'The problem is YOU': JD Vance locked in online spat with Gavin Newsom as 'mass arrests' underway in LA during curfew

11 June 2025, 08:02

JD Vance has continued an online spat with Governor of California Gavin Newsom, while mass arrests are being initiated and a curfew enforced to quell unrest over immigration raids in the US.

The Vice President of the US blamed Mr Newsom for the unrest in his state, writing to him directly on X: "The problem is YOU."

Mr Vance accuses Mr Newsom and "his stooge" Karen Bass of encouraging the riots "because their entire political movement exists for one purpose: to promote mass migration into our country".

He added: "Democratic leadership has no solution for the economy, for prosperity, or for security. They use their power when they're in the majority to import millions of illegal immigrants and when they're in opposition they do everything possible to prevent deportations."

The comments are the latest addition to an ongoing spat between Mr Newsom and the Republican government over the ongoing protests in California against immigration raids in the community.

Mr Newsom has been critical of President Donald Trump sending the National Guard to California to deal with the protests - something Mr Newsom claims has inflamed tensions more.

Read more: California to sue ‘reckless and immoral’ Trump for sending troops to LA and ‘putting lives at risk’

Read more: 'Anarchy will not stand' in LA, Trump says - claiming the city would be 'burning' if troops hadn’t been deployed

Writing on X, Mr Newsom previously told JD Vance: "We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. Rescind the order. Return control to California."

While politicians continue their war of words, Los Angeles leaders imposed a downtown curfew on Tuesday on the fifth day of protests against President Trump's immigration crackdown.

Mr Trump has activated more than 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines over the objections of city and state leaders, although the Marines have not yet been spotted in Los Angeles and Guard troops have had limited engagement with protesters.

Ongoing violence has seen businesses looted and properties damaged. Police say restrictions in some areas of the city are necessary, because of "unlawful and dangerous behaviour".

The Los Angeles Police Department reported multiple groups continue to congregate in some areas, despite the curfew. Those groups are being addressed and mass arrests are being initiated.

Mr Newsom has said the federal military intervention marks the onset of a much broader effort by Mr Trump to overturn political and cultural norms at the heart of the nation's democracy.

In a speech on Tuesday evening, the potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate said the arrival of National Guard and Marine troops in the city at Mr Trump's direction was not simply about quelling protests that followed a series of immigration raids by federal authorities. I

Instead, he said, it was part of a calculated "war" intended to upend the foundations of society and concentrate power in the White House.

He said: "California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes. This moment we have feared has arrived."