Newsom calls National Guard deployment 'unlawful' as immigration clashes rock LA
SACRAMENTO, California — Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration called the Trump administration's deployment of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area 'unlawful," urging Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Sunday to back down as demonstrators clashed with law enforcement.
The Trump administration's extraordinary deployment of the Guard to quell immigration protests in Southern California came without necessary coordination with California officials, Newsom's legal affairs secretary wrote in a letter to Hegseth. Newsom's team argued that state and local police agencies had the situation under control and that federal intervention would only intensify the conflict.
'There is currently no need for the National Guard to be deployed in Los Angeles, and to do so in this unlawful manner and for such a lengthy period is a serious breach of state sovereignty that seems intentionally designed to inflame the situation,' Newsom Legal Affairs Secretary David Sapp wrote.
President Donald Trump's move to federalize a state's National Guard without the governor's approval was the first of its kind since Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama in 1965. Around 300 National Guard troops arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday as protests of immigration raids stretched into their third day. At one demonstration, law enforcement used tear gas on protesters who approached National Guard troops, though it was unclear which law enforcement agency threw the smoke-filled canisters, the Associated Press reported.
Protests sprang up in downtown Los Angeles Friday and continued in the region throughout the weekend, with demonstrators facing off with federal agents Saturday in response to an immigration raid at a suburban Home Depot.
In an AP video, protesters blocked off a major roadway, many of them waving Mexican flags and holding signs as traffic came to a standstill.
Newsom traveled to Los Angeles on Sunday to meet with local officials and be briefed by law enforcement, according to a spokesperson for the governor.
Democrats in California and across the country rallied around Newsom as he sought to push back on the Trump administration's intercession. Former Vice President Kamala Harris, who lives in Los Angeles, called Trump's action a 'dangerous escalation meant to provoke chaos.'
'This Administration's actions are not about public safety — they're about stoking fear. Fear of a community demanding dignity and due process,' Harris, who is considering running for California governor next year or president in 2028, wrote in a statement.
The nation's Democratic governors derided Trump's Guard takeover as an 'ineffective and dangerous' override of Newsom's authority.
'President Trump's move to deploy California's National Guard is an alarming abuse of power,' the Democratic chief executives wrote in a joint statement. '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 governors' stand came as the Trump administration considers deploying Marines to Los Angeles County. A Defense official told POLITICO that 500 members of the military branch were given 'prepare to deploy' orders and could be sent to the region.
'We're going to have troops everywhere,' Trump told reporters on Sunday, without offering specifics. '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's border czar Tom Homan told NBC News that raids will continue daily in the region and hinted that Newsom or Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could be arrested if they 'cross that line' and impede immigration enforcement.
The National Guard deployment, paired with Newsom's legal shot across the bow, reflects rising tensions in the Trump-Newsom relationship after the two leaders seemingly entered a fragile détente when Trump visited Los Angeles in wake of the fires there earlier this year.
Newsom and other California Democrats have blasted the administration's response to the demonstrations, while also calling for protesters to avoid violence. The California governor's counterparts across the country cast Trump's unwanted intervention as a vote of no-confidence in local police agencies.
'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,' the Democratic governors wrote.
— Myah Ward and Gregory Svirnovskiy contributed to this report.
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