Trump’s Deployment of the Military to LA Streets Represents an Acceleration of Authoritarianism

The Trump administration appears to be in the midst of an authoritarian takeover of the United States. Some have speculated over recent months, that in order to secure such control, the president would need to declare a state of emergency and deploy the troops domestically. And at present, Donald Trump has sent the National Guard and the marines into the city streets of Los Angeles.

As of Wednesday, the White House had deployed 4,000 National Guard troops, along with sending in a further 700 US marines to Los Angeles, on the back of civilian protests against 6 June-commenced military-style raids perpetrated by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in public places, like department stores, in parts of the city known to have significant migrant populations.

While the vast majority of the LA protests that have continued since the raids began, have been peaceful, the Republican administration has been propagating the idea a lawless city, warranting the deployment of troops to restore order, however Democrat state authorities have been clear that it’s the president’s ICE raids and subsequent “terrorising” acts that have provoked the violence.

“What we’re witnessing is not law enforcement — it’s authoritarianism,” Governor of California Gavin Newsom said in a televised address to the state on Tuesday. “What Donald Trump wants most is your fealty. Your silence. To be complicit in this moment. Do not give in to him.”

Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass declared a local emergency to stop the looting and vandalism on Tuesday, and she further implemented an 8 pm to 6 am curfew in downtown LA.

Both the governor and the mayor have been clear that they consider what’s happening to the most populous city in California to be an “experiment” that’s likely to be repeated in other cities across the nation.

The California test run

“Trump is pulling a military dragnet across LA, well beyond his stated intent to just go after violent and serious criminals,” Newsom continued in his 10 June televised address. “His agents are arresting dishwashers, gardeners, day labourers and seamstresses – that’s just weakness. Weakness masquerading as strength.”

“Donald Trump’s government isn’t protecting our communities – they are traumatising our communities. And that seems to be the point,” he added. “California will keep fighting on behalf of our people – all of our people – including in the courts.”

The state of California has commenced multiple legal actions in respect of the president’s orders, as they consider them illegal. Yet, the Trump administration expects such lawsuits to be lodged, which is not of immediate concern as it takes time for such litigation to move through the courts and in the meantime, it can continue operating in the manner it has been, regardless of any lawfulness.

Newsom further told the public that while his state was the first to be experiencing the ICE raids that provoke protests, and then result in the deployment of soldiers, “other states are next”, and ultimately, what the Trump administration is attempting to achieve is an assault on democracy and the rule of law.

“We didn’t need the National Guard. Why on Earth? What are they going to do?” the LA mayor told reporters on Monday. “Do you know what the National Guard is doing now? They are guarding two buildings. They are guarding the federal building here – in downtown – and they are guarding the federal building in Westwood.”

“That’s what they’re doing. So, we need marines on top of it?” Bass asked. “That’s why I feel like that we are part of an experiment that we did not ask to be a part of.”

Forgotten powers invoked

The National Guard is a part of the US military that can carry out both state and federal functions. For the California National Guard to be deployed for state-level action, it would usually be the governor who makes the call. However, the US president can federalise the National Guard, but this is normally done without the approval of the state governor. And Newsom wasn’t even consulted.

Trump initially deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to the LA streets, via a presidential memorandum issued on Saturday, which cited Title Ten of the Federal Code as empowering him to do so. He’s deployed the armed forces to the city for a period of 60 days, or at the discretion of the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth, who has the ability to call in more troops or the marines.

Newsom launched a lawsuit against the US president on Monday, to bring about an end to the deployment of the National Guard, which his state government claims is an unlawful act, “which has needlessly escalated chaos and violence in the Los Angeles region”. The legal action insists that Trump and Hegseth have both violated the US Constitution, via their militarisation of LA.

The New York Times reports that since his inauguration in January, Trump has been drawing on emergency powers that are scattered throughout various pieces of federal legislation, which are often laws that were enacted centuries ago and are now simply sitting on the books.

So, in order to carry out the mass deportations of noncitizens, the US president invoked the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 in March.

One down dozens to go

Despite being opposed to the ICE raids and the deployment of the military to her city, on 10 June, the California mayor outlined that she was imposing a curfew, due to the “violence” that took place on Monday night, which saw “23 businesses looted” and extensive vandalism, which warranted the extreme measures that have been implemented over one square mile in the middle of the city.

A church-led protest on Tuesday night that saw pastors leading protesters to the site of an immigration detention centre in the curfew zone saw most demonstrators leaving close to the time the restrictions began. However, after 8 pm, a few hundred people were left, and following law enforcement asking them to disperse, it moved in to make “mass arrests”.

As for Donald Trump, he remained defiant on Tuesday, as he delivered a speech to soldiers in North Carolina, explaining that he had deployed thousands of troops to the city of LA “to protect federal law enforcement from the attacks of the vicious and violent mob, and some of the radical Left”.

“They said that’s not nice,” the US president continued, “Well, if we didn’t do it, then Los Angeles would be burning, just like the houses were burning a number of months ago.”