Federal agents conduct operation in LA's Little Tokyo where Newsom announced redistricting plans

LOS ANGELES -- Federal agents conducted an immigration enforcement operation Thursday in the Little Tokyo area in Los Angeles, outside the venue where Gov. Gavin Newsom held a news conference on redistricting in California.

Newsom's event was held at the Japanese American National Museum where he announced that he's moving forward with putting proposed new congressional maps for the state on the ballot on a Nov. 4 special election in an attempt to counter mid-decade redistricting being pushed by Republicans in Texas.

READ MORE | California moving forward with partisan redistricting effort to counter Texas' move

AIR7 video shows agents gathering on the street outside the venue. Eyewitness News learned at least one person was detained.

Newsom, referencing the agents, scoffed, saying, "Do you think it's coincidental? Donald Trump and his minions, [border czar] Tom Homan, tough guy, clearly decided, coincidentally, or not, that this was a location to advance ICE arrests."

But he added soon after, "People are scared. People are fearful," referencing how Sen. Alex Padilla had been forcibly removed from a federal building in June.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass also spoke about agents, and said there was "no way" the operation was a coincidence.

"This was widely publicized that the governor and many of our 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," she said. "Why would you do that? It's unbelievably disrespectful. It's a provocative act. They're talking about disorder in Los Angeles and they are the source of the disorder in Los Angeles right now. This is just completely unacceptable."

U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Gregory Bovino, chief patrol agent of the El Centro Border Patrol sector and commander of operation at large in L.A., told reporters that CBP was conducting routine "roving patrols" and made an arrest outside of the venue, but pushed back against insinuations that the location had been chosen for arrests because Newsom was holding an event.

"Today, Customs and Border Protection is conducting roving patrol duties here, as you can see, in downtown Los Angeles. This is a location that we have conducted these roving patrol duties for the past two months. We've been here over two months, and as you can see today, we did make an apprehension just a few feet from where I'm standing," Bovino said.

The patrols are meant to make the city safer, he added, and said that agents patrol all around the city.

Asked if it is a coincidence that CBP made arrests right outside of Newsom's presser, Bovino said, "Breaking the law is not coincidental. Breaking the law is breaking the law. There's no coincidence in breaking the law. So when they break the law, you can expect that you're probably going to get arrested."

Bass, speaking to reporters after, was incredulous: "This is just incredible. I heard Bovino say that he was here to make Los Angeles safe. This is not making Los Angeles safe... This is a complete problem, 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."

Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin wrote on X in response to claims from Bass, "Mayor Bass must be misinformed. Our law enforcement operations are about enforcing the law-not about Gavin Newsom. @CBP patrols all areas of Los Angeles every day with over 40 teams on the ground to make LA safe."

This is a developing story. This article will continue to be updated as more information becomes available.

ABC News contributed to this report.