Trump unleashes military & national guards on Los Angeles protesters in face of immigrant crackdown
Unrest sparked by federal immigration raids in Los Angeles provided a questionable catalyst for President Donald Trump to stage a demonstration of military force.
His deployment of National Guard troops, against the wishes of California’s governor and LA’s mayor — both Democrats — appears at this point to be mostly for show, intended to create the perception of the administration getting tough.
But the reservists’ presence at a fraught, politicized moment could worsen tensions and even become a trip wire that prompts more aggressive administration action. Northern Command said Sunday evening that 500 US Marines were now on “prepared to deploy” status ahead of what would be a stunning and constitutionally dubious escalation if they were to show up in Los Angeles.
Weekend protests saw law enforcement officers in riot gear use tear gas and flash bangs to disperse crowds in downtown Los Angeles and the nearby city of Paramount. The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said demonstrators threw objects and were violent toward federal agents and deputy sheriffs.
Trump is relishing his response. “Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free,” the president posted on Truth Social on Sunday.
He seems to be eyeing political objectives that go beyond the immediate situation in Los Angeles, which, compared with historical precedents, hardly seems to justify a unilateral presidential intervention.
He is delivering a warning to Democratic jurisdictions nationwide that oppose his deportation moves. And he’s not simply demonstrating his desire to militarize his crackdown on undocumented migrants, which he promised in the 2024 campaign despite legal constraints. He’s implying he’ll use the military, specifically the National Guard, to act against protest and dissent — a prospect that is troubling in a democratic society.
Trump’s move on Saturday is also a hint that he’s willing to trample tradition and potentially constitutional limits down the line and that he wants to exploit what Republicans see as Democratic weakness on public order. And it buttresses the authoritarian image-making of a strongman commander in chief who ended last week ringside at a UFC fight and who will cap this week with tanks rumbling through the capital, on his birthday, at a parade ostensibly marking the Army’s 250th anniversary.
(CNN)
