Leaked messages have shown that federal agents complained about a “political stunt” aimed at Trump nemesis California Governor Gavin Newsom.
Hundreds of explosive court documents have blown the lid off federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, exposing a chaotic mess of random street stops, casual racial slurs, and rogue officers terrified they were being forced to break the law.
The exhibits were included in a motion for a preliminary injunction filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, Public Counsel, and other groups and private attorneys seeking to bar an “ongoing campaign of suspicionless and discriminatory detentive stops” in the Central District of California.
Among the records is testimony from a Border Patrol agent describing how officers picked the site of a June 18 raid at a car wash in Whittier. According to the agent, the team simply searched Google for nearby car washes, and the Whittier location was chosen because it “was one of the places that came on the list as the nearest location.”
The following month, when a phalanx of Border Patrol agents showed up outside a news conference held by leading California Democrats, including Newsom, a Homeland Security Investigations agent texted a colleague that the operation was “political” and “a stunt.”
A Homeland Security spokesperson claimed at the time agents were “focused on enforcing the law, not on [Newsom].” But the agent saw it differently, describing the operation as Border Patrol having “essentially raided the Newsom press conferences.”
“We got pulled off the [Home Depot] and car wash to run this stunt,” the agent wrote. “We’re told to assist with targeted enforcement... That is not target enforcement. That was just a political agenda. Hopefully I can get replaced soon.”
The filing also included body camera footage and texts capturing the casual manner in which some agents discussed operations, including the use of slurs against immigrants. In one June 2025 exchange, an agent noted that streets in Huntington Park “were packed with possibles.”
In another, after agents discussed making 31 apprehensions in a single operation, one responded, “Damn good s--t fellas.” Texts and footage also showed agents referring to potential targets as “wet,” a slur derived from “wetback,” and “tonk,” a term the ACLU says refers to the sound of a flashlight striking a migrant’s head.
Asked about the slurs, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said, “agents are focused on protecting the American people, not entertaining performative outrage. Where is the media’s outrage for Angel families who lost a loved one to illegal alien crime?”
The same August 2025 text thread that captured the “stunt” comment also showed two Homeland Security Investigations agents worrying that operations were violating a federal court order.
A judge had issued a temporary restraining order the prior month blocking agents from using racial profiling for indiscriminate arrests in Southern California, intended to stop agents from targeting Home Depots and car washes to detain Spanish-speaking day laborers.
“I complained about the Home Depot stuff saying I think it violates the TRO,” one male agent wrote. “Yeah I’m pretty sure it does,” a female colleague responded, later adding that she doubted the agency would meaningfully change its tactics. “I think they only know one way to operate,” she wrote. “See bodies, chase bodies.”
In his deposition, the male agent said operations grew progressively less targeted over time, culminating in the news conference operation, which he said had no targets at all.
“They marched to a democratic governor’s press conference. It seemed to be purely political,” he testified. “It did not seem like there was a good operational basis to be doing that.”
Having worked in immigration enforcement since 2008, he described the “overall aggression” of the 2025 Los Angeles raids as “a little intense for like a large city,” and called the news conference operation the final straw that made him want off the assignment altogether.
DHS and Newsom’s office have been contacted for comment.
