday night that if Democratic officials are telling state and local police to arrest ICE officers, they will face charges.
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“If they think I won’t [charge them], they have not met me,” Bondi added. “Because we will charge them if they are violating the law. We will protect our federal agents.”
Pelosi and Mullin, who both represent parts of the Bay Area, wrote in a press release on Wednesday that California law “prevents federal agents from taking certain actions.” The Democratic lawmakers added, “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the President cannot pardon them.”
California Democrats have also moved to make ICE agents show their faces while on the job. Late last month, Newsom signed a bill into law that bans ICE agents from wearing masks during arrests. The bill was signed as federal immigration agents face a massive increase in attacks on them, including shootings and car rammings. ICE sources told The Daily Wire that the new California law would not apply to the federal officers, and U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told “Fox & Friends” that California “does not and cannot have jurisdiction” over the federal agents.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced on Monday that the Trump administration would soon target San Francisco as part of its crackdown on crime and illegal immigrants. However, after Trump said some of his friends in San Francisco urged him to hold off on the federal law enforcement “surge,” the president had a phone call with Democratic San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie and decided to hold off on the operation.
“The Federal Government was preparing to ‘surge’ San Francisco, California, on Saturday, but friends of mine who live in the area called last night to ask me not to go forward with the surge in that the Mayor, Daniel Lurie, was making substantial progress,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Thursday. “I spoke to Mayor Lurie last night and he asked, very nicely, that I give him a chance to see if he can turn it around. I told him I think he is making a mistake, because we can do it much faster, and remove the criminals that the Law does not permit him to remove.”
Jennie Taer contributed to this report.
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