Los Angeles: National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday, amid protests against immigration raids. An Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the guard 'has deployed approximately 300 soldiers to 3 separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area, the US Northern Command posted on X. 'They are conducting safety and protection of federal property and personnel,' it added.
According to Ghana News Agency, photos accompanying the posts showed two soldiers in combat gear with automatic weapons on a street and a group of some 25 soldiers in what appeared to be a garage staging area. On Sunday afternoon, protesters had gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre where soldiers had formed a perimeter around the building.
Protests began in the city on Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers executed search warrants across the city as US President Donald Trump pushes forward with his goal of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants. On Saturday, Trump signed a memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen 'to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester,' the White House said.
California Governor Gavin Newsom appealed to protesters to remain peaceful and not give the government an excuse to act. He condemned Trump's move, sharing a statement signed by other Democratic governors on X. 'Every single Democratic Governor agrees: Donald Trump's attempts to militarize California are an alarming abuse of power,' Newsom wrote.
Governors are the Commanders in Chief of their National Guard and the federal government 'activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with a state's governor is ineffective and dangerous,' the joint statement said. 'Further, threatening to send the U.S. Marines into American neighborhoods undermines the mission of our service members, erodes public trust, and shows the Trump administration does not trust local law enforcement.'
An expert cited by The New York Times said this is the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed a state's National Guard without the governor's consent. The last instance was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson used troops to protect predominantly Black demonstrators during the civil rights movement in Alabama.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump said Los Angeles has been 'invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals.' 'Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations - But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve,' he wrote. He had directed his officials 'to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots,' he said. 'Order will be restored, the Illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.'
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the city would 'always stand' with those who call it home. 'Deploying federalized troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,' she wrote on X. 'The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real - it's felt in our communities and within our families and it puts our neighborhoods at risk. This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protestors to remain peaceful,' Bass said. 'Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home.'
Trump's administration has threatened to deploy regular armed forces domestically, which would represent an even greater breach of norms. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth stated that, if necessary, US Marines stationed in California could also be mobilized. Newsom condemned Hegseth's threat to deploy US soldiers against its own citizens on US soil, calling it 'deranged behavior' in a post on X. Hegseth responded to Newsom on X stating that the National Guard 'and Marines if need be' stood with ICE. 'There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job,' he wrote.
The state of California, with nearly 40 million residents, is by far the most populous in the country and is home to tech giants such as Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Apple, Meta - which owns Facebook and Instagram - Nvidia, Intel and others. It is also the country's leading producer of agriculture products, with some $59.4 billion in farm outputs in 2023 - making it the world's fifth largest producer.
