The Pentagon said yesterday that it is mobilizing 2,000 more National Guard troops and about 700 Marines in response to immigration unrest. The move brings the number of troops to be deployed in Los Angeles, California, to about 4,700. Protests in the city erupted after federal agents arrested immigrants in a special operation on Friday. The demonstrations quickly spread to neighboring Paramount, where there were more immigration arrests. The escalation of tensions continues to be a leading topic in the American press today.
A senior representative of Donald Trump's government said last night that additional military units are being sent to Los Angeles, citing increased threats against federal employees and government buildings, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Although California Governor Gavin Newsom has publicly stated that the situation has stabilized, Trump on Saturday authorized Defense Secretary Pete Hegsett to use military forces to protect immigration officers and immigration buildings from demonstrators, the newspaper recalls.
National Guard members work part-time and are usually under the direction of a state governor. The active-duty military is accountable only to the commander-in-chief and focuses on defending the United States, the publication explained.
Officials said that the role of the National Guard and Marine Corps in Los Angeles will be limited, but the broad nature of the presidential order raises concerns that it could lay the groundwork for future military action against protesters in other parts of the country, commented the "Wall Street Journal".
"This is Trump's dream", said Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman. He is also a Marine officer and participated in the war in Iraq. Trump "wanted to do exactly that - turn the military against the American people," Moulton said, quoted by the "Wall Street Journal". "Donald Trump has never respected what the Marines do abroad, and has always wanted to use them to impose his political agenda at home", the Democratic congressman concluded.
The Pentagon did not explain in its statement yesterday what necessitated the need to deploy 2,000 more National Guard troops to California, writes the "New York Times". More worrying for state and city authorities, legal experts and Democrats in Congress, however, is the deployment of Marines on regular duty, the publication notes. Tradition and law dictate that American military units should be used on US territory only in extremely rare and extreme situations, the newspaper commented.
"This is a provocation, not just an escalation," Governor Newsom told the "New York Times". "The goal is to sow more fear, more anger and more division," he added.
The state of California filed a lawsuit against the federal government yesterday, alleging that Trump has committed an "unprecedented usurpation of state power and resources" by taking control of the National Guard and sending troops to Los Angeles, the New York Times added. The lawsuit also alleges that Trump is violating both federal law and the Constitution and seeks a court order to reverse the deployment of troops and return control of the National Guard to Governor Newsom. The complaint also states that controlling the protests is a task for which the Los Angeles police and sheriff's department are best equipped.
Newsom warned other governors in the country yesterday that Trump could begin to suppress protests in their states against the government's crackdown on immigration, the New York Times added.
"The history of the United States should make any president cautious about deploying troops to suppress domestic unrest, whether it is the National Guard or active-duty military," writes "Washington Post" columnist Max Booth. One of the events that led to the American Revolution, however, took place in Boston in 1770, when British troops were deployed in response to tax protests. Instead of putting down the nascent rebellion, British troops are fueling it, Booth adds.
President Trump is playing with fire by taking control of the California National Guard and sending troops to Los Angeles despite Governor Newsom's objections, a "Washington Post" columnist warns.
Trump said Sunday that Los Angeles is "overrun and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals" and that it is being overrun by "rioting mobs". He ordered federal authorities to "liberate Los Angeles from the immigrant invasion and end these immigrant riots". The president's inflammatory rhetoric is unfounded, Booth said. The United States is far from facing an immigrant invasion, and recently saw the lowest levels of illegal border crossings in decades. Violent crime is also rapidly declining across the country, including in Los Angeles, the author of the article lists. The only emergency declaration has been made by the Trump administration, which mandates Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make at least 3,000 arrests per day, Booth said.
This is hardly the first time Trump has been eager to deploy troops to the streets. He attempted to do so during the George Floyd protests in 2020. Trump reportedly called on General Mark Milley, then chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper to "smash their skulls" and asked if soldiers could shoot protesters in the legs. Esper and Milley have strongly rejected such acts of state violence or even refused to send troops into active duty. The National Guard was still deployed, but generally acted with the necessary restraint, Booth continues in his column in the "Washington Post".
The author of the article also focuses on the role of the current Secretary of Defense Hegsett. Hegsett's tenure so far has been marked by continuous turmoil and a scandal related to the use of an unprotected chat in the "Signal" application, where he shared information about a planned military attack against the Houthis in Yemen, Booth recalls. It is alleged that even Trump was unhappy with the bad public impression he created and his willingness to inform Elon Musk (who has significant business interests in China) about the Pentagon's plans to combat the economic giant, the commentator for the "Washington Post" adds. So it’s no surprise that in handling the protests in Los Angeles, Hegseth seems to be acting more as a catalyst than a brake on the president’s worst instincts, Booth believes.
Defense Secretary Hegseth seems too willing to put soldiers in a situation where they risk becoming political pawns in the government’s attempt to ignite a crisis that will allow the president to strengthen his executive power. Now it’s up to the soldiers themselves to maintain their honor and not do anything that would violate the First Amendment rights that generations of their predecessors fought to protect, the Washington Post columnist concludes.