L.A. is a Test Case for Trump’s Autocracy.

Last Friday people took to the streets of Los Angeles to protest immigration enforcement actions by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at Home Depot stores, a garment factory and a warehouse. The protests grew throughout the weekend but were mostly confined to a five-block area surrounding the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles where immigrants were being held.
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The protests were mostly peaceful except for a few dozen agitators who set fire to Waymo self-driving cars and looted several area businesses. Los Angeles is a city of approximately 4 million people encompassing an area of over 500 square miles. The city of Paramount where the protests began is within Los Angeles County, which covers over 4,000 square miles and includes 88 incorporated cities with a population that exceeds 10 million. Most Angelenos were unaware of the protests unfolding in their county until images on cable and network news portrayed a city in flames and under siege. These images played right into the hands of Donald Trump who promptly federalized thousands of California National Guard troops and deployed 700 Marines to Los Angeles, even though the mayor and governor said they were not needed.  

Leadup to L.A. Protests: After winning back the White House the Trump Administration began reorganizing federal law enforcement agencies to prioritize the mass deportation of illegal immigrants, Trump’s top campaign promise. The ICE-led plan called “Operation At Large” calls for the use of 3,000 ICE agents, 500 employees from Customs and Border Control, 250 IRS agents, and 2,000 Justice Department employees from the FBI, U.S. Marshalls Service, and Drug Enforcement Agency. The plan also calls for the use of 21,000 National Guard Troops to provide support to the ICE operations. According to U.S. Senator Jack Reed, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, this would be the first time the National Guard has been asked to enforce an immigration crackdown within the United States.
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On May 9, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security requested 20,000 National Guard Troops “to help carry out the President’s mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal aliens”.
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On May 21, 2025, Trump’s top aide on immigration Stephen Miller met with ICE’s regional directors to give them a new mandate; increase the daily arrest quotas from 1,000 to 3,000.  Miller told those at the meeting that targeting only criminal illegal immigrants was not enough to reach the quotas. He instructed them to target stores where immigrant workers congregate, like Home Depot and 7-Eleven. 

​Trump Sees an Opening: The use of the National Guard to assist with mass deportations is critical for the Trump Administration to hit its quotas.  However, each state’s National Guard is under the command of its governor who may not be supportive of Trump’s plans.

To utilize the California National Guard without the permission of the governor, the president would have to federalize the Guard, and that’s what he did last Saturday. Governor Newsom has filed a lawsuit to stop the deployment of the National Guard, calling it unlawful. Approximately 4,000 National Guard troops have been deployed to Los Angeles and will remain for up to 60 days unless the courts rule in California’s favor. 

Trump Ramps up the Rhetoric: Trump and other members of his administration have been busy portraying Los Angeles as a city under siege, and he promised to “take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the migrant invasion and put an end to these migrant riots”. As the week progressed Trump ramped up his rhetoric, calling Los Angeles a “trash heap” with “entire neighborhoods under the control of criminals”. He pledged to liberate Los Angeles from the “animals” (protesters) and not to allow “an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.”

Trump’s rhetoric would be laughable if it wasn’t so dangerous and a portent of things to come. Rather than bringing peace and calm to the streets of Los Angeles Trump has inflamed tensions and fueled the protests to justify activating the National Guard and mobilizing 700 Marines. The National Guard’s original mission in Los Angeles was to protect federal buildings and personnel, but that has been stepped up to provide support for immigration operations.
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In Congressional testimony on Tuesday Defense Secretary Hegseth stated, “I think we’re entering another phase, especially under President Trump with his focus on the homeland, where the National Guard and Reserves become a critical component of how we secure that homeland”.  Under the Trump Administration the number one threat to the homeland is an invasion by hordes of illegal immigrants. 

The End Game: The country is watching in real time as the Trump Administration manufacturers a crisis out of a local protest to justify federalizing the National Guard and deploying the Marines to an American city. This power grab from a state to the Executive Branch is ominous. According to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, “We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialists and the burdensome leadership that the governor and this mayor have placed on this country.” This is a shot across the bow of all those “burdensome” leaders out there, particularly in blue states. The Trump Administration will not tolerate any impediment to its agenda.
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The real check on federal power within our country lies with the sovereignty of our states, and Trump knows this. He has shown his willingness to usurp the power of California or any other state that does not get behind him and his agenda. If Trump is successful, what’s to stop him from declaring a state of emergency to deploy federal troops to take control of any local jurisdiction? What happens if some manufactured crisis occurs at voting time? It’s a slippery slop as more and more power accrues to the Executive Branch. Trump is turning our country into a police state.  We the people can’t let him get away with it.

Updated June 19, 2025: A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Nineth Circuit ruled in favor of the Trump Administration, finding that Trump was within his rights as president to nationalize the California National Guard and send them to L.A. The court stated that a president can deploy the Guard to prevent interference with the execution of federal law.

The court rejected the notion that L.A.'s protest amounted to a "rebellion" against federal authority. The ruling does not address the legality of the Marines in L.A. or who should control the Guard over the short term. More hearings have been scheduled to address these issues.  


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