SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Amid ongoing protests in Los Angeles and around California against federal immigration raids, President Donald Trump on Monday endorsed a possible arrest of Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom he criticized as “grossly incompetent.”

It was first floated by Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, who said he would arrest anyone who obstructs immigration enforcement, including elected officials like Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

Homan later backed away from his original comment and on Monday night told CBS News “that whole thing has been taken out of context” and “there’s no intention to arrest the governor right now.”

But could federal law enforcement arrest Newsom, Bass or other elected officials?

Legal experts say they’d have to have evidence a crime was committed.

“In the abstract, does the federal government have the power to arrest a governor or a mayor? Yes, if a federal prosecutor is convinced that they can prove beyond a reasonable doubt that those individuals committed a federal crime,” said Jessica Levinson, a law professor at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

“Being ‘grossly incompetent’ does not violate any laws that I know of,” said Michael McConnell, director of the Constitutional Law Center at Stanford Law School and a former federal judge.

“So far as I can tell, Newsom hasn’t violated any laws, so he certainly can’t be arrested if he hasn’t done anything. Newsom is as free as anybody to criticize the President’s actions,” McConnell said.

Levinson said Newsom’s and Bass’ criticism of Trump, as well Trump’s immigration enforcement and federalization of the California National Guard “is protected First Amendment speech.”

“I’m not aware of an authority the president would have to arrest the governor unless the governor was doing something unlawful,” said Leslie Gielow Jacobs, a constitutional law professor at McGeorge School of Law. “You can threaten things, but you would need to have legal authority to do it. You can’t arrest a governor for interpreting a law differently in doing his job.

Jacobs added: “He’d have to do something illegal. If a regular person would be arrested in those circumstances, then sure, you can arrest the governor.”

“Now, if Gavin Newsom physically puts himself between an ICE agent and somebody who they’re seeking to arrest and prevents them from carrying out a legal arrest, then that’s a different set of circumstances,” Levinson said.

Homan acknowledged Monday neither Newsom nor Bass had “crossed the line” yet.

“When someone commits a crime, we’ll ask the Department of Justice to investigate and prosecute,” he said.

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