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California governor Gavin Newsom has vowed to sue Donald Trump for deploying the Nationwide Guard to Los Angeles, as authorities braced themselves for additional protests in opposition to raids on suspected unlawful immigrants.
The intensifying conflict between Trump and the governor of the US’s most populous state got here after about 300 members of the Nationwide Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday. The troops took up positions downtown, the place hundreds gathered to protest in opposition to raids by federal immigration brokers within the the state. The guardsmen used tear gasoline on the crowds, witnesses mentioned.
Demonstrations gathered tempo on Sunday afternoon, as Waymo taxis had been set on hearth and a stretch of a serious roadway was blocked by a big crowd. Police declared downtown LA to be an “illegal meeting space” and arrested dozens over the weekend.
The dramatic scenes had been the most recent escalation in a broader stand-off between the White Home and state and native leaders, as Trump and his allies pressed forward with their sweeping plans to strengthen the ability of the president, together with by cracking down on hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants.
Newsom, a Democrat, blamed Trump’s resolution to “federalise” the California Nationwide Guard — or switch the army troops from state to federal management — for making issues worse. Trump has authorised 2,000 guardsmen to be deployed.
“That is precisely what Donald Trump wished,” Newsom mentioned in a submit on X. “He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalise the Nationwide Guard. The order he signed doesn’t simply apply to CA. It is going to permit him to enter ANY STATE and do the identical factor. We’re suing him.”
However Trump fired again by accusing Newsom of mendacity concerning the state of affairs. The president insisted Los Angeles would have been “fully obliterated” with out the Nationwide Guard.
“The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, needs to be saying, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.’” Trump mentioned in a submit to his Fact Social platform on Monday. “As a substitute, they select to mislead the Folks of California and America by saying that we weren’t wanted, and that these are ‘peaceable protests.””
“Only one take a look at the images and movies of the Violence and Destruction tells you all it’s important to know,” Trump added.
Federalising the Nationwide Guard is uncommon. President George HW Bush despatched guardsmen to Los Angeles in 1992 to manage riots following the beating by law enforcement officials of Rodney King — a transfer that had been requested by California’s then governor, Pete Wilson.
This time Trump overruled the desires of Newsom, certainly one of his chief political rivals. Newsom, the previous mayor of San Francisco who has been governor of California since 2019, is without doubt one of the most outstanding Democratic politicians and seen as a possible presidential candidate in 2028.
A US president final deployed a state’s Nationwide Guard with out being requested by its governor in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson despatched troops to guard civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.
Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, mentioned the marines had been on “excessive alert” and advised they could possibly be deployed in LA, the place remoted protests started on Friday and lasted via the weekend. On Sunday night, Trump didn’t rule out sending in marines. “We’ll ship no matter we have to guarantee there’s regulation and order.”
In an interview with progressive YouTube podcaster Brian Tyler Cowen, Newsom mentioned Trump’s actions in California had been a “preview of issues to return”. He added: “Donald Trump is unhinged proper now.”
