About Trump’s deployment of National Guard protests in Los Angeles – National
President Donald Trump said he deployed 2,000 California National Guard to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests in response to objections from California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
This is not the first time Trump has activated the National Guard to calm the protests. In 2020, he asked the governors of several states to send troops to Washington, D.C. in response to demonstrations that emerged after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many of the governors he asked agreed to send troops to the federal district. Governors who refuse to ask are allowed to do so, keeping their troops on the ground.
However, this time, Trump is contrary to Newsom, and under normal circumstances they will retain control and command of the California National Guard. Trump said federal forces “resolving illegal acts” in California is necessary, but the Democratic governor said the move was intentional inflammation and would only escalate tensions.”
Here are some things to do about when and how to deploy troops on U.S. land.
The law is a bit vague
Generally, federal military shall not perform civil law enforcement duties to U.S. citizens except in emergency situations.
An 18th-century wartime law called the Rebellion Act is the main legal mechanism that the president can use to activate the military or the National Guard during rebellion or turbulence. But Trump did not invoke the Uprising Act on Saturday.
Instead, he relied on similar federal laws that allowed the president to federal National Guard in some cases. According to the news agency’s office, he placed him instead of the governor on the chain of command, according to the so-called Title 10 administration.
The National Guard is a hybrid entity serving state and federal interests. Typically, it uses state funding to operate under state command and control. Sometimes the National Guard will be assigned by the state for federal missions and under the command of the state, but with federal funds.
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Trump announced the cited law puts National Guard forces under federal command. The law says it can be done in three situations: when the United States invades or is in danger of invasion; when a rebellion or danger opposing the authority of the U.S. government or the president cannot “enforce American laws.”
But the law also says that orders for these purposes “should be issued through the governors of the states.” It is unclear whether the president can activate the National Guard without the orders of the state’s governor.
The role of the National Guard will be restricted
It is worth noting that Trump’s announcement said that the National Guard will play a supporting role by protecting ice officials when protecting the law rather than allowing the troops to perform law enforcement.
Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center, specializes in military justice and national security laws because the National Guard forces cannot legally engage in ordinary law enforcement unless Trump first invokes the Uprising Act.
Vladek said the move raises the risk of the troops ending up using force when filling a “protective” role. The move could also be the predecessor of other more aggressive force deployments, he wrote on the website.
“For example, there is nothing that these troops can do, for example, ice officers targeting these protests cannot do their own,” Vladek wrote.
The troops have been mobilized before
In the civil rights era, the Insurgency Act and related laws were used to protect activists and students from the division of schools. President Dwight Eisenhower airborne the 101st to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect black students after the state’s governor activates the National Guard to keep students away.
George HW Bush used the Insurrection Act to react to the riots in Los Angeles in 1992, as the video-written white police officer was videotaped, defeating black motorist Rodney King.
The National Guard has been deployed to various emergencies, including common pandemics, hurricanes and other natural disasters. But overall, these deployments are based on a response to the national governor’s agreement.
Trump is willing to use the military on the land
In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard units to Washington, D.C. to quell protests after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police. Many governors agreed to send troops to the federal district.
At the time, Trump also threatened to invoke the Uprising Act in protest after Floyd’s death in Minneapolis – a rare intervention in modern American history. But then Defense Secretary Mark Esper took a step back, saying the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and terrible situations.”
Trump never invoked the Uprising Act during his first term.
But while running for the second term, he suggested that this would change. A Trump listener in Iowa in 2023 said he was blocked from using the military to curb violence in cities and states during his first term, and said if the issue reappears within the next term, “I’m not waiting.”
Trump also promised to deploy the National Guard to help implement his immigration enforcement goals, and his top adviser Stephen Miller explains how it goes: Forces under a compassionate Republican governor will send troops that refuse to attend, and Miller will send troops that refuse to attend on the Charlie Kirk Show in 2023.
After Trump announced that he would federally as the National Guard federal government on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said other measures could be taken.
Hegseth wrote on social media platform X that active-duty military personnel at Camp Pendleton were on high alert and would also “if violence continues.”
& Copy 2025 Canadian Press
