As protests continue in Los Angeles over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids, a struggle has broken out between President Donald Trump and California Gov. Gavin Newsom over control of the National Guard.
The protests turned violent over the past few days, as peaceful protesters were joined by protesters who burned cars, threw rocks and chunks of concrete at ICE and local law enforcement officers and sprayed graffiti across L.A.
On Sunday, things continued to escalate as California National Guard troops were deployed to protect federal buildings and officers. Tear gas and rubber bullets were used by law enforcement to quell the protests.
Newsom sharply criticized Trump and border czar Tom Homan for deploying the National Guard without his request, the first time a president has done so in six decades.
The state of California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday over the matter.
In the state’s lawsuit against Trump over the National Guard deployment, California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the administration deploying troops was “unnecessary and counterproductive.” It overrode the state’s sovereignty and the suit was looking for the court to “set aside the president’s order” because it exceeded the executive authority and violated the 10th Amendment.
Trump said he had to call up the National Guard because of the rising violence and destruction caused by protesters, as well as to protect the safety of federal officers.
A California Highway Patrol officer pulls an electric scooter off a vehicle on a highway as protesters throw objects at the police vehicles near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. | Ethan Swope
Scenes in LA
On Saturday night, Trump signed a memo deploying 2,000 National Guard members.
Law enforcement and protesters clashed on Saturday in several spots across the city and the conflict continued throughout the day Sunday and into Monday.
Sources confirmed to CNN on Monday that as many as 700 Marines were being mobilized, marking an escalation in the administration’s use of military as a response to the rising violence.
Newsom responded to the initial National Guard call-up by issuing a formal request that the Trump administration rescind its “unlawful deployment” of troops.
“We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed,” Newsom said online.
The Democratic Governors Association backed Newsom, issuing a statement that Trump’s memo is an “alarming abuse of power.” The governors argued it was important for the administration to respect their executive authority over their respective states and National Guard troops.
“We stand with Governor Newsom who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation,” they wrote.
Homan was criticized for suggesting that Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass could face charges for intervening in the immigration enforcement actions. He later walked back his statements and said Newsom and Bass have not “crossed the line,” but they are “not above the law, either.”
Newsom challenged Homan and dared him to arrest him.
“Come after me. Arrest me. Let’s just get it over with, tough guy,” Newsom told MSNBC. “I don’t give a damn, but I care about my community, I care about this community.”
Trump echoed Homan’s remarks when asked by reporters to respond on Sunday and said officials who stand in the way of law and order “will face charges.” A day later, Trump said if he were Homan, he would arrest Newsom, saying he thinks “it’s great.”
Republicans have pushed back on Newsom’s handling of the protests, arguing he and Bass have not done enough to quell the violence, and that he caused the escalation by not intervening early enough.
Steve Hilton, a Republican who wants to run for California governor in 2026, said about the protests, “These were riots not protests. It should have been stopped before it even got going. But they just stood back and let it happen. All of it is unacceptable. None of it should be tolerated.”
Executive overreach questions
Elizabeth Goitein, an expert on presidential emergency powers and senior director of the Liberty and National Security Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, shared a lengthy thread online about Trump’s decision to override Newsom and deploy the National Guard.
It’s the first time a president has sent troops to a state without a state requesting the aid since 1965, Goitein noted.
Trump is relying on a statute to deploy National Guard troops to Los Angeles that allows a president to federalize the National Guard when there is a rebellion against U.S. government authority or when the president is unable to execute U.S. laws with regular forces.
In the past, presidents have used that authority to call on troops to be deployed under the Insurrection Act, Goitein said. The Insurrection Act hasn’t been used since the 1992 riots in Los Angeles after a jury acquitted police officers who beat Rodney King, and has been used only 30 times total.
Goitein said that Trump is “federalizing the Guard for the purpose of policing Americans’ protest activity.” That is dangerous for “both public safety and democracy,” she argued.
She also pointed out National Guard troops could be sent to other places, too. Trump’s memo doesn’t specifically reference Los Angeles, but authorized deployment at locations where there are already protests against ICE action, or where they are “likely to occur.”
Protesters throw objects to the police vehicles on a Freeway near the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, Sunday, June 8, 2025. | Ethan Swope
Steve Vladeck, a law professor at Georgetown University, agreed with Goitein. In a newsletter published Saturday, Vladeck noted that Trump has not yet invoked the Insurrection Act, which means the troops cannot engage in typical law enforcement activities, but the National Guard members will provide protection and other support for ICE and DHS personnel.
Trump’s deployment of the troops is a “significant” and “unnecessary” escalation of events in Los Angeles since no local or state authorities requested help, he said.
Parallels have also been drawn to Trump’s 2020 deployment of the National Guard during the Black Lives Matter protests.
Trump deployed troops in several cities across the U.S. when violent protests erupted across the country in response to the 2020 killing of George Floyd.
Department of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said Sunday that the Trump administration is not going to “let a repeat of 2020 happen.”
What’s being said
The protests have sparked a fierce debate about protecting immigrant rights, state’s rights and the need for law and order.
Republican lawmakers, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee, point to the violence that has broken out in Los Angeles.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned the violence and said those who vandalized the city would be arrested. But she said the protests have only occurred on a few downtown streets and life in the city has carried on for most of its residents.
“I think the issue here is state power and state sovereignty,” she said Monday on CNN. “But what was the reason that the president had to take the power from the governor and federalize the National Guard?”
“No request came from the city of Los Angeles. What has happened now is an entirely different situation,” Bass later said.
Trump doubled down on his memo and deployment of National Guard troops, criticizing both Bass and Newsom for their pushback.
“We made a great decision in sending the National Guard to deal with the violent, instigated riots in California. If we had not done so, Los Angeles would have been completely obliterated,” Trump said in a Monday post. “The very incompetent ‘Governor,’ Gavin Newscum, and ‘Mayor,’ Karen Bass, should be saying, ‘THANK YOU PRESIDENT TRUMP, YOU ARE SO WONDERFUL. WE WOULD BE NOTHING WITHOUT YOU, SIR.’”