Protests against ICE continued in LA into the week
Protests in Los Angeles, California, against immigration raids: Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Camp David, New Jersey, was very bad
“I think it was a riot. I think it was very bad. Before leaving for Camp David from New Jersey, Trump said it was covered in a riot. He questioned the ability of local officials to handle the protests and said that the federal government would ensure law and order.
“It’s important we respect the executive authority of our country’s governors to manage their National Guards — and we stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation,” they wrote in their statement.
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved,” Newsom wrote. This is a serious breech of state sovereignty and will damage the relationship between the state and the people.
A third day of protests Sunday turned Los Angeles into a “tinderbox,” according to Mayor Karen Bass, as law enforcement clashed with demonstrators over a series of federal immigration raids.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement said in a Saturday post on X that it had arrested 118 immigrants during operations in Los Angeles last week. Protesters have clashed with police in Los Angeles, Paramount and neighboring Compton since then.
The Los Angeles area was targeted by multiple ICE operations and protesters tried to block the transport of people who were being held. Authorities used flash bangs, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse crowds. There was a fight at a Home Depot in the city of Paramount, just outside Los Angeles.
According to experts in national security and presidential powers, Trump’s order to deploy the California National Guard to Los Angeles to deal with anti-immigration protests is extraordinary.
Elsewhere in California, police in San Francisco said 60 people had been arrested Sunday night and at least three officers were injured when police clashed with protesters demonstrating in that city’s downtown in support of the Los Angeles protests against the immigration raids.
The department said that people were throwing objects at officers. Police used tear gas to break up the crowds. There are five officers with minor injuries. The LAPD Professional Standards Bureau is investigating if the department used excessive force.
Anna Benedict said all of the people here want to be peaceful. “We’ve been standing here for quite a while, and no one is menacing the National Guard. Everyone is just trying to protect their freedom.
“We have to stand united against the attacks on the immigrant community because an attack on one of us is an attack on all of us,” Eli Lockwood told LAist.
“We are not going to leave our country torn apart like it was under Biden and the Autopen,” L.C. Mayor Karen Bass said
Additionally, on Monday, a defense official confirmed to NPR that 700 Marines based out of Twentynine Palms, Calif., have been mobilized for LA and are expected to operate in a “support role” and perform the same duties as the National Guard.
The Defense Secretary said in a post on Saturday that Marines would be called up if violence continues, and also that they were on high alert.
Trump said he could put troops in more cities. ICE actions sparked protests in multiple cities across the country, including Minneapolis and Chicago.
The troops are going to be everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. “We will not allow our country to be torn apart like it was under Biden and the autopen,” Trump said. (The reference to an “autopen” comes after Trump last week ordered an investigation into whether his predecessor Joe Biden used an autopen to sign documents in office).
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said on All Things Considered on Sunday that coordination with federalized National Guard troops is “collaborative, at this point” but she was critical of Trump’s decision to deploy them.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she feels the city is being used as a “test case for what happens when the federal government moves in and takes the authority away from the state, or away from local government.”
The Bar: What the President’s Memorandum says about the National Guard’s Protective Functions and the Trump-Mirasoleum
Trump appears likely to continue his administration’s ramped up immigration enforcement in his second term, after running on a promise to conduct mass deportations.
A meeting with generals and admirals is planned at Camp David, according to Trump. When asked about sending Marines or protesting in other cities, Trump was open to that possibility.
I think the bar is what it’s suppose to be. I mean, If we see danger to our country and to our citizens, we’ll be very, very strong in terms of law and order. “It is about law and order,” Trump said.
Mirasola said that he was worried that there would be political pressure to move beyond what was included in the protective power.
The Secretary of Defense must have a consultation with the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security before withdrawing personnel from any location to which they are sent.
Mirasola believes that the presidential memorandum is wide and it doesn’t appear limited to LA. The memo doesn’t state that Los Angeles is stated in the text, but the secretary of defense is able to issue military protective activities.
Mirasola warned that if the National Guard is moving beyond this limited role, an overstepping of the legal theory that is at the foundation of the LA deployment is likely.
In the past, this provision has “been used along with the Insurrection Act,” Goitein said. “It hasn’t been used as a standalone authority, and whether it can provide on its own the substantive authority to do the things that President Trump is doing would be a question” for the courts, if it gets there.
“The courts have not had the opportunity to resolve whether, under this theory, the military can perform these fundamental law enforcement functions that we’re talking about in a situation like what’s unfolding in Los Angeles,” she said.
In the past, the Justice Department “has opined that when protecting federal functions and property, the military is not actually conducting law enforcement” and so the Posse Comitatus Act, which is supposed to block federal participation in law enforcement, simply doesn’t apply, Goitein explained.
Goitein noted that this idea has been brought up many times by the executive branch and was put forward during Trump’s first administration.
It is the first time since 1965 that a president called National Guard troops to respond to civil unrest without a governor’s official request for assistance, according to Elizabeth Goitein, the senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.
On Monday, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said his state is suing the Trump administration for sending National Guard troops into California. Newsom says the Trump administration’s actions violate the California Constitution, which gives the governor control over the state’s National Guard.
To quell unrest, the president of the United States has the powers granted to him. The Trump administration is bucking tradition and legal precedent.
Despite the fact that Trump and his allies refer to the protesters as “insurrectionists,” this act has not yet been used by the White House in Los Angeles. He left open the possibility of doing that in the future but so far he didn’t see the reason for using the Insurrection Act.
She said that it hasn’t been used since 1992 and has not been used without a state request. George H.W. Bush used the tactic after a jury acquitted two police officers in the beating of a black man.
Title 10 of the U.S. Code on armed services provides that little-used provision. It allows the president to deploy federal troops if there is a rebellion against the U.S. government.
Newsom’s office said the president exceeded his “Title 10 authority, not only because the takeover occurred without the consent or input of the Governor, as federal law requires, but also because it was unwarranted.”
The unrest in Los Angeles is not close to the level of a “rebellion” compared to similar situations, which is why Trump’s move is illegal.
Steve Vladeck, a Georgetown law professor, wrote on his Substack that invoking this provision doesn’t authorize the National Guard troops to conduct their own immigration raids, arrests or do anything other than what the president’s memo stated, which was to “ensure the protection and safety of Federal personnel and property.”
Christopher Mirasola, assistant professor at the University of Houston Law Center, says that the president is justifying calling the military to LA by implying that he has the authority in the Articles of the Constitution.
This implied constitutional authority, called the protective power, is a debated theory of presidential power that says the president holds inherent constitutional authority to use the military to protect federal functions, properties and persons, Mirasola said.
Los Angeles Police responded to the March 4th Demonstration and urged the Administration to Stop “Dangerous” Pedestrians from Inciting Violence,” said Donald W. McDonnell
Los Angeles police have said that there have been some violent incidents during the protests. Several officials have handled the president’s intervention.
“Those who choose to incite violence, engage in vandalism or graffiti, and/or attack officers will be arrested,” he said Monday. There is no tolerance for criminal activity under the guise of protest.
Some of the charges those arrested are facing include attempted murder with a Molotov cocktail, assault on a police officer, and failure to dispersal, the LAPD said. David Huerta, the president of the Service Employees International Union California, was released after being arrested.
“The Los Angeles Police Department, alongside our mutual aid partners, have decades of experience managing large-scale public demonstrations, and we remain confident in our ability to do so professionally and effectively,” he said.
McDonnell refuted claims that it took LAPD more than two hours to respond to a federal request for assistance. He said the LAPD did not know federal forces were coming and thus took longer to respond to calls about the protest due to traffic conditions and hazardous conditions caused by tear gas used by federal troops. The department was on the scene in 38 minutes, McDonnell said.
The White House said in a statement that the Democrats should be thanking President Trump for ridding their streets of criminal illegal immigrants and gangbangers.
This isn’t about public safety, he said. “It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. The point islessness. And Disrespectful to our troops.
The governor said “Do your job” in response to the vice president saying “do your job”. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. In order to remove the order. Control to California should be returned.
