Trump's National Guard deployment intensifies long-running feud with California

San Francisco Chronicle​

2 days ago

SACRAMENTO — California officials were already bracing for President Donald Trump to try clawing back a big chunk of federal funding when he intensified his attacks on the state in a different way by deploying federal troops to Los Angeles.
The deployment represents an escalation in the long-simmering feud between state officials and the Trump administration.
Heading into the weekend, California officials were preparing to respond if Trump followed through on reported plans to revoke a wide swath of federal grants from the state. But before announcing any major cuts, Trump instead trained his attention on protests in Los Angeles and some neighboring cities over federal immigration enforcement.
The deployment comes as Trump has encountered legal roadblocks in his challenges to liberal California policies with which he disagrees. A judge blocked his latest attempt to withhold billions of federal dollars from sanctuary cities and states earlier this year. Last month, another judge blocked him from revoking college student visas, including ones for international students in California. Last week, another judge blocked his efforts to dismantle AmeriCorps in California and 23 other states.
California has already launched 22 lawsuits against the Trump administration since the start of his second term in January, according to a tracker by the news outlet CalMatters. Judges have blocked or partially blocked Trump's actions in 10 of those cases.
But Trump has continued to attack the state. In recent weeks, he's threatened to challenge or withhold funding over many other California policies, including those letting transgender children compete in youth sports, promoting diversity in schools and funding construction of the state's high-speed rail project.
The National Guard deployment is unusual not just because it wasn't requested by state or local leadership, but because state and local leaders have aggressively protested the move.
Gov. Gavin Newsom condemned the move in social media posts Saturday evening and followed up with a more comprehensive response in an email the next morning soliciting donations for his Campaign for Democracy effort. Local and state law enforcement in Los Angeles was adequately responding to the protests without National Guard backup, he said. Trump and his allies sent the troops to provoke the protesters, Newsom said.
'They want the violence,' Newsom wrote. 'They think this is good for them politically.'
'Great job by the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and unrest,' Trump wrote on his social media website Saturday night. 'Thank you to the National Guard for a job well done!'
Troops did not arrive in Los Angeles until Sunday morning, when they were filmed mostly standing around. The deployment followed two days of protests in Los Angeles, Compton and Paramount, where protesters had attempted to block some Border Patrol vehicles and police had fired tear gas, flash-bang explosives and pepper balls at the crowd. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said the deployment was 'completely unnecessary' in response to the roughly 120 protesters in downtown Los Angeles on Saturday evening. She told local news station KTLA that local police responded adequately to the instances of vandalism during the protest.
'I'm very disappointed that he chose to do this because it is just not necessary,' she said of Trump's deployment. 'There was nothing that was happening in downtown Los Angeles that the Los Angeles Police Department could not manage.'
Newsom urged protesters not to take the bait.
'Don't give them the spectacle they want,' Newsom wrote. 'Never use violence. Speak out peacefully and in large numbers.'
On Sunday, tensions grew as the day wore on. Hundreds of people gathered in downtown Los Angeles to protest the troops' presence there, according to live feeds broadcast by the Associated Press.
Newsom's office issued a letter to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally asking that the troops be withdrawn.
'The decision to deploy the National Guard, without appropriate training or orders, risks seriously escalating the situation,' wrote David Sapp, Newsom's legal affairs secretary. '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.'
State Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones of Santee (San Diego County) blamed Democrats for the ICE raids that sparked protests in the first place, saying that state sanctuary policies have forced federal immigration officials to conduct raids in communities rather than focusing on deporting people in jails.
'Now the Feds have to run broader raids, like what we're seeing in LA, which sweep up way more people,' Jones said. 'This whole thing was easily preventable.'