California Governor Jerry Brown blamed “low-life politicians” for a growing backlash against the “sanctuary state” policies he has enacted in his state during an appearance at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

Brown spoke as a revolt continues to spread throughout Southern California against the state’s sanctuary laws in the wake of a Department of Justice lawsuit filed last month against the Golden State’s “sanctuary” laws.

The lawsuit seeks to invalidate three state laws — the Immigrant Worker Protection Act (HB 450), the Inspection and Review of Facilities Housing Federal Detainees law (AB 103); and the California Values Act (SB 54) — under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

Roughly a dozen local governments have joined the revolt, and many more are considering joining the lawsuit, with three new cities climbing aboard last week.

But Brown dismissed the grass-roots backlash against the “sanctuary state” laws as the political machinations of the Republican Party.

Fox News reports:

… Brown defended the state law, suggesting Republicans are exploiting it for political reasons. “The Republican Party has this little, narrow group of … people that think that somehow they’re going to get elected” on the issue, Brown said of the recently enacted state law that helps protect illegal immigrants from deportation. … “It’s an inflammatory football that very low-life politicians are trying to exploit,” Brown said of the conservative-led backlash.

Also on Tuesday, President Donald Trump criticized Brown on Twitter for failing to reach an agreement to send National Guard troops to the border:

Looks like Jerry Brown and California are not looking for safety and security along their very porous Border. He cannot come to terms for the National Guard to patrol and protect the Border. The high crime rate will only get higher. Much wanted Wall in San Diego already started! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2018

Brown reportedly told the National Press Club, however, that an agreement was within reach, and that he does care about border security.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. He was named to Forward’s 50 “most influential” Jews in 2017. He is the co-author of How Trump Won: The Inside Story of a Revolution, which is available from Regnery. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.