Gavin Newsom’s office has lashed out at the “stupidity” of Stephen Miller after he misrepresented how the state’s sanctuary policies work.
The White House deputy chief of staff posted on X during the Los Angeles protests against federal immigration raids that California’s Sanctuary State law means that “every criminal alien arrested” by local police is “set free back into the community instead of being handed over to ICE.”
The California governor’s team fired back, writing: “Yes, we seek sanctuary from your stupidity.” The post included a 2020 Washington Post review of the book Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda.
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Twisting the knife, Newsom’s office also referred to Miller as “Voldemort”—the villain from the Harry Potter franchise, a nickname critics use for the Trump ally—while citing data showing California’s prison system has coordinated with ICE to transfer 10,588 inmates into federal custody since Newsom took office in 2019.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Daily Beast.
Miller, seen as the mastermind behind many of Trump’s hardline immigration policies, also launched a bizarre attack on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass after she said the unrest in the city only began after the “intervention of the federal government.”
Sharing a clip of Bass’ remarks on X, Miller accused her of issuing a “threat” that the “mob violence” would only stop once federal law enforcement was withdrawn from the city.
“This is the definition of insurrection,” Miller wrote, giving a rather creative interpretation of both the term and Bass’ comments.
In a further comment not seemingly based in reality, Miller added that Los Angeles and California are “demanding the nullification of the election results, of federal law, of national sovereignty.”
Trump has also inflamed tension surrounding the L.A. protests by feuding with Newsom.
On Monday, the president went so far to say it would be a “great thing” if his border czar, Tom Homan, arrested Newsom if found to have obstructed law enforcement—something Homan admitted the governor has not done.
In response, Newsom said Trump’s remarks were “an unmistakable step toward authoritarianism.”
