Trump Deploys Thousands of National Guard Troops Amid Clashes With Federal Agents in L.A.
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatens to use active duty U.S. Marines against protesters.
The National Guard arrived in Los Angeles this morning after the Trump administration announced their intention to deploy 2,000 troops in response to violent clashes between protesters and federal immigration agents. The situation on the ground could escalate further, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth threatening to sic active-duty Marines in response to the skirmishes.
While most protesters gathered peacefully to demonstrate against ICE’s raids of local businesses, others took to the streets to riot and cause mayhem. However, the group’s size and scope hardly justifies the deployment of 2,000 troops.
The only other instances in which the National Guard was deployed in L.A. was in response to natural disasters or during widespread civil unrest. Nearly 14,000 National Guard troops joined local law enforcement during the Watts Riots in 1965. Similarly, the Feds intervened to mitigate disorder and provide backup to local police following the Rodney King verdict in 1992. The most recent instance was in the Summer of 2020, when former Mayor Eric Garcetti requested 1,000 troops as riots and looting spread across the city in response to George Floyd’s murder.
But in each of those cases, state and local leadership requested help from the federal government. The opposite occurred this weekend, as the White House made clear that the National Guard would be deployed to L.A. despite state and local leadership rejecting the idea. California Gov. Gavin Newsom criticized the move, declaring that local law enforcement had the situation under control. “There is currently no unmet need,” Newsom said. “This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”
Additionally, the Trump administration’s deployment of such a high volume of troops in response to small-scale skirmishes between immigration agents and rioters is clearly meant to evoke widespread fear. Garcetti had only asked for 1,000 troops in 2020 when the scale of unrest and destruction was far greater than what transpired this weekend. Nearly every part of L.A. County was impacted by the 2020 riots. On the contrary, police standoffs with rioters this weekend involved hundreds of people as opposed tens of thousands and the chaos was isolated to specific areas like downtown, Compton and Paramount.
That’s not to say acts of violence weren’t carried out. As always, assholes with no objective other than sowing chaos and destruction took advantage of the situation to set vehicles on fire, throw bricks and hurl fireworks at law enforcement and destroy public property. I’ve grown tired of this crowd of wreckers who never miss an opportunity to destroy the city. They should be arrested immediately.
The following videos capture some of it:
