Why Trump’s deployment of military in California is so controversial

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump ordered the California National Guard on June 7 to

dispatch at least 2,000 soldiers

to the Los Angeles area as thousands of people demonstrating against immigration raids clashed with security forces.

After vandalism and violence broke out, the Pentagon escalated the federal response by

also mobilising 700 active-duty Marines. 

The president said on his Truth Social platform that federal agencies were to take “all such action necessary” to stop what he called “migrant riots”.

The rare move by a president to mobilise military forces to quell domestic unrest was quickly condemned as unnecessary and counterproductive by the local authorities, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and California Governor Gavin Newsom. 

On June 9, California sued the Trump administration over its “illegal” deployment of state troops and US Marines, claiming it had overstepped its authority.

What is the National Guard?

The National Guard has its roots in the colonial militias formed in the 1600s to defend the colonies against Native Americans and European powers, making it the oldest component of the US military. 

As the militias evolved and became more organised and professional, National Guard units were founded in all the states and US territories.

Currently, the National Guard comprises more than 325,000 members recruited mostly from the communities they serve as a state-based reserve force to assist with emergency responses to natural disasters and civil unrest.

Most members are civilians who volunteer to serve part-time. They are also available for federal service, including overseas deployments. 

Who normally calls on the National Guard, and why?

State governors typically coordinate the activation of guard troops to respond to local events, from wildfires to floods, when the civil authorities are overwhelmed.

When the guard is called in to help restore order, state and local law enforcement agencies remain responsible for security. 

On some occasions, the president has deployed National Guard troops to respond to civil unrest and rioting. President Lyndon Johnson, for example, deployed National Guard soldiers under federal control in Detroit, Chicago and Baltimore to help quell race riots in the late 1960s.

This was in response to requests for federal assistance from state and territorial governors. 

Likewise, President George H.W. Bush activated the California National Guard in 1992 at the request of governor Pete Wilson and Los Angeles mayor Tom Bradley when rioting broke out in the city following a jury’s acquittal of police officers charged with severely beating a black man, Rodney King, after a high-speed car chase.

The last time a president has activated a state’s National Guard without a request from the governor was in 1965, when then President Johnson sent troops to Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.

Under what circumstances can the president call on the military?

The law strictly limits the federal deployment of troops within US borders. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, along with amendments and supporting regulations, generally bars the use of the active-duty US military – the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines – from carrying out domestic law enforcement. 

Important exceptions to the 1878 law are contained in the 1807 Insurrection Act and its modern iterations, which allow the president, without congressional approval, to employ the military for domestic use in certain circumstances.

The Insurrection Act has been used very rarely to deploy troops under federal control domestically without a request from a state government, with examples mostly dating from the Civil Rights era. 

The law on which Trump relied to unilaterally dispatch California National Guard troops to Los Angeles – a provision of Title X of the US Code – permits domestic deployment only in cases of invasion by a foreign nation, rebellion, or danger of a rebellion. 

The president’s June 7 proclamation gives Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth the authority to direct troops to take “reasonably necessary” actions to protect immigration agents and other federal workers and federal property.

It also permits him to use members of the regular armed forces “as necessary to augment and support the protection of federal functions and property in any number determined appropriate in his discretion”.

Mr Trump and top officials in his administration have sought to justify the current Los Angeles deployments by arguing that local and state officials have failed to restore order.

The president joined White House border czar Tom Homan in suggesting that Mr Newsom should be arrested over his handling of the unrest.

In its legal challenge, California is arguing that the president has abused his authority, saying there is no rebellion or invasion that justifies Mr Trump sending troops into Los Angeles. 

How else has the National Guard been controversial?

Perhaps the most infamous deployment in modern history was in May 1970 when the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd of students at Kent State University, who were protesting against the Vietnam War and then President Richard Nixon’s announcement of an invasion into Cambodia.

The resulting deaths of four students and injuries to nine others sparked widespread outrage. 

In his first term, Mr Trump asked state governors to send troops to Washington to curb protests that erupted after

the murder of Mr George Floyd in 2020

.

Years later, former defence secretary Mark Esper testified to a House committee that he and others had to convince Mr Trump there was no legal justification for that use of the military.

At the time Mr Trump felt the unrest in the wake of Mr Floyd’s murder in Minnesota made the US look weak, Mr Esper told the committee. 

As he campaigned for a second term, Mr Trump made clear he wanted to be more aggressive in using the military.

At an event in Iowa in 2023 he labelled several big cities “crime dens” and said he previously held back from sending in the military. BLOOMBERG