National Guard troops start arriving in LA amid standoff with Trump
National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday amid a mounting face-off between city residents, its Democratic mayor and California Governor Gavin Newsom with US President Donald Trump over protests against immigration raids.
The responsible regional command of the US military wrote on X that some troops are "already on the ground."
It did not specify how many soldiers were involved. Photos attached to the X post showed two soldiers in combat gear with automatic weapons and a military vehicle, as well as another group of around 30 soldiers.
Protests began in the city on Friday after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers executed search warrants across the city as Trump pushes forward with his goal of mass deportations of undocumented immigrants using military force.
On Saturday, Trump signed a memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen "to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester," the White House said.
Adam Schiff, one of California's two Democratic senators, called the move "unprecedented," saying that Trump could use the volatile situation to declare martial law.
"There is nothing President Trump would like more than a violent confrontation with protestors to justify the unjustifiable — invocation of the Insurrection Act or some form of martial law," Schiff wrote on X.
Governor Newsom and LA Mayor Karen Bass condemned the move, with Newsom threatening retaliatory action on X.
"Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it's time to cut that off," Newsom wrote addressing @realDonaldTrump.
An expert cited by The New York Times said this is the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed a state's National Guard without the governor's consent.
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