Trump Administration Orders National Guard Troops to Los Angeles

What Happened?

The Trump Administration has ordered approximately 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles to help quell protests directed against Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) personnel. In recent days Los Angeles has seen several protests near Paramount and the L.A. Civic Center where ICE agents were detaining migrants accused of being in the U.S. illegally. 

The L.A. County Sheriff’s department reported two arrests of protestors for interfering with the ICE agents in the performance of their duty. Overall, L.A. city officials reported nearly a dozen arrests since the protests began. 

Why it Matters

Los Angeles has seen federalized guard troops several times in the past, but in each of those instances the Governor of California had requested federal assistance. The current federalization of guard troops by the Trump Administration is the first time it’s been done on this scale without the request of a state governor since 1965. In 1965 President Johnson sent federalized troops to Alabama to stop segregationists from blocking the enforcement of integrated school laws.

Curbing illegal immigration has been a signature issue of the Trump Administration, and to accomplish it ICE has been more active and aggressive in their efforts to locate and deport illegal immigrants. The recent protests in Los Angeles started when crowds began confronting ICE agents who were conducting raids on several local businesses in the Paramount part of town.

As is common in situations where crowds and law enforcement officers are engaged in standoffs in large urban areas, the situation can escalate quickly and there were conflicting reports of what happened. Crowds who were chanting ‘ICE agents go home’ appear to have been struck by stun grenades and pepper spray, because some members of the crowd were throwing bottles and other objects at law enforcement officials. Other reports claimed the crowds were not breaking any laws when law enforcement officials deployed non-lethals to disperse the protestors.

The small number of arrests reported by local authorities in L.A. suggests the deployment of guard troops may have been premature, although as past incidents in L.A. have demonstrated, things can intensify rapidly. Still, as of Sunday, neither the Governor of California nor local law enforcement officials in L.A. had indicated they needed any help from the federal government.

President Trump posted messages congratulating the guard forces for doing a good job before any of them had even arrived in L.A. Secretary of Defense Hegseth threatened to send in Marines from Camp Pendleton and said they had been placed on high alert. But no confirmation of that had been acknowledged by the First Marine Division, which is the largest unit at Camp Pendleton. 

How it Affects You

Protests in Los Angeles have a history of spreading and escalating, but whether the presence of guard troops will bring calm or inflame the situation remains to be seen. Either way the situation could become a major test for the Trump Administration and its policies on immigration.