Federal Deployment of National Guard in Los Angeles Sparks Controversy

The National Guard is generally mobilized in U.S. cities during significant emergencies such as natural disasters, civil unrest, or public health crises when local authorities require additional support. However, no clear indication suggested such a need in Los Angeles this past weekend, where law enforcement managed to keep protests related to federal immigration raids largely under control.

Typically, National Guard deployments occur at the request of state officials. In California, Governor Gavin Newsom criticized the federal troop deployment as deliberately provocative and warned it could exacerbate tensions. Notably, it has been over six decades since a president unilaterally ordered the National Guard into a state without the governor's consent.

President Trump's Saturday directive to dispatch troops represents a historic and controversial move based on questionable grounds, which appears to be generating the very disorder it was intended to prevent.

The president cited a seldom-invoked section of the U.S. Armed Services Code that permits federal deployment of the National Guard if there is a "rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the government of the United States." There is no evidence of such a rebellion occurring. Observers have pointed out that damage to property in American cities more commonly follows sports events rather than political protests.

The last instance of this presidential authority being exercised over a governor's opposition was in 1963, when President John F. Kennedy sent troops to enforce desegregation at the University of Alabama. That intervention sparked fierce opposition from segregation supporters, some of which endures in certain circles today.

In his executive order, the president stated that protests or violent acts that directly obstruct law enforcement constitute a form of rebellion against U.S. governmental authority. However, the closest recent parallel to such a rebellion was the 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol by individuals associated with the president, an event widely condemned and linked to incitement.