By REBECCA BOONE
President Donald Trump has deployed at least 300 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests, over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Trump initially said he was deploying 2,000 troops.
It’s not the first time Trump has activated the National Guard to quell protests. In 2020, he asked governors of several states to send troops to Washington, D.C., to respond to demonstrations that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers. Many of the governors he asked agreed, sending troops to the federal district. The governors that refused the request were allowed to do so, keeping their troops on home soil.
This time, however, Trump is acting in opposition to Newsom, who under normal circumstances would retain control and command of California’s National Guard. While Trump said that federalizing the troops was necessary to “address the lawlessness” in California, the Democratic governor said the move was “purposely inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Here are some things to know about the guard’s deployment Sunday and conditions under which the president can deploy troops on U.S. soil.
Tense moments after National Guard arrives
Guard members arrived to specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted “shame” and “go home.” After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon.
The laws are a bit vague
The role of the National Guard troops will be limited
Notably, Trump’s proclamation says the National Guard troops will play a supporting role by protecting ICE officers as they enforce the law, rather than having the troops perform law enforcement work.
Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in military justice and national security law, says that’s because the National Guard troops can’t legally engage in ordinary law enforcement activities unless Trump first invokes the Insurrection Act.
Vladeck said the move raises the risk that the troops could end up using force while filling that “protection” role. The move could also be a precursor to other, more aggressive troop deployments down the road, he wrote on his website.
“There’s nothing these troops will be allowed to do that, for example, the ICE officers against whom these protests have been directed could not do themselves,” Vladeck wrote.
Troops have been mobilized before
The Insurrection Act and related laws were used during the Civil Rights era to protect activists and students desegregating schools. President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state’s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out.
George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of white police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King.
National Guard troops have been deployed for a variety of emergencies, including the COVID pandemic, hurricanes and other natural disasters. But generally, those deployments are carried out with the agreements of the governors of the responding states.
Trump is willing to use the military on home soil
On Sunday, Trump was asked if he plans to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles and he said, “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.” Trump didn’t elaborate.
In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to quell protests that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers. Many of the governors agreed, sending troops to the federal district.
At the time, Trump also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act for protests following Floyd’s death in Minneapolis – an intervention rarely seen in modern American history. But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back, saying the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.”
Trump never did invoke the Insurrection Act during his first term.
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