Trump defends sending troops to L.A.; Newsom warns democracy is ‘under assault'

Washington Post

a day ago

FORT BRAGG, N.C. — President Donald Trump warned Tuesday that additional protests against federal immigration policies could be 'met with equal or greater force' than the 4,000 National Guard members and 700 Marines he deployed to try to quell demonstrations in Los Angeles.
Trump, speaking to soldiers here, said California's largest city needs to be liberated and defended his decision to send thousands of service members to suppress what he called 'paid troublemakers' and agents of a 'foreign invasion.'
'This anarchy will not stand,' Trump said, referring to the protests.
Later on Tuesday, in a scathing public address, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) accused Trump of a 'brazen abuse of power' for mobilizing the military, and warned that democracy in the United States was 'under assault' under a president 'who wants to be bound by no law or constitution.'
He accused Trump of conducting a 'military dragnet' across Los Angeles, charging that his administration had gone well beyond what officials had initially described as an effort to go after violent and serious criminals.
Instead, he said, the administration's mass deportation effort is 'indiscriminately targeting hardworking immigrant families' and sweeping up people without warrants on the basis of skin color or suspicion.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Newsom's address.
Meanwhile, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids that sparked days of protests in Los Angeles continued Tuesday, resulting in more than 100 arrests. The demonstrations also spread to other cities, including Austin, San Francisco, Seattle and Portland, Oregon.
Most demonstrations remained peaceful, but there were scattered incidents of property damage and clashes with police.
In Los Angeles, some blocks downtown turned chaotic, though most of the sprawling city was unaffected. The worst of the violence was limited to a small area near a federal building now being guarded by the National Guard troops that Trump deployed to the city over the weekend. Trump also ordered the U.S. Marines to the area, but there was no visible sign of them Tuesday on L.A.'s streets.
That night, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) issued orders for a curfew for part of the city's downtown, starting at 8 p.m. local time and ending 6 a.m. Wednesday, a step she said was taken 'to stop bad actors' from taking advantage of the 'chaotic escalation' by Trump.
Trump said the show of force in L.A. should serve as a warning that similar demonstrations in other cities would not be tolerated.
'If we didn't attack this one very strongly, you'd have them all over the country,' Trump said. 'But I can inform the rest of the country that when they do it — if they do it — they're going to be met with equal or greater force than we met right here.'
Trump also said he could use force against demonstrations that may erupt in Washington on Saturday, during the military parade he plans to oversee on his birthday.
The president's comments come as tensions have continued to escalate between him and Newsom and Los Angeles-area leaders over the administration's decision to deploy troops to the city.
Newsom filed an emergency motion in federal court seeking to block the National Guard and active-duty Marines from enforcing immigration and local law 'on the streets of a civilian city.'
The Trump administration responded to Newsom's emergency motion by calling it 'legally meritless' and said California's request 'would jeopardize the safety of Department of Homeland Security personnel and interfere with the Federal Government's ability to carry out operations.'
U.S. District Judge Charles R. Breyer scheduled a hearing Thursday to review the matter.
The motion had been part of a lawsuit California filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging Trump over his deployment of National Guard troops without the governor's consent.
In a statement, Newsom's office said that Trump's federalization of the National Guard 'puts every state at risk.'
'This order was not specific to California and suggests that the President could assume control of any state militia,' the statement read.
Newsom amplified those concerns in his address Tuesday evening.
'If some of us can be snatched off the streets without a warrant, based only on suspicion or skin color, then none of us are safe,' he said. 'Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves. But they do not stop there.'
Newsom characterized Trump's unilateral deployment of U.S. armed forces to Los Angeles as the first phase of an overall decay in citizens' rights.
'This isn't just about protests here in Los Angeles. … This is about all of us,' he said.
'California may be first,' he added, 'but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next.'
The governor also referenced the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, calling it proof that Trump is 'not opposed to lawlessness and violence as long as it serves him.'
In the address, Newsom condemned protesters who resorted to violence, noting that about 220 people have been arrested so far over the past few days. He added that 'if you exercise your First Amendment rights, please, please, do it peacefully.'
'What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty, your silence — to be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him,' he said.
National Guard soldiers have begun accompanying ICE agents as they detain people suspected of being in the United States illegally, U.S. officials said Tuesday.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that U.S. troops are 'providing protection for federal law enforcement officers as they continue operations to remove the worst of the worst from Los Angeles.'
If anyone attacks ICE personnel, the U.S. troops with them 'have the authority to temporarily detain them until law enforcement makes the arrest,' she said. 'The violence against ICE law enforcement must end.'
A defense official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said that although the National Guard initially focused primarily on safeguarding federal property, they were now involved in ICE operations. It was not immediately clear Tuesday night when the shift occurred, the official said.
ICE posted photographs Tuesday on X that appeared to show members of the National Guard present as people were detained in Los Angeles. The troops wore camouflage uniforms, helmets and body armor, seemingly providing a protective bubble around law enforcement as people were handcuffed.
On Saturday, Trump called up the troops by invoking a rarely used section of a law that gives him the authority to do so when a president considers it needed to suppress a rebellion or foreign invasion.
At a hearing before a House Appropriations subcommittee, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the deployments by saying they were needed to protect federal immigration agents. Hegseth estimated the mission would cost $134 million for 60 days of operations.
Bass said Los Angeles police, working with state and local partners, had the situation under control and did not need federal intervention.
She conceded that some violence and sporadic looting did occur throughout downtown on Monday and early Tuesday morning.
The violence began after police pushed demonstrators back from an area around the federal building. Splinter groups of protesters — which Bass described as antagonists — then clashed with police and looted several businesses, including an Apple store.
Los Angeles police said at least 94 people were arrested for failure to disperse and another 14 were arrested for looting. Two police officers were also injured.
In Austin, police also blamed 'agitators' after rocks were thrown at officers during an anti-ICE protest on Monday. Someone also spit in an officer's eye, the Austin police said. Officers there used pepper balls and tear gas, the police department said.
Eight people were arrested on charges including resisting arrest and harassment of a public servant, according to Austin police. Four officers were briefly hospitalized.
Skirmishes also broke out Monday night and Tuesday in San Francisco.
According to San Francisco police, two groups broke off from a large, mostly peaceful rally Monday and began committing acts of vandalism. About 60 people were arrested.
Several more arrests were made Tuesday morning when protests erupted at an immigration court after ICE agents detained three people.
When the agents' van attempted to drive away, a group of about 10 protesters attempted to stop the vehicle from leaving. The van slowly pushed the small crowd down the block until it turned a corner.
In the hours that followed, around 200 protesters gathered and held signs protesting the detentions. ICE declined to comment or provide details about what sparked the disturbance.
In Los Angeles, some protesters say Trump's troop deployments have left them rattled that the country could be sliding toward authoritarianism.
Carlos Hernandez, a 67-year-old Salvadoran American who attended a protest there over the weekend, said the military response reminded him of dictatorships that long governed his home country.
'We are recycling repressive methods that were used in the past,' said Hernandez, a consultant and former college professor. 'We have seen tanks on the streets. … It's no joke, this is not a movie. It provokes fear.'
Craig and Lamothe reported from Washington and Thebault from Los Angeles. Anumita Kaur, Ben Brasch, Aaron Schaffer and Marianne LeVine in Washington, Caroline O'Donovan in San Francisco, Maeve Reston in Los Angeles and Niha Masih, Kelly Kasulis Cho and Kelsey Ables in Seoul contributed to this report.