Former House Speaker Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) responded to President Trump’s repeated threats last week to send federal forces — U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents — to San Francisco to conduct immigration raids with a counter threat.
Pelosi said in a statement: “Our state and local authorities may arrest federal agents if they break California law — and if they are convicted, the president cannot pardon them.”
U.S. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal defense attorney for Trump, responded with a written warning to Pelosi, California Governor Gavin Newsom, Attorney General of California Rob Bonta, and San Francisco District Attorney Brooke Jenkins.
In the letter (see below), Blanche wrote: “We urge you and other California officials to publicly abandon this apparent criminal conspiracy.” Blanche added on social media: “California politicians want to arrest federal agents for enforcing federal law. We just sent them a letter: Stand down or face prosecution.”
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
Blanche also extended the threat to Democratic Illinois Governor JB Pritzker by writing: “Careful, @GovPritzker – this applies to you too. Federal law. Federal authority. Federal consequences.”
Republican former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) replied to Blanche: “Shut up clown,” and added, “The GOP used to pretend to be for states. It’s all a facade. There is literally NOTHING conservative about the GOP.”
Jackson Paller of People’s Lobby, a non-profit organization in Chicago “devoted to organizing widespread support for legislation and candidates that put the needs of people and the planet before the interests of big corporations and the very rich,” replied: “Working for the federal government doesn’t give an individual carte blanche to violate whatever state laws they want to violate.”