The Department of Justice (DOJ) on Thursday warned local authorities in California against arresting federal immigration agents for charges related to their duties after high-ranking Democrats raised such a prospect.
Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche addressed statements from California officials, including Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins, who he said “called for state and local law enforcement officials to ‘arrest’ federal agents and officers for enforcing federal laws enacted by the U.S. Congress, including federal immigration laws.”
“The Department of Justice views any arrests of federal agents and officers in the performance of their official duties as both illegal and futile. Numerous federal laws prohibit interfering with and impeding immigration or other law-enforcement operations,” Blanche said.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli wrote in a post on X: “A preservation demand was just issued by @TheJusticeDept to California elected officials. We will not tolerate threats to arrest federal agents engaged in enforcing immigration laws enacted by Congress. If you touch our agents, you’ll be arrested.”
Pelosi and Rep. Kevin Mullin (D-Calif.)—whose district encompasses the portion of San Francisco not represented by Pelosi—wrote in a statement that California police “may arrest” federal agents who break California law.
“Reports of a planned mass immigration raid in the Bay Area are an appalling abuse of law enforcement power,” Pelosi and Mullin wrote.
“Broad sweeps that target families and terrorize law-abiding residents betray our nation’s values and waste resources that should focus on real threats to public safety.”
They 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.”
In Blanche’s letter, the attorney said that his department would “investigate and prosecute any state or local official who violates these federal statutes” and that the recipients, including lawmakers and Jenkins, were “directed to preserve all written and electronic communications and records related to any attempts or efforts to impede or obstruct federal law enforcement officials.”
Blanche called on California officials “to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy, to stop threatening law enforcement, and to prioritize the safety of your citizens.”
“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,” he said.
The Trump administration had announced on Wednesday that Customs and Border Protection Agents were being sent to Coast Guard Island in Alameda, California, to prepare for an immigration enforcement operation.
On Thursday, however, Trump announced that he would not send federal agents to San Francisco this week.
The president had planned to send agents to the city in a crackdown on illegal immigration and violent crime, but called off the plans after speaking to the city’s mayor about recent efforts by local law enforcement to bring down crime.
Trump said in a social media post that he was preparing to “surge” San Francisco on Oct. 25, but that friends of his from the Bay Area had asked him to pause the deployment order because San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie was making progress in reducing crime.
Trump said he had then spoken to Lurie himself and that the mayor had “very nicely” requested an opportunity to turn things around.
Jacob Burg and Savannah Hulsey Pointer contributed to this report.
