Los Angeles: National Guard personnel began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday after US President Donald Trump ordered their deployment. This rare deployment, against the governor’s wishes, followed protests, some of which turned violent, over sweeping immigration enforcement operations.
According to National Iraqi News Agency, the US President announced federal control over the California State Army, deploying its personnel to the nation’s second-largest city, a decision Governor Gavin Newsom deemed “inflammatory.” This is the first time in decades that National Guard personnel have been deployed without the approval of the state governor.
Personnel in military uniform, armed with automatic weapons, and shields were deployed near the city hall on the West Coast. Members of the California National Guard were seen gathering on Sunday at the federal complex in downtown Los Angeles, which houses the Metropolitan Detention Center, where clashes have occurred over the past two days.
The deployed forces included
members of the 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, according to a social media post from the US Department of Defense, which showed dozens of National Guard members carrying long rifles standing next to an armored vehicle.
This comes two days after clashes in which federal agents fired stun grenades and tear gas at a crowd protesting the arrest of dozens of immigrants in the city, which has a large Latino community.
Republicans on Sunday stood with Trump in rejecting statements by Newsom and other local officials that the protests were largely peaceful and that deploying the National Guard would exacerbate tensions.
“I’m not concerned about it at all,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told ABC News, adding that Newsom “has shown an inability or unwillingness to do what’s necessary there, so the president stepped in.”
Commenting on Defense Minister Pete Hegseth’s suggestion of using the Marines to support the National Guard, Johnson said he did not see it as an exaggeration, adding: “We have to be ready to do wha
t is necessary.”