President Donald Trump deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles on Sunday amid ongoing protests against immigration raids, despite California Governor Gavin Newsom’s objections.
Newsom formally requested the Trump administration rescind the order to deploy the troops.
The governor requested a letter to Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth, which he then shared on X.
“We didn’t have a problem until (U.S. President Donald) Trump got involved.
“This is a serious breach of state sovereignty – inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re needed,” Newsom wrote.
“Rescind the order. Return control to California.”
Trump assented to a memorandum on Saturday deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen “to address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester”, the White House said.
According to an analyst quoted by The New York Times, this is the first time in 60 years that a president has mobilised a state’s National Guard without the governor’s approval.
The most recent occasion occurred in 1965, when ex-President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops to defend mostly Black demonstrators during Alabama’s civil rights struggle.
The protests began on Friday, after Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials executed search warrants throughout the city as Trump pursued his aim of mass deportation of unauthorised immigrants.
Newsom urged protesters to remain peaceful and not give the government an excuse to act.
“Trump is trying to manufacture a crisis in LA County — deploying troops not for order, but to create chaos,” he wrote on X.
“Don’t take the bait. Never use violence or harm law enforcement.”
Los Angeles Police said protests continued on Sunday, despite authorities declaring it an illegal gathering.
Protesters had blocked traffic on a motorway and assembled outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre, where troops had built a perimeter around it.
“Officers are reporting that people in the crowd are throwing concrete, bottles, and other objects. Arrests are being initiated,” police wrote on X.
The police reportedly reported that cars had been stopped and set on fire on the roads.
An Infantry Brigade Combat Team of the Guard “has deployed approximately 300 soldiers to three separate locations in the greater Los Angeles area,” the US Northern Command announced on X.
“They are conducting safety and protection of federal property and personnel,” it added.
In a post on Truth Social, the US president said Los Angeles had been “invaded and occupied by illegal aliens and criminals”.
“Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our federal agents to try and stop our deportation operations. But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve,” he wrote.
He had directed his officials “to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots,” he said.
“Order will be restored, the illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be set free.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stated that the city would “always stand” with those who call it home.
“Deploying federalised troops on the heels of these raids is a chaotic escalation,” she wrote on X.
“The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real – it’s felt in our communities and within our families, and it puts our neighbourhoods at risk.
Trump’s government has threatened to deploy regular armed forces domestically, which would be a much more serious breach of standards.
Hegseth stated that, if necessary, US Marines stationed in California may be mobilised.
In a post on X, Newsom slammed Hegseth’s threat to send US forces against its own citizens on US soil, calling it “deranged behaviour”.
Hegseth reacted to Newsom on X, claiming that the National Guard “and Marines, if necessary”, supported ICE.
“There is plenty of room for peaceful protest, but ZERO tolerance for attacking federal agents who are doing their job,” he wrote.
The U.S. Northern Command revealed that about 500 Marines were “in a prepared-to-deploy status” should they be needed.
“This is the last thing that our city needs, and I urge protestors to remain peaceful,” Bass said.
“Los Angeles will always stand with everyone who calls our city home.”
