6.11.25
President Donald Trump has warned that he would send troops into other cities in the U.S. should rioting and disorder similar to that seen in Los Angeles break out, and with "greater force." It comes after Trump sent 4,000 National Guardsmen and 700 Marines to Los Angeles in response to reported violence against law enforcement, specifically ICE agents carrying out deportation raids in the city. Trump said his deployment of National Guard troops in California, followed by hundreds of Marines, is "the first, perhaps, of many," as immigration raids take place all over the country under his plan for mass deportations of illegal immigrants. Anti-ICE protests have erupted nationwide in cities including New York, Atlanta, Dallas, and Washington D.C.—and more are coming. Coordinated demonstrations against Trump's immigration policies are scheduled across all 50 states on June 14, his birthday.
The president's decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles without the consent of California Governor Gavin Newsom has triggered intense backlash and legal action. In an evening address, Newsom warned that Trump had "inflamed a combustible situation" and placed democracy itself in jeopardy. The governor warned other states that they could be next: "California may be first—but it clearly won't end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next." Legal pushback has already begun. California is suing the Trump administration, accusing the president of invoking emergency powers to overstep his constitutional authority. The lawsuit argues that Trump's federalization of part of California's National Guard—using Title 10 authority to override the governor's control—violates state sovereignty. The last time a president bypassed a governor to deploy the National Guard was in 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights marchers.