Donald Trump denounced on Sunday the protests against the raids and detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in California as “violent and insurgent mobs” and stated that “order will be restored, illegals will be expelled, and Los Angeles will be liberated”.
The President of the United States ordered the deployment of the National Guard during the Saturday protests in Compton and San Bernardino, two major suburbs of Los Angeles, marking the first time in 60 years that a president has deployed the reserve force without the request of the state governor, in this case Gavin Newsom, who called the move a “provocation.”
Trump talks about “migratory invasion”
“These illegal disturbances only reinforce our determination,” Trump stated in a post on Truth Social, where he has ordered Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi to “take all necessary measures to liberate Los Angeles from the migratory invasion and put an end to these migratory disturbances.”
When talking about “migratory invasion,” it follows the script designed since taking office on January 20th, which led to the use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport immigrants from Venezuela to El Salvador.
In another post, he criticized California Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, and said that both should apologize to the people of the city “for the horrible job they have done, including the protests.”
Governor of California sends letter to the Pentagon
Democrat Gavin Newsom asked the population not to use violence to “not give Trump what he wants” and published on the social network X the letter he sent to Pete Hegseth, the head of the Pentagon, asking him to revoke the military deployment “and return the National Guard to the legitimate control of the State of California, to be deployed as needed.”
In the letter, Newsom pointed out that the decision to send federal military forces was not communicated to his office for approval as required by law, and furthermore, it was “incompatible with the president’s memorandum, which provides for ‘coordination with the governors of the states’ to identify and order National Guard units to provide federal service.”
“There is no need to deploy the National Guard in Los Angeles, and doing so in this illegal manner and for such an extended period constitutes a serious violation of state sovereignty that appears intentionally designed to exacerbate the situation," denounced Newsom, who defended the work and competence of the local and county police to address the protests.
Additionally, 22 Democratic governors issued a statement condemning the mobilization as “a troubling abuse of power” and criticized Hegseth’s words, who did not rule out sending in the Marines on Saturday: “Threatening to send American Marines into American neighborhoods undermines the mission of our military, erodes public trust, and shows that the Trump Administration does not trust local law enforcement.”