Gavin Newsom on L.A. Rail Theft: 'We Look Like a Third-world Country'

LOS ANGELES, California — Governor Gavin Newsom professed shock and outrage as he visited the site of mass looting of cargo trains in L.A. on Thursday, helping clean up debris and touting his recent plan to help law enforcement fight theft.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: A Union Pacific freight train passes along a section of tracks littered with debris from packages stolen from cargo containers stacked on rail cars on January 19, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The area has seen numerous thefts of the containers aboard trains which sometimes are required to stop in the area on their way to other destinations. Union Pacific has seen a 160 percent increase in rail thefts in Los Angeles County over the past year. Many of the packages are from Amazon and other retailers. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

“I’m asking myself, what the hell is going on? We look like a third-world country,” Newsom said, before apologizing for using the word “gangs” to describe the attacks on the trains, stressing that he did not mean the word in a “pejorative” way.

“I’m asking myself, what the hell is going on? We look like a third-world country,” @GavinNewsom says at site of L.A. train theft

— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) January 20, 2022

“This is not one-off. This is organized theft. These are organized gangs of people,” Newsom says, then apologizes for saying “gangs,” says wasn’t “pejorative”

— Jeremy B. White (@JeremyBWhite) January 20, 2022

As Breitbart News has reported, images and videos of torn boxes and packages were shared widely on social media last week as the country learned of the looting of cargo trains as the Union Pacific line slowed near L.A, providing a target to thieves in the absence of law enforcement.

Responsibility for policing the railroad right of way falls on Union Pacific Police… not local agencies like LAPD. We did see Union Pacific police chasing two people today off the tracks and keeping an eye on things. pic.twitter.com/M5aQSrkGZW

— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) January 14, 2022

Newsom joined workers in trying to clean up the mess, the latest in a series of media events where he has worked to clean graffiti and debris.

Gavin Newsom cleanup (Office of the Governor)

The Union Pacific rail line wrote to left-wing, George Soros-backed L.A. District Attorney George Gascón — whom Newsom endorsed — demanding better law enforcement and threatening to route trains elsewhere.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – JANUARY 19: In an aerial view, a Union Pacific freight train passes along a section of tracks littered with debris from packages stolen from cargo containers stacked on rail cars on January 19, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. The area has seen numerous thefts of the containers aboard trains which sometimes are required to stop in the area on their way to other destinations. Union Pacific has seen a 160 percent increase in rail thefts in Los Angeles County over the past year. Many of the packages are from Amazon and other retailers. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg has done little about the theft, while claiming credit for having “saved Christmas.”

In a statement, Newsom touted his “Real Public Safety Plan,” which proposes $255 million in grants to law enforcement agencies. It does not reverse the cuts to law enforcement undertaken by many Democrat-run cities, including L.A., where Mayor Eric Garcetti cut police funding by up to $150 million in response to the Black Lives Matter riots in the summer of 2020. Newsom also promoted his programs aimed at cleaning up the state and assisting “local litter abatement efforts.”

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. His recent book, RED NOVEMBER, tells the story of the 2020 Democratic presidential primary from a conservative perspective. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

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