California Gov. Newsom vows crackdown on ‘third world country’ freight train looting

Governor Gavin Newsom (D-CA) visited the site of recent freight train lootings on Thursday, commenting it “looked like a third world country.”

Newsom visited the Union Pacific train track into the city to “highlight a multi-agency effort to clean up the railway.” NewsNation reported the effort is to help fight theft and hold criminals responsible.

According to The Hill, Newson was heard in a video shared by Reuters saying, “It looked like a third world country, these images, the drone images that were on the nightly news. This is not a one-off. This is organized theft. They’re organized groups of folks that move from site to site.”

Union Pacific issued a statement on Sunday highlighting the fact that the lootings involved “criminals trespassing on Union Pacific property, climbing aboard trains and breaking into customers’ containers loaded with cargo, packages and merchandise destined to warehouse facilities around the country.”

Unfortunately, rail thefts have increased by 160% in Los Angeles County and spiked during the holiday season. Additionally, many are arrested, but only half are booked and some get released within 24 hours of their arrest.

Some Republican Congress members contacted Attorney General Merrick Garland calling for federal assistance to handle these thefts that are disrupting the supply chain (Associated Press).