Trump wields little-used law to deploy National Guard to LA riots despite Gov. Newsom's protests: ‘Unable to handle the task'
It's the first time in 60 years that the commander-in-chief deployed a state's National Guard without the governor's blessing, and members of the Trump administration are saying the move is justified because the protests represent a 'violent insurrection' against the country.
'This is a violent insurrection,' White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller posted Saturday night.
Vice President JD Vance also used the word in describing the riots: 'Insurrectionists carrying foreign flags are attacking immigration enforcement officers, while one half of America's political leadership has decided that border enforcement is evil,' he said on X.
California Democrats seethed over the rare move from a US president. The last time the National Guard was federalized in Los Angeles was in 1992 over the Rodney King riots, when the president had the state's backing.
5 Rioters wreaked havoc on Los Angeles in response to immigration enforcement activity in the area.
REUTERS
'The federal government is sowing chaos so they can have an excuse to escalate. That is not the way any civilized country behaves,' Newsom said on X.
The rarely used power stems from '10 U.S.C. 12406,' part of the US Code on Armed Services that allows the federal government to mobilize the National Guard in the event of 'a rebellion, or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.'
'The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,' Newsom added in another X post.
'Don't give them one. Never use violence. Speak out peacefully.'
Bass, who previously put out a statement blasting the ICE arrests of illegal migrants in Los Angeles, said she tried to convince Trump's border czar Tom Homan not to put the National Guard on the streets.
'I'm very concerned about the potential civil unrest if there was federal intervention,' she told KNX radio.
But Trump rebuked California's leaders over the riots in a Truth Social post in the wee Sunday morning hours.
'We have an incompetent Governor (Newscum) and Mayor (Bass) who were, as usual (just look at how they handled the fires, and now their VERY SLOW PERMITTING disaster. Federal permitting is complete!), unable to … handle the task,' he wrote.
5 President Trump has lashed out at California Democrats over the chaos.
POOL/AFP via Getty Images
President Lyndon B. Johnson, in 1965, was the last commander in chief to federalize a state's National Guard without the governor's OK. In that instance, the troops were deployed to protect civil rights protesters in Alabama.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said Saturday that the National Guard deployment was justified because the protests were interfering with ICE agents who were trying to combat a 'dangerous invasion' that was spurred by 'foreign terrorist organizations' — referencing the Mexican traffic cartels that have been designated terror groups by the Trump administration.
'The violent mob assaults on ICE and Federal Law Enforcement are designed to prevent the removal of Criminal Illegal Aliens from our soil; a dangerous invasion facilitated by criminal cartels (aka Foreign Terrorist Organizations) and a huge NATIONAL SECURITY RISK,' he wrote.
He added the US Marines from Camp Pendleton in San Diego were being stood up for possible deployment.
Newsom called the possibility of using active duty troops against American citizens, 'deranged.'
'Deranged = allowing your city to burn & law enforcement to be attacked,' Hegseth shot back.
Meanwhile, Homan told NBC News that 'someone is going to lose their life' in the protests and suggested that Newsom and Bass could be referred to the Justice Department for criminal charges over their handling of the riots.
5 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass hit back at President Trump's claim about the National Guard reining in the mayhem.
AP
5 California Gov. Gavin Newsom accused the Trump administration of deliberately inflaming the situation.
REUTERS
National Guard troops were seen arriving in Los Angeles County earlier in the day on Sunday.
Newsom dredged up an old clip of Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem warning former President Joe Biden against federalizing the National Guard to prevent Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) from using the troops to secure the border.
Rep. Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), whose congressional district encompasses Paramount, claimed that local law enforcement has the situation 'under control' and doesn't need assistance from the National Guard.
5 Rep. Nanette Barragán claims that local law enforcement has gotten the riots under control.
AP
'I have spoken to the sheriffs on the ground, who have said they have things under control, there is no need for the National Guard, they have the manpower that they need,' she told CNN's 'State of the Union' Sunday.
'This is really just an escalation of the president coming into California. We haven't asked for the help. We don't need the help. This is him escalating it, causing tensions to rise,' she continued. 'It's only going to make things worse.'
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