Immigration Protest: Trump Deploys National Guard Troops

• Trump sends 2,000 National Guard troops to California amid immigration protests.
• First such federal move without state request since 1965.
• Governor Newsom slams action as inflammatory.

US President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to suppress immigration protests in California.

EKO HOT BLOG reports that this signifies the rare use of federal powers and bypassing the authority of the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom.

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It is the first time since 1965 that a president has activated a state’s National Guard force without a request from that state’s governor.

The last time this action was when President Lyndon B. Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators in 1965, she said.

Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, immediately rebuked the president’s action, saying “That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”

Newsom added that “this is the wrong mission and will erode public trust.”

Although governors almost always control the deployment of National Guard troops in their states, the directive signed by Trump cites “10 U.S.C. 12406,” referring to a specific provision within Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services.

However, part of that provision allows the federal deployment of National Guard forces if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

It further states that the president may call into federal service “members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws.”

Trump’s directive further said, “To the extent that protests or acts of violence directly inhibit the execution of the laws, they constitute a form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”

The White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, in a statement on Saturday, said Trump was deploying the National Guard in response to “violent mobs” that, according to her, had attacked federal law enforcement and immigration agents.

Leavitt said the 2,000 troops would “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester.”

Although some demonstrations have been unruly, local authorities in Los Angeles County did not indicate during the day that they needed federal assistance.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in a post on X, said the Pentagon was “mobilizing the National Guard IMMEDIATELY.” But he did not say when or where the troops would assemble, or identify their units.

Meanwhile, Trump’s directive authorised the Secretary of Defense to “employ any other members of the regular Armed Forces as necessary to augment and support the protection of Federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion.”

Hegseth said that active-duty Marines were “on high alert” at Camp Pendleton, about 100 miles south of Los Angeles, and could also be mobilised.

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Protests have occurred on Friday and Saturday in California to oppose federal immigration raids on workplaces.

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