Topline
President Donald Trump slammed Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Gov. Gavin Newsom as “incompetent” in a post on Truth Social overnight, hours after he called 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell protests that broke out over the weekend after Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers arrested dozens of immigrants in Los Angeles County.
Protests broke out over immigration raids this weekend in Los Angeles. (Photo by Taurat … More
Timeline
By Sunday morning, some National Guard troops had arrived in Los Angeles, where they were stationed along the major Alameda Street thoroughfare, according to multiple media outlets.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass appeared to rebuff Trump’s claim the National Guard did a “great job” in the city, stating in a post on X that the National Guard had not yet been deployed at that time in Los Angeles, while praising Newsom and local law enforcement.
Trump said in a late-night Truth Social post the National Guard did a “great job” in Los Angeles, while slamming Newsom and Bass and the “Radical Left” protesters and stating protesters will no longer be allowed to wear masks: “What do these people have to hide, and why???”
Newsom slammed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for “threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens” as “deranged behavior.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said it had arrested two people Saturday evening for alleged assault on a police officer, stating multiple officers had been injured by a Molotov cocktail, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Protesters exhibited “violent behavior” toward federal agents and local law enforcement, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement, while clarifying it is not involved in federal law enforcement response and is instead focused on crowd and traffic control.
In a post on X, Newsom said the federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying soldiers in Los Angeles solely to create a “spectacle.”
Hegseth announced in a post on X the Department of Defense is “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY to support federal law enforcement in Los Angeles,” stating Marines are standing by for deployment in case of violence.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Trump would deploy 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to address “lawlessness,” citing protests targeting immigration officers.
What To Watch For
More protests are expected to take place Sunday, in what will be the third straight day of demonstrations against immigration raids in Los Angeles.
Why Did Protests Break Out In Los Angeles?
Protests broke out Friday and Saturday in Paramount and Compton, cities adjacent to Los Angeles, over immigration raids conducted by ICE, during which the agency detained 44 immigrants Friday and 118 immigrants Saturday, the Associated Press reported. Police and protesters clashed over the weekend, according to local reports and videos on social media, with law enforcement using tear gas and flash grenades to break up the crowds while some protesters threw rocks and lit vehicles on fire.
Does Trump Have The Authority To Deploy The California National Guard?
Trump reportedly said in a memo he is invoking Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services, which allows the federal government to deploy the National Guard if the United States is “invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation,” or if there is a “rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.” Vice President JD Vance said in a post on X on Saturday night the influx of immigrants, which he called “Biden’s border crisis,” amounts to an “invasion,” rebuffing critics who have questioned whether Trump had the authority to deploy troops. Trump’s move has faced some pushback from constitutional scholars. “For the federal government to take over the California National Guard, without the request of the governor, to put down protests is truly chilling,” Erwin Chemerinsky, dean of the University of California Berkeley School of Law, told the Los Angeles Times.
Further Reading
The legal issues raised by Trump sending the National Guard to L.A. (Los Angeles Times)
