Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) claimed that the White House is trying to intimidate elected officials at Thursday’s press conference as federal agents turned up at the media event and arrested at least one individual. 

“The White House just sent federal agents to try to intimidate elected officials at a press conference. The problem for them is, Los Angeles doesn’t get scared and Los Angeles doesn’t back down. We never have and we never will,” Bass said in a Thursday post on social media platform X. 

Bass, who has been critical of the administration’s immigration raids, argued the deployment of U.S. Border Patrol in downtown Los Angeles, near where California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) held a press conference, was not a “coincidence.” 

“This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor’s face. Why would you do that? That is unbelievably disrespectful. It’s a provocative act,” Bass said in a gaggle with reporters on Thursday. 

“They’re talking about disorder in Los Angeles, and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable. This is an administration, this is a Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amuck. This absolutely has to stop,” the Los Angeles mayor added. “There was no danger here. There was no need to detain anyone here, and there was certainly no need to have a provocative act right here, where the governor is having a press conference.” 

Border Patrol was conducting immigration enforcement in the area and the agents arrested one individual who is in the country illegally, Border Patrol Sector Commander Gregory K. Bovino said Thursday, according to NBC4 Los Angeles. 

Similar operations have been conducted by immigration officials in and around Los Angeles since June. 

“There’s no, no coincidence in breaking the law. So, when they break the law, you can expect, because you’re probably going to get arrested,” Bovino told reporters, according to NBC. 

U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California Bill Essayli pushed back on Bass’s assertions, arguing the Los Angeles mayor and other California lawmakers are “under the false impression that they are an actual sanctuary from federal law.” 

“No person or state is above the law,” Essayli said on X. “Federal agents will operate anywhere and anytime within the United States.” 

During the press conference, Newsom rallied support for his redistricting proposal in light of the push by lawmakers in Texas to gain five House seats ahead of the 2026 midterms, saying Thursday the nation needs to “wake up” to what President Trump is attempting to do as the commander-in-chief. 

“We’re putting maps on the ballot, and we’re giving the power to the people,” Newsom said. “This will be the first redistricting that’s ever done that. That’s the difference.”