‘This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego,’ California Governor Newsom said.

By Monday noon, thousands of U.S. troops and police were still surrounding small groups of peaceful protesters in downtown Los Angeles, following hours of confrontation. The unprecedented show of military force on American streets comes amid a constitutional crisis between the Trump administration and the state of California over immigration enforcement.

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What began as immigration raids on Friday has spiraled into the largest federal-state confrontation in decades, with U.S. President Donald Trump deploying over 4,100 U.S. National Guard members and 700 Marines so far without California Governor Gavin Newsom’s consent — the first time since then President Lyndon Johnson federalized Alabama’s National Guard in 1965 without gubernatorial consent.

Over 40 immigrants were arrested on Friday alone at garment factories, construction sites and day-laborer gathering spots as federal agents conducted coordinated raids across Los Angeles County.

The operations employed tactical gear, armored vehicles and drones in what U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials described as enforcement of federal search warrants.

The most controversial arrest involved David Huerta, president of the Service Employees International Union California, who was detained while serving as a community observer during a raid. Union officials said Huerta was documenting federal operations when agents arrested him on felony conspiracy charges.

By Friday evening, hundreds of protesters had gathered outside the Metropolitan Detention Center in downtown Los Angeles, demanding the release of detained immigrants. The initially peaceful demonstrations quickly escalated into violent confrontations as protesters hurled chunks of concrete at police officers, prompting the deployment of tear gas, pepper spray and flash-bang grenades.

Saturday brought a dramatic escalation as protests spread to Paramount, where federal agents had staged additional operations near a Home Depot store. Demonstrators blocked streets with shopping carts, set cars ablaze, and threw glass bottles containing gasoline-like substances at law enforcement.

One ICE agent was injured when protesters shattered a vehicle’s windshield with rocks. Meanwhile, two Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies were wounded by a protester who threw a Molotov cocktail, according to local police reports.

Weekend violence peaked Sunday when hundreds of protesters stormed U.S. Highway 101, completely halting traffic in both directions while throwing rocks, electric scooters, street signs and concrete chunks from overpasses onto police vehicles below. Multiple patrol cars were damaged and at least one was set ablaze, forcing the California Highway Patrol to deploy tear gas canisters to clear the interstate.

The chaos extended beyond clashes with law enforcement as five Waymo autonomous vehicles were vandalized with anti-ICE graffiti and set on fire near the detention center, prompting the car company to suspend service in protest areas due to toxic gas emissions from burning lithium-ion batteries.

Trump responded Saturday evening by signing a presidential memorandum deploying California National Guard troops under federal command. The president characterized the protests as “a form of rebellion” against federal authority.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth then confirmed that 700 Marines from the U.S. Marine Corps base in Twentynine Palms were mobilized Monday to support National Guard operations, marking the first deployment of Marines since the 1992 Los Angeles riots. However, the massive security response now appeared dramatically disproportionate to the current threat level.

On Monday, approximately 1,000 to 2,000 peaceful protesters in downtown Los Angeles were merely chanting slogans — no longer throwing objects — while completely surrounded by police and National Guard forces.

The federal deployment has been marked by significant dysfunction. Governor Newsom revealed Monday evening that the first 2,000 National Guard members deployed by Trump “were given no food or water” and “only approximately 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders.”

“This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego,” Newsom said on Instagram. “This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”

California filed a federal lawsuit Monday seeking a restraining order to halt what state officials characterize as an unconstitutional usurpation of state authority. California Attorney General Rob Bonta argued that Trump violated both the 10th Amendment and statutory requirements that National Guard orders be “issued through the governors of the States.”

The legal challenge centered on whether Trump’s characterization of civil unrest as “rebellion” met the threshold for federal intervention. California contended that no invasion or actual rebellion exists to justify bypassing normal state-federal coordination protocols.

Trump has threatened to expand military deployments to other cities. “We’re going to have troops everywhere. We’re not going to let this happen to our country,” he said. Border czar Tom Homan threatened Newsom’s arrest if he interfered with federal operations, escalating tensions between state and federal authorities. Trump told a reporter Monday that he supported Homan’s idea.

The Los Angeles crisis represents a template for Trump’s broader immigration strategy, which aims to conduct what officials call “the largest deportation operation in American history” with a goal of 1 million annual deportations. The administration is using military aircraft for deportation flights, costing up to US$850,000 per flight, according to government sources.

The enforcement operations have already spread fear through immigrant communities nationwide, affecting key industries including agriculture, construction and hospitality. Economic analysts estimate deporting 1 million immigrants annually could cost US$967.9 billion over a decade while creating significant labor shortages.

teleSUR/ JF

Source: Xinhua

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