The LA riot was covered in a riot by everyone, and the response of the Los Angeles police to the anti-immigration raids
“I think it was a riot. I think it was very bad. It was covered in a riot by everyone, said Trump before he left for Camp David. He questioned the ability of local officials to control the protests, and he said the federal government would make sure there was “law and order”.
“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,” read the statement, which included the names of 22 Democratic governors.
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom wrote. This is a clear violation of the state’s sovereignty and will cause tensions while pulling resources away from where they are needed.
A third day of protests Sunday turned Los Angeles into a “tinderbox,” according to Mayor Karen Bass, as law enforcement clashed with demonstrators over a series of federal immigration raids.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement launched operations in LA last week, stretching into the weekend, arresting more than 100 people. Demonstrators protested the raids, clashing with police in the city and surrounding areas. Law enforcement has responded by shooting nonlethal, but dangerous, rubber bullets and pepper spray at protesters and journalists.
Protesters gathered outside a detain center on Sunday, when police used tear gas and pepper spray. ICE agents initially held some immigrants at the facility.
President Donald Trump’s order to deploy 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to quell anti-immigration enforcement protests — without the consent of Gov. Gavin Newsom — is an extraordinary move, according to experts in national security and presidential powers.
In support of the Los Angeles protests against the immigration raids, police arrested 60 people in San Francisco and at least three of them were injured when they clashed with protesters.
The department said some people were throwing objects at officers. Police used more than 600 rounds of “less lethal” weaponry to break up the crowds. Five officers had minor injuries. The LAPD Professional Standards Bureau is investigating if the department used excessive force.
Anna Benedict tells LAist that everybody wants to be peaceful. There is no one who is threatening the National Guard. Everybody is just standing up for their own freedom.”
“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” Eli Lockwood told LAist.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass Is a Test Case for the U.S. Military, Marines, and Police Regimes During the ICE Experiment
Additionally, on Monday, a defense official confirmed to NPR that 700 Marines based out of Twentynine Palms, Calif., have been mobilized for LA and are expected to operate in a “support role” and perform the same duties as the National Guard.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a post on X Saturday that active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton also were on high alert and would also be mobilized “if violence continues.”
He said that he could possibly deploy troops to more cities. ICE actions sparked protests in multiple cities across the country, including Minneapolis and Chicago.
We’re going to have troops everywhere. We will not allow this to happen to our country. We’re not gonna let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden and his autopen,” Trump said Sunday. (The reference to an “autopen” comes after Trump last week ordered an investigation into whether his predecessor Joe Biden used an autopen to sign documents in office).
Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass disagreed with the deployment of the National Guard, and said on All Things Considered on Sunday that coordination with federalized National Guard troops wascollaborative, at this point.
The mayor of Los Angeles feels the city is being used as a test case for what would happen when the federal government takes the authority away from the state.
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After running on a promise to conduct mass deportations, Trump seems likely to continue ramping up immigration enforcement in his second term.
At Camp David, Trump said he plans to meet with people, including generals and admirals. Trump left the possibility that he could send Marines and protesters to other cities.
I think the bar is what it’s supposed to be. I mean, If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, we’ll be very, very strong in terms of law and order. It’s about law and order,” Trump said.
Mirasola said, “I think there is going to be political pressure to expand what’s included in the protective power as the protests continue.”
The secretary of defense has to consult with the Attorney General and Secretary of Homeland Security before withdrawing any personnel from any place they are sent to.
Mirasola’s view is that the presidential memo is broad and doesn’t appear limited to LA. In fact, the secretary of defense has wide latitude to issue military protective activities because “Los Angeles” isn’t explicitly stated in the memo.
“If we see the National Guard moving meaningfully beyond this more limited role, then we are definitely seeing an overstepping of the legal theory that is really at the foundation of the deployment in LA,” Mirasola warned.
“If the court tries to put constraints on what [Trump] can do under these authorities, I would fully expect that then his next step would be to invoke the Insurrection Act,” Goitein said.
The courts have not had the opportunity to consider whether the military can perform fundamental law enforcement functions in a situation like this.
In the past, the Justice Department “has opined that when protecting federal functions and property, the military is not actually conducting law enforcement” and so the Posse Comitatus Act, which is supposed to block federal participation in law enforcement, simply doesn’t apply, Goitein explained.
Goitein noted this is not a new idea and has been put forward by the executive branch for many decades — including during Trump’s first administration.
It is the first time since 1965 that a president called National Guard troops to respond to civil unrest without a governor’s official request for assistance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.
The state is suing the president’s administration over his decision, Gov. Newsom stated on Monday. The National Guard order was accused in the lawsuit of violating the US Constitution and exceeding the president’s authority, according to the statement.
The “extremely rare exception to this rule” is the Insurrection Act, a set of laws that give the president authority to use federal troops to quell civil unrest in a crisis, Goitein said. The Insurrection Act, which predates the development of modern state and local police departments, allows federal troops to engage in law enforcement activities, like searches, seizures and arrests.
This act has not yet been invoked by the White House in Los Angeles, despite the fact that Trump and his allies have referred to the protesters as “insurrectionists.” Trump said on Sunday that he didn’t see the basis for using the Insurrection Act but left the possibility of doing that in the future.
Since 1992 it has not been used without a state request. Then-President George H.W. Bush last used it to tamp down violence in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted police officers in the beating of motorist Rodney King.
That little-used provision is “10 U.S.C. 12406,” within Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services. It allows the president to deploy federal troops in instances of rebellion against the U.S. government.
The president exceeded hisTitle 10 authority, not just because the takeover happened without the consent or input of the Governor, but also because it was unwarranted, according to the office of the governor.
“The unrest in Los Angeles is nowhere close to rising to the level of a Rebellion beyond the capacity of Local and State authorities to Control, nor is it different in kind from other similar situations in recent times,” according to the office of California’s governor.
Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor, wrote on his Substack that invoking this provision doesn’t authorize the National Guard troops to conduct their own immigration raids, arrests or do anything other than what the president’s memo stated, which was to “ensure the protection and safety of Federal personnel and property.”
The president is also justifying calling the military to LA by seemingly pointing to an implied authority in Article 2 of the Constitution, according to Christopher Mirasola, an assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center.
This implied constitutional authority, called the protective power, is a debated theory of presidential power that says the president holds inherent constitutional authority to use the military to protect federal functions, properties and persons, Mirasola said.
The Los Angeles Police Department apologizes to the Sikhs: “I’m sorry to hear about the LAPD,” the Associated Press reported on Monday
Los Angeles police said that while the protests have mostly been peaceful, some violence has occurred. Several officials said that they had handled the intervention.
“Those who choose to incite violence, engage in vandalism or graffiti, and/or attack officers will be arrested,” he said Monday. “There’s no tolerance for criminal activity under the guise of protest.”
Some of the charges are for attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assault on a police officer, and failure to disperse. The Service Employees International Union California’s president was released on Monday afternoon after he was arrested last week.
The Los Angeles Police Department has decades of experience in managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so, he said.
McDonnell refuted claims that it took LAPD more than two hours to respond to a federal request for assistance. The time it took for the LAPD to respond to calls about the protest was because of traffic and hazardous circumstances caused by the tear gas used by federal troops. The department was on the scene in 38 minutes.
The Los Angeles Mayor and the Democratic Governor of California should thank the President for ridding their streets of illegal immigrant killers and gangbangers, according to the White House.
“This isn’t about public safety,” he said. It’s about stroking the President’s ego. This is not good. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.
The governor said “do your job” on Monday, after the vice president told him to do his job. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. The order was removed. Return control to California.”