President Donald Trump, who sat by watching TV without taking action for hours when his supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in 2021, has deployed at least 300 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to mostly peaceful immigration protests. He did so over the objections of California Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Trump initially said he was deploying 2,000 troops.
It’s not the first time Trump has activated the National Guard to quell protests. In 2020, he asked governors of several states to send troops to Washington, D.C., to respond to Black Lives Matter demonstrations that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers. Many of the governors he asked agreed, sending troops to the federal district. The governors who refused the request were allowed to do so, keeping their troops on home soil.
This time, however, Trump is acting in opposition to Newsom, who, under normal circumstances, would retain control and command of California’s National Guard. While Trump said that federalizing the troops was necessary to “address the lawlessness” in California, the Democratic governor said the move was “purposely inflammatory and will only escalate tensions.”
Meanwhile, the Pentagon is also expected to deploy about 700 Marines to Los Angeles from southern California, three U.S. officials said Monday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the details of military operations.
Here are some things to know about the guard’s deployment on Sunday and the conditions under which the president can deploy troops on U.S. soil.
Tense Moments After National Guard Arrives
Guard members arrived to specifically to protect federal buildings, including the downtown detention center where protesters concentrated.
They stood shoulder to shoulder, carrying long guns and riot shields as protesters shouted “shame” and “go home.” After some closely approached the guard members, another set of uniformed officers advanced on the group, shooting smoke-filled canisters into the street.
Minutes later, the Los Angeles Police Department fired rounds of crowd-control munitions to disperse the protesters, who they said were assembled unlawfully. Much of the group then moved to block traffic on the 101 freeway until state patrol officers cleared them from the roadway by late afternoon.
The Laws Are Vague
Generally, federal military forces are not allowed to carry out civilian law enforcement duties against U.S. citizens except in times of emergency.
An 18th-century wartime law called the Insurrection Act is the main legal mechanism that a president can use to activate the military or National Guard during times of rebellion or unrest. But Trump didn’t invoke the Insurrection Act on Saturday.
Instead, he relied on a similar federal law that allows the president to federalize National Guard troops under certain circumstances. He federalized part of California’s National Guard under what is known as Title 10 authority, which places him, not the governor, atop the chain of command, according to Newsom’s office.
The National Guard is a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests. Often it operates under state command and control, using state funding. Sometimes National Guard troops will be assigned by their state to serve federal missions, remaining under state command but using federal funding.
The law cited by Trump’s proclamation places National Guard troops under federal command. The law says that can be done under three circumstances: When the U.S. is invaded or in danger of invasion; when there is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the U.S. government, or when the President is unable to “execute the laws of the United States,” with regular forces.
But the law also says that orders for those purposes “shall be issued through the governors of the States.” It’s not immediately clear if the president can activate National Guard troops without the order of that state’s governor.
The Role of The National Guard Troops Will Be Limited
Notably, Trump’s proclamation says the National Guard troops will play a supporting role by protecting ICE officers as they enforce the law, rather than having the troops perform law enforcement work.
Steve Vladeck, a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in military justice and national security law, says that’s because the National Guard troops can’t legally engage in ordinary law enforcement activities unless Trump first invokes the Insurrection Act.
Vladeck said the move raises the risk that the troops could end up using force while filling that “protection” role. The move could also be a precursor to other, more aggressive troop deployments down the road, he wrote on his website.
“There’s nothing these troops will be allowed to do that, for example, the ICE officers against whom these protests have been directed could not do themselves,” Vladeck wrote.
Troops Have Been Mobilized Before
Presidents used the Insurrection Act and related laws during the Civil Rights era to protect activists and students desegregating schools. In 1957, Republican President Dwight Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state’s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out.
In 1962, Democratic President John F. Kennedy deployed the National Guard to the University of Mississippi campus after Gov. Ross Barnett, a segregationist Southern Democrat, refused to obey the U.S. Supreme Court’s order to allow James Meredith, a Black man, to attend the university.
Behind the scenes, though, Barnett had negotiated with then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy to stage a scene that would allow the Dixiecrat governor to make a show of trying to block Meredith before being forced to step down by federal marshals drawing their weapons.
“I hate to have them all draw their guns, as I think it could create harsh feelings,” Attorney General Kennedy said in a phone call with Barnett on Sept. 27, 1962. “Isn’t it sufficient if I have one man draw his gun and the others keep their hands on their holsters?”
“They must all draw their guns,” Barnett replied. “Then they should point their guns at us and then we could step aside. This could be very embarrassing down here for us. It is necessary.”
That plan fell apart, though, as a white mob descended on the university in Oxford, Mississippi, and Barnett gave a defiant 16-word speech speech to a crowd that replied in rebel yells and waved Confederate flags during halftime at a UM football game on Sept. 29, 1962. As Meredith entered the campus to register for classes on Oct. 1, 1962, white segregationists clashed with National Guard troops on campus as deadly violence erupted in Oxford.
George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 after the acquittal of white police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King, though with the support of the governor at the time.
National Guard troops have been deployed for a variety of emergencies, including the COVID-19 pandemic, hurricanes and other natural disasters. But generally, those deployments are carried out with the agreements of the governors of the responding states.
The last time a president deployed the National Guard without a governor’s consent was in 1965, when Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson ordered the National Guard to Alabama to protect civil rights activists who were marching from Selma to Montgomery. Gov. George Wallace, a segregationist Dixiecrat, had refused to issue the order himself.
Trump is Willing to Use The Military on Home Soil
On Sunday, Trump was asked if he plans to send U.S. troops to Los Angeles and he said, “We’re gonna have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country. We’re not going to let our country be torn apart like it was under Biden.” Trump didn’t elaborate.
In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C. to quell protests that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers. Many of the governors agreed, sending troops to the federal district.
At the time, Trump also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act for protests following Floyd’s death in Minneapolis—an intervention rarely seen in modern American history. But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back, saying the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.”
Trump never did invoke the Insurrection Act during his first term.
Mississippi Free Press news editor Ashton Pittman made additions to this story about the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and regarding the history of presidents federealizing the National Guard in Mississippi and Alabama.
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