More Guard Troops Sent to Los Angeles Despite Weakening Protests

What Happened?

The Trump Administration increased the number of national guard troops in Los Angeles to four thousand this week. According to the Trump Administration the additional forces are being sent to protect Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) agents from carrying out their duties. 

At the same time city officials in Los Angeles, including the mayor, continued to emphasize that they had the situation under control and there was no need for federal assistance. The number of protestors near the City Center area has reportedly decreased since this weekend.

Why it Matters

Immigration enforcement has been a signature issue for the Trump Administration, and since taking office President Trump has instituted more aggressive policies to find and detain suspected illegal immigrants. The number of deportations has continued to increase in the last several administrations, with the Biden Administration deporting over four million illegals and the first Trump Administration deporting over three million. 

California’s Governor Gavin Newsome along with the Mayor Bass of Los Angeles have repeatedly claimed they have the situation under control. The Los Angeles Police Department has nearly 9,000 sworn law enforcement officers, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office has another 9,000 uniformed officers. Taken together, the local authorities in Los Angeles certainly possess the resources required to handle protests which numbered, at their peak, about four hundred.

The Trump Administration has invoked the Insurrection Act of 1807 to justify the nationalization of guard troops. However, the Insurrection Act requires the President to issue an official proclamation ordering those engaged in civil unrest to disperse prior to the use of any military forces. The Federal Register, which can be viewed online, lists sixty-five proclamations during President Trump’s second term, but none of them are about Los Angeles. 

During the 1992 riots in Los Angeles, then President George H.W. Bush sent in federalized guard troops to restore order. During those riots in Los Angeles, there were sixty-three fatalities, over three thousand injured, and billions in damage from hundreds of destroyed structures. The current protests in Los Angeles have resulted in zero fatalities, fewer than twenty injured, and no buildings destroyed as of June 10^th.

Protestors who destroyed property or assaulted law enforcement officers this week have been arrested and will be prosecuted. But the relatively low number of such arrests, twenty-nine in a city of fourteen million to date, suggests the majority of the protestors thus far have been non-violent.

How it Affects You

Showdowns between state and federal authorities have occurred a number of times throughout the course of American history, and the outcome of this one remains to be seen. The last time a President sent in troops without a request from a state governor was 1965, when President Johnson sent in federal troops to Alabama. 

The Pentagon estimates the current planned deployment of troops to Los Angeles will cost one hundred and sixty-four million dollars and based on the current status of those troops, they appear to have little to do.