The White House announced Saturday night that President Donald Trump is deploying 2,000 National Guard troops amid protests to immigration enforcement actions in Los Angeles. Trump issued a memorandum federalizing National Guard units for 60 days.
“To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States,” Trump said in the memo, adding that these National Guard units will “temporarily protect ICE and other United States government personnel who are performing federal functions, including the enforcement of federal law, and to protect federal property, at locations where protests against these functions are occurring or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments and planned operations.”
The memo suggests Trump, via his Secretary Pete Hegseth, could choose to additionally deploy members of the “regular Armed Forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion.”
In a post on X on Saturday evening, Hegseth wrote, “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 added: “Under President Trump, violence & destruction against federal agents & federal facilities will NOT be tolerated. It’s COMMON SENSE.” Hegseth said that the Department of Defense is mobilizing “immediately.” “And, if violence continues, active duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized — they are on high alert,” he concluded.
Trump’s “Border Czar” Tom Homan first announced just hours before the official White House statement that the administration would send in the National Guard on Saturday evening to quell protests in the Los Angeles area.
“This is about enforcing the law, and again, we’re not going to apologize for doing it,” Homan said on Fox News. He continued: “We’re already ahead of the game. We were already mobilizing. We’re gonna bring National Guard in tonight. We’re gonna continue doing our job. We’re gonna push back on these people, and we’re gonna [enforce] the law.”
On Saturday night, following Homan’s on-camera remarks, both national Democratic and Republican figures were scrambling to figure out if he was just mouthing off, or if the federal troops were actually on their way, or just … what the hell was going on.
Two Trump administration officials say they learned about the alleged National Guard plans from journalists such as Rolling Stone’s who had reached out to them on Saturday evening, asking for clarification.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt subsequently emailed out a statement Saturday evening announcing that “President Trump has signed a Presidential Memorandum deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in Los Angeles.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom posted on BlueSky an hour earlier, announcing Trump’s plans to “take over the California National Guard and deploy 2,000 soldiers,” calling the move “inflammatory” and saying it would “only escalate tensions.”
He added, “LA authorities are able to access law enforcement assistance at a moment’s notice. We are in close coordination with the city and county, and there is currently no unmet need. The Guard has been admirably serving LA throughout recovery. This is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”
The president can request, but not order, a governor to deploy their state’s National Guard. The governor can refuse the request, and Trump would not be allowed under the Constitution to send National Guard troops to California from other states. The Trump administration has previously mulled invoking the Insurrection Act, which could allow the president to deploy the U.S. military domestically, federalize the National Guard, and send in troops to quell uprisings or civil disorder.
The White House told CBS News that Trump invoked his Title 10 authority to federalize and deploy the National Guard troops and did not invoke the Insurrection Act.
On Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained hundreds of people in Los Angeles, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Saturday marked a second day of protests in there over the Trump administration’s immigration policies and roundups.
Videos showed law enforcement shooting non-lethal rounds Saturday at protesters and using flash-bang smoke grenades.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass posted on X Friday that her office had received reports of ICE in the city. “These tactics sow terror in our communities and disrupt basic principles of safety in our city,” she wrote.
“We will not stand for this,” she wrote.
“We will,” FBI Director Kash Patel replied.
Stephen Miller, White House deputy chief of staff, on Saturday called the protests “an insurrection against the laws and sovereignty of the United States.” He was writing in response to a video of protesters surrounding a federal detention center.
Last month, the Department of Homeland Security asked the Pentagon for 20,000 National Guard troops to play a role in deportations. They would be used for “guard duty and riot control,” NPR reported Friday. This would be the first time the National Guard is asked to carry out an immigration crackdown within the country, according to Rhode Island Sen. Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee.
In 2020, the Trump administration deployed out-of-state National Guard troops during protests in Washington, D.C. following the murder of George Floyd. This move was “unprecedented,” according to Joseph Nunn, counsel in the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.
“Trump has brought complete chaos to our communities,” Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) tells Rolling Stone. “We were promised that violent non-citizens would be deported. Then he deported a U.S. citizen child with cancer. Yesterday ICE mistakenly detained a deputy U.S. marshal. Nobody asked for this. And Americans are starting to say enough. It’s time for Trump to pause his cruel immigration policies and come to Congress with a transparent and competent plan.”
This is a developing story…