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California is suing Donald Trump for deploying National Guard troops to quell weekend protests in Los Angeles, marking a sharp escalation of tensions between the most populous US state and the White House.
Governor Gavin Newsom accused the US president of “creating fear and terror” in a statement issued on Monday with Rob Bonta, the state’s attorney-general. “This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic.”
The state’s plans to file a lawsuit against Trump came after about 300 members of the National Guard arrived in Los Angeles on Sunday. At the weekend Trump moved to “federalise” the California National Guard by transferring control of the military troops from state to national control. The president has authorised 2,000 guardsmen to be deployed.
The National Guard troops took up positions downtown, where thousands gathered to protest against raids by federal immigration agents in the state. The guardsmen used tear gas on the crowds, witnesses said. Other law enforcement officials, including the Los Angeles Police Department, were on hand.
Demonstrations shook the city on Sunday afternoon, as Waymo taxis were set on fire and a large crowd blocked a stretch of a major roadway. Police declared the city’s downtown to be an “unlawful assembly area” and arrested dozens over the weekend.
Another rally to protest against the immigration raids and the detention of union leader David Huerta was scheduled to take place downtown on Monday afternoon.
The California lawsuit marked the latest escalation in a stand-off between the White House and state and local leaders, as Trump and his allies press ahead with their sweeping plans to strengthen the power of the president.
Trump and Newsom have been sparring partners since the president’s first term, when the governor took the mantle of leading the “resistance” to his presidency. At one point in the war of words between the two men on Monday, Trump endorsed the idea of Tom Homan, the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, arresting Newsom.
“I would do it if I were Tom. I think it’s great,” Trump said as he returned to the White House from Camp David. “Gavin likes the publicity . . . He’s done a terrible job. I like Gavin Newsom, he’s a nice guy, but he’s grossly incompetent, everybody knows that.”
The president also claimed the “people that are causing the problem are professional agitators, they’re insurrectionists”.
Newsom, a Democrat, said in a statement that the addition of the National Guard troops had only made the situation worse. “Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President’s authority under the law — and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order.”
Trump has accused the governor of lying about the situation. The president insisted Los Angeles would have been “completely obliterated” without the National Guard.
Federalising the National Guard is unusual. President George HW Bush sent guardsmen to Los Angeles in 1992 to control riots following the beating by police officers of Rodney King — a move that had been requested by California’s then governor, Pete Wilson.
This time Trump overruled the wishes of Newsom, one of his chief political rivals. Newsom, the former mayor of San Francisco who has been governor of California since 2019, is one of the most prominent Democratic politicians and seen as a potential presidential candidate in 2028.
A US president last deployed a state’s National Guard without being asked by its governor in 1965, when Lyndon Johnson sent troops to protect civil rights demonstrators in Selma, Alabama.
Pete Hegseth, defence secretary, said the marines were on “high alert” and suggested they could be deployed in Los Angeles, where isolated protests began on Friday and lasted through the weekend. On Sunday evening, Trump did not rule out sending in marines. “We’ll send whatever we need to ensure there’s law and order.”
In an interview with progressive YouTube podcaster Brian Tyler Cohen, Newsom said Trump’s actions in California were a “preview of things to come”. He added: “Donald Trump is unhinged right now.”