President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, California, after protests against Immigration and Enforcement.The move brings the total number of National Guard members sent to Los Angeles to 4,000.On Monday, the Pentagon also deployed about 700 Marines to Los Angeles.Officials said the troops are there to protect federal property and personnel, including immigration agents.Over the weekend, 70 people were arrested and five Los Angeles police officers were injured.The decision has drawn criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the deployment is neither necessary nor legal. “The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Approximately 300 are deployed. The rest are sitting unused in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous president’s ego,” Newsom posted on X. >> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <
President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of another 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, California, after protests against Immigration and Enforcement.
The move brings the total number of National Guard members sent to Los Angeles to 4,000.
On Monday, the Pentagon also deployed about 700 Marines to Los Angeles.
Officials said the troops are there to protect federal property and personnel, including immigration agents.
Over the weekend, 70 people were arrested and five Los Angeles police officers were injured.
The decision has drawn criticism from California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who said the deployment is neither necessary nor legal.
“The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Approximately 300 are deployed. The rest are sitting unused in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous president’s ego,” Newsom posted on X.
>> Download the free WMUR app to get updates on the go: Apple | Google Play <<
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the troops were sent to “address the lawlessness.”
Daniel Pi, a professor at the University of New Hampshire Franklin Pierce School of Law, said while it’s not explicitly clear whether the president had the statutory authority to deploy the military to Los Angeles, the public should be worried for the state of our democracy.
“Over the last 10 years, everything has been so hyperpartisan that people are crying wolf at everything they say, oh, this is the end of democracy. That’s the end of democracy. Everything is the end of democracy, right? But, you know, this kind of actually does look like the beginning of the end of democracy, right?” said Pi.
He said there are limitations on what the National Guard can be used for, and those limitations include using the National Guard for local law enforcement purposes.
“This is how democracies falter, is when you start to break down those very important separators, those walls that keep everybody in their lane. And so, yeah, I mean, this is genuinely, I think, a reason to be concerned and worried for the state of our democracy,” said Pi.
U.S. officials told ABC News the guardsmen on active duty in Los Angeles are carrying weapons, but don’t have rounds in the chamber and won’t patrol streets or detail rioters on behalf of police.
California’s governor and attorney general have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing they illegally “trampled over” California’s sovereignty in all this.