According to media reports, the National Guard will be deployed in Los Angeles within 24 hours to contain the sometimes violent protests against the deportation of migrants. The New York Times writes this, citing a senior Trump administration official. The state of California has a duty to maintain order and public safety, said the top federal prosecutor in Southern California, Bilal A. Bill Essayli, in an interview. And they are currently unable to do that in Los Angeles.
Situation threatens to escalate
US President Donald Trump had previously decided to send 2,000 National Guard soldiers to the protests in Los Angeles. In the US, states normally control the National Guard, which is a military reserve unit and part of the US armed forces.
Their deployment on the president's orders against the will of the state represents a massive escalation. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth even threatened to deploy active-duty Marines. They are on high alert, he wrote on Platform X about military units stationed in California.
Trump calls governor scum
California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized these plans. He accused the Trump administration of trying to stage a spectacle. California has enough police officers to maintain public order. He appealed to the demonstrators: Never use violence. Protest peacefully.
President Donald Trump has threatened federal intervention. If Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass don't do their jobs properly, the federal government will step in and solve the problem of riots and looters, the Republican wrote on his Truth Social platform.
Instead of using the Democratic governor's correct surname, Trump referred to him in his post as Newscum – a play on the English term scum, which means scum in German.
Command authority normally lies with states
In the US, states normally control the National Guard. A presidential decision to assume command of a state's National Guard would be a massive escalation—and has rarely occurred in US history.
The protests that broke out on Friday, and in some cases turned violent, are directed against the security forces of the US immigration authority ICE, which has been arresting undocumented migrants with the intention of deporting them. According to government sources, some demonstrators threw stones at the security forces, among other things. Essayli told the newspaper that more than 120 people were arrested on Friday and during further protests on Saturday, primarily in the Paramount district, which is predominantly inhabited by migrants from Latin America.
