SACRAMENTO, Calif. — For almost a week, Gov. Gavin Newsom has come under fire from his fellow Democrats for dismissing the fervor around a wrongly deported Maryland man as a “distraction” while distancing himself from other Democrats who have sought to unify the party around the ongoing legal battle.

At a Wednesday news conference in Modesto, this reporter asked Newsom about whether he thought a federal judge’s contempt finding over the Trump administration’s refusal to return a wrongly deported Maryland man would make it easier for deportees like Andry Hernandez Romero to be returned to the United States. The governor had earlier asked Homeland Security to return the Venezuelan gay makeup artist who was deported last month to a notorious Salvadoran prison after seeking asylum in San Diego last year.

Newsom called the question “the distraction of the day,” but he was referring to a separate case where President Donald Trump and Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele defied a unanimous Supreme Court ruling to repatriate Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose legal plight has become a rallying call for other Democrats like Sen. Chris Van Hollen, who flew to El Salvador and met with Garcia.

“This is the debate they want,” Newsom told reporters after announcing a lawsuit against Trump’s tariffs. “You know, those that believe in the rule of law defending it, but it’s a tough case, because people are really, are they defending MS-13? Are they defending, you know, someone who’s out of sight, out of mind in El Salvador?”

Spokesperson Diana Crofts-Pelayo said in an email that Newsom “never” referred to Garcia’s case as a distraction, and that the Trump administration’s ignoring of Judge James Boasberg’s order and portrayal of Garcia as a violent MS-13 gang member and domestic abuser was the distraction.

“The governor’s point is simple: this is about the rule of law,” she said in a statement. “If the administration is in contempt of a federal court order, that should be the focus — not inflammatory distractions about whether someone is a gang member or not. Suggesting otherwise misrepresents what he said.”

In response to the California governor’s remarks, Van Hollen told “Meet The Press” Sunday he believed it was never “wrong to stand up for the Constitution.” A House Democratic delegation led by California Rep. Robert Garcia traveled to El Salvador Monday to agitate for the release of Garcia, whom immigration officials initially said was deported in error but have since willfully opposed his return to the United States.

“I think Americans are tired of elected officials or politicians who are all finger to the wind, what’s blowing this way, what’s blowing that way,” Van Hollen said. “And anybody who can’t stand up for the Constitution and the right of due process doesn’t deserve to lead.”

Masih Fouladi, the executive director of the California Immigration Policy Center, credited Newsom’s advocacy for Romero’s return and his recent interview with podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, where he said Democrats risked being “distracted” by a larger debate on crime and immigration.

“He’s calling for due process and doubling down on this false narrative that the Trump administration put out,” Fouladi said, referring to officials’ dubious claims of Garcia’s alleged gang ties. “The things Trump is putting out there himself have no support... The federal administration is making up false information.”

‘Misunderstanding’ the moment

One Democratic strategist said he thought Newsom’s “appalling” remarks betrayed a misunderstanding of the political moment as rank-and-file voters urge Democrats to take more combative stances against the Trump administration. Newsom is reportedly eyeing a 2028 presidential run and has been accused of taking steps to recalibrate his image for a more moderate national electorate.

The strategist requested anonymity to preserve his relationships in state politics.

“He’s making himself the (Neville) Chamberlain of the moment when Democrats want a Churchill,” the strategist said, referring to the World War II leaders who respectively sought to appease and oppose Adolf Hitler. “In the first 100 days of the administration, there was a sense that Trump was gonna run the table. But now the political realm has shifted. When Bernie Sanders can get 30,000 people to show up in Folsom, and there’s not even 30,000 people in Folsom, where are the Democrats?”

Steven Maviglio, a Sacramento-based Democratic strategist, said Newsom’s “clumsy” remarks detracted from the national party’s efforts to form a “united front” as they look for a way to electoral success in the midterms and risked burning a bridge with immigration advocates.

“Right now everyone’s trying to be on the same page,” Maviglio said. “The idle chatter back on the East Coast is, ‘who is this guy? What is he doing?’ We’re trying to figure out where he is. Is he meeting Trump at the airport and kissing his wife on the cheek while he has his hand out for wildfire relief, or is he suing him?

“There’s not been a lot of consistency in the way he’s been dealing with the administration, and it’s frustrating for Democrats. Doing this paddle left, paddle right, is not where Democrats are nationally. He’s stepping on landmines by alienating different constituencies as he tries to step towards the middle.”

Newsom previously said he would approach the Trump administration with an “open hand, not closed fist” but has taken a more combative approach in recent weeks as Trump levied a series of tariffs on California’s largest trading partners, which economists say will spike prices on everything from video games to cars.

Newsom has previously taken unpopular positions that put him at odds with his party. Most recently, the governor opposed Proposition 36, which voters overwhelmingly approved last November. The governor dismissed it as an unfunded mandate that would overwhelm prisons but abandoned efforts to actively oppose it. He opposed to a lesser extent Proposition 35, which extends a tax on health insurers to pay for Medi-Cal, whose funding currently presents a budget headache for state lawmakers.

He has also engaged little with the Democratic Governors Association, whose members at the outset opposed the Trump administration, while he courted the president for wildfire relief aid. Maine Gov. Janet Mills has become the organization’s most prominent voice after she told Trump she’d “see him in court” after he cut off federal education funding when Maine continued allowing transgender athletes to compete in school sports.

Conversely, Republican strategist Mike Madrid said Democrats’ interparty fighting over Newsom’s remarks took away from an opportunity to regain voters’ favor by taking Trump to task over the unpopular tariffs.

“Their saving grace is that Trump has stepped on his own nose,” Madrid said.

“But in my experience, (the Democrats will) win (in the primary) and not learn any lessons from the experience. Immigrants do matter. But I’m not sure Gavin Newsom is the most credible messenger on this.”

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