US Customs and Border Protection agents hold up "less-lethal" weapons in front of the Federal Building during ongoing demonstrations in response to federal immigration operations in downtown Los Angeles on June 12, 2025. Photo: Ronaldo Schemidt/ AFP/Getty Images.
In a further escalation of tensions over protests against immigration raids, US President Donald Trump has authorized deploying 2,000 additional National Guard troops to California, thus reinforcing the military presence in Los Angeles in an alleged attempt to control demonstrations against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to a statement issued by US Northern Command, the new troops were authorized “under Title 10 to support the protection of federal functions, personnel, and property in the greater Los Angeles area.”
The text clarifies that soldiers are not authorized to carry out “arrests, searches, or seizures” and that their mission will be limited to ensuring security and the continuity of federal functions.
Sucking up to the President should not be a requirement for him to do the right thing for the American people.
These are families who’ve lost their homes, their belongings — the irreplaceable pieces of a life built over decades, reduced to ash.
Only a truly disturbed person… https://t.co/hfWmQy3Wbl
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) June 18, 2025
This new contingent joins the 4,100 National Guard troops and 700 Marines previously deployed to the California city on Trump’s orders, despite open opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom, who called these actions a direct attack on “US democracy.”
Ignoring Newsom’s objections
Trump ignored the objections of Newsom, who, by law, has jurisdiction over the National Guard’s deployment within California, and justified the measure by arguing that California authorities had been inactive in the face of the protests.
On Thursday, a federal judge called the president’s decisions “unlawful” and ordered control of the troops to return to Governor Newsom. However, a higher court temporarily halted that ruling following an appeal by the Trump administration, which called the court’s decision an “extraordinary intrusion” into the executive branch’s powers.
Militarized Raids Against Migrants Spark Mass Protests in Los Angeles
The US president publicly suggested he would consider invoking the Insurrection Act should the situation continue. He also accused protesters of receiving payments to participate in demonstrations against ICE operations. To support his decision, the White House tenant invoked Title 10 of the United States Code, which allows him to assume state powers and federalize control of deployed forces under particular circumstances.
The measure has been harshly criticized by local officials, such as Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and other Democratic officials in California, who accuse Trump of inflaming tensions and using the military presence as a show of political force amid growing opposition to his inhuman anti-migrant tactics that are focused on Latin-Americans and colored people.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
