Los Angeles is once again the center of national attention after President Donald Trump ordered 2,000 National Guard troops to the city to handle the escalating protests against federal immigration raids. The deployment of troops, which happened without the request or consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom, has sparked a heated debate about state rights, public safety, and the balance of power between the federal government and state leaders.
Chaos in Downtown Los Angeles
The protests in Los Angeles began after a series of federal immigration raids led to more than 100 arrests in just a few days. Hundreds of protesters took to the streets outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles. They shouted “shame” and “go home” at the National Guard members lined up with riot shields and long guns. Some of these protests turned violent, with demonstrators throwing rocks and chunks of cement at Border Patrol vehicles. As federal agents in riot gear fired tear gas, flash-bang grenades, and pepper balls, the situation in Los Angeles grew even more chaotic.
According to Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, “Instead of rioting, they should be thanking ICE officers every single day who wake up and make our communities safer.” She said that California’s leaders and the protesters were “defending heinous illegal alien criminals at the expense of Americans’ safety.”
ICE Officers Surrounded and Attacked
The protests have put ICE officers in dangerous situations. Federal agents reported being surrounded and threatened by protesters who tried to block them from conducting their immigration raids. In Paramount, a heavily Latino neighborhood south of Los Angeles, protesters tried to block Border Patrol vehicles near a Home Depot. Federal agents had to use tear gas and other crowd control weapons to push the crowds back.
President Trump said the violence proved that local officials had lost control. “We’re not going to let this country be torn apart like it was under Biden,” he said. “We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart.”
Newsom Calls Deployment Illegal
Governor Gavin Newsom strongly objected to Trump’s decision to send in the National Guard. In a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Newsom said, “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty— inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed.” Newsom argued that California law enforcement was capable of managing the protests and that the National Guard would only make the situation worse.
He wrote, “There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation.” Newsom has also said that California’s National Guard is under his command and that Trump’s move was illegal.
Trump used a provision of federal law that allows the president to deploy troops when there is a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” This was the same law used in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent federal troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators. But critics argue that this situation does not meet the same standards.
House Speaker Mike Johnson supported Trump’s decision, saying, “Gavin Newsom has shown an inability or an unwillingness to do what is necessary, so the president stepped in.” Trump himself said, “If people stand in the way of law and order, yeah, they will face charges.” He warned that even Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could face federal charges if they tried to block immigration enforcement efforts.
California’s Role in the Unrest
Critics of California’s immigration policies believe the state’s refusal to help ICE and local police has fueled the protests. A spokesperson for ICE said that agents had arrested a 55-year-old illegal immigrant from the Philippines who had been convicted of assault, theft, burglary, and rape. “This criminal illegal alien is who Newsom, Bass, and the rioters are trying to protect over US citizens,” said McLaughlin.
Trump’s decision to send the National Guard without the governor’s permission is the first time in decades this has happened. The move has brought back memories of the 1992 Rodney King riots when California’s governor did request federal troops. This time, Newsom says the state can handle the protests without help.
The protests have been marked by tense standoffs between demonstrators and the National Guard. In downtown Los Angeles, videos showed tear gas filling the streets as protesters faced off against the soldiers. Trump congratulated the National Guard on a “great job” after their first day in the city.
Trump also warned that if violence continued, he was ready to send in active-duty Marines. “The bar is what I think it is,” he said. “If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, sending Marines will be very, very strong in terms of law and order.”
Some believe that California leaders caused this crisis by refusing to support federal immigration enforcement. In the eyes of Trump and his supporters, sending in the National Guard was the right step to keep order and protect the people.
NP Editor: This is yet another battle that Newsom is losing, and it will harm his projected bid for the Presidency. Under other circumstances I would say this is strictly a political attack, perhaps even fabricated, but Newsom actually continues to step in cow paddies, and Trump and others are continuing to call out genuine incompetence and stupidity.
