Federal agents in downtown LA as Newsom unveils redistricting plan

Border Patrol agents in Little Tokyo

Border agents gathered in Little Tokyo as Gov. Gavin Newsom was set to discuss redistricting plans.

LOS ANGELES - U.S. Border Patrol agents appeared to send a message Thursday by conducting a raid just steps from where Gov. Gavin Newsom provided remarks and unveiled a redistricting plan. 

RELATED: Newsom unveils plan for redistricting California

A man delivering berries to a nearby tea house was taken away in handcuffs. It's unclear what charges the man was detained on. 

Friends and colleagues of the detained worker gathered around his van, which was left on the street, trying to find answers.

"We’re just looking for info. We could maybe bail him out, just any info on where he may be just to get some clarity and some peace where he’s at least," said Carlos, who works with the detained man.  

ICE raid occurs outside Newsom event in LA

Federal officials say they were conducting routine immigration patrols in Little Tokyo while Gov. Gavin Newsom was nearby holding a press conference. The governor and Mayor Karen Bass lashed out against the federal government saying this raid wasn't a coincidence.

"We’re here making Los Angeles safer"

What they're saying:

"We're here making Los Angeles a safer place since we don't have politicians that will do that," U.S. Border Patrol El Centro Sector Chief Gregory Bovino told FOX 11. "We do that ourselves, so that's why we're here today." 

Bovino said they were on routine patrol in the area and didn't know Newsom was at the nearby venue. 

The other side:

Newsom unveils redistricting plan

Newsom says if Texas redistricts its congressional districts to add five more Republican districts, then California will change its maps to add five more Democratic districts.

As the raid occurred outside, Newsom and other Democrats gathered at the Japanese American National Museum to announce plans for redistricting California- a move that directly counters the efforts of Republicans in Texas. 

"Why else would he try to rig the system? Why else would you make the phone call? He's a failed president. Who else sends ICE, same time having a conversation like this. Someone who's weak, someone is broken," Newsom said during his speech. 

Newsom sent a message loud and clear, echoing what U.S. Senator Adam Schiff said by stating, "You have poked the bear and we will punch back." 

"We can't stand back and watch this amok or this bankruptcy disappear. We can't stand back and watch this democracy disappear, district by district across all this country, not just in Texas…other blue states need to stand up." 

Newsom went on to explain that the new maps will be put before California voters, as the state legislature will take up the issue next week to call for a Nov. 4 special election.

RELATED COVERAGE: Newsom warns Trump to abandon redistricting agenda

"This is just completely unacceptable," Bass says 

Mayor Karen Bass arrived in Little Tokyo after ICE agents departed. She fiercely criticized the federal government for their raid.

"There was no reason in the world for them to come here. They came here in all of their cars to do what? To take somebody who was driving a car and then denying that they took anybody at all. This is a complete provocation. This has nothing to do with safety. In fact, this is the exact opposite of keeping our city safe. We do not need them here and they have no business to come here and provoke this," Bass told reporters as she walked through the area. 

"There is no way this was a coincidence," Bass told reporters. "This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our other elected officials were having a press conference here to talk about redistricting, and they decided they were going to come and thumb their nose in front of the governor's face. Why would they do that?"

Bass responds to ICE raid in Little Tokyo

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass called out the Trump administration, after an ICE raid in Little Tokyo just outside Gov. Gavin Newsom's press conference on congressional redistricting, saying, "there is no way this was a coincidence."

She called the federal government's actions "unbelievably disrespectful" and what she deemed a "provocative act." She also said their actions are the source of disorder in the city. 

"This is just completely unacceptable. This is an administration, and Customs and Border Patrol that has gone amok."