What to know about Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to LA protests

By REBECCA BOONE President Donald Trump says he s deploying California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to respond to immigration protests over the objections of California Gov Gavin Newsom Related Articles Harvard gets other universities backing in Trump funding fight Trump warns Musk not to back Democrats as Vance aims for detente Trump asks Supreme Court to allow Training Department purge Trump deploying California National Guard over governor s objections to LA to quell protests Supreme Court leaves ban on high-capacity gun magazines It s not the first time Trump has activated the National Guard to quell protests In he solicited governors of several states to send troops to Washington D C to respond to demonstrations that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers A great number of of the governors he solicited agreed sending troops to the federal district The governors that refused the request were allowed to do so keeping their troops on home soil This time however Trump is acting in opposition to Newsom who under normal circumstances would retain control and command of California s National Guard While Trump announced that federalizing the troops was necessary to address the lawlessness in California the Democratic governor disclosed the move was purposely inflammatory and will only escalate tensions Here are specific things to know about when and how the president can deploy troops on U S soil The laws are a bit vague Generally federal military forces are not allowed to carry out civilian law enforcement duties against U S citizens except in times of crisis An th-century wartime law called the Insurrection Act is the main legal mechanism that a president can use to activate the military or National Guard during times of rebellion or unrest But Trump didn t invoke the Insurrection Act on Saturday Instead he relied on a similar federal law that allows the president to federalize National Guard troops under certain circumstances The National Guard is a hybrid entity that serves both state and federal interests Often it operates under state command and control using state funding Sometimes National Guard troops will be assigned by their state to serve federal missions remaining under state command but using federal funding The law cited by Trump s proclamation places National Guard troops under federal command The law says that can be done under three circumstances When the U S is invaded or in danger of invasion when there is a rebellion or danger of rebellion against the authority of the U S executive or when the President is unable to execute the laws of the United States with regular forces But the law also says that orders for those purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States It s not without delay clear if the president can activate National Guard troops without the order of that state s governor The role of the National Guard troops will be limited Notably Trump s proclamation says the National Guard troops will play a supporting role by protecting ICE officers as they enforce the law rather than having the troops perform law enforcement work Tear gas fills the street as protesters confront Margin Patrol personnel during a demonstration over the dozens detained in an operation by federal immigration officials a day earlier in Paramount Calif on Saturday June AP Photo Eric Thayer Steve Vladeck a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center who specializes in military justice and national prevention law says that s because the National Guard troops can t legally engage in ordinary law enforcement events unless Trump first invokes the Insurrection Act Vladeck mentioned the move raises the liability that the troops could end up using force while filling that protection role The move could also be a precursor to other more aggressive troop deployments down the road he wrote on his website There s nothing these troops will be allowed to do that for example the ICE officers against whom these protests have been directed could not do themselves Vladeck wrote Troops have been mobilized before The Insurrection Act and related laws were used during the Civil Rights era to protect activists and students desegregating schools President Dwight Eisenhower sent the st Airborne to Little Rock Arkansas to protect Black students integrating Central High School after that state s governor activated the National Guard to keep the students out George H W Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in after the acquittal of white police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King National Guard troops have been deployed for a variety of emergencies including the COVID pandemic hurricanes and other natural disasters But generally those deployments are carried out with the agreements of the governors of the responding states Trump is willing to use the military on home soil In Trump requested governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington D C to quell protests that arose after George Floyd was killed by Minneapolis police officers Countless of the governors agreed sending troops to the federal district At the time Trump also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act for protests following Floyd s death in Minneapolis an intervention rarely seen in modern American history But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper pushed back saying the law should be invoked only in the most of urgent and dire of situations Trump never did invoke the Insurrection Act during his first term But while campaigning for his second term he suggested that would change Trump communicated an audience in Iowa in that he was prevented from using the military to suppress violence in cities and states during his first term and reported if the issue came up again in his next term I m not waiting Trump also promised to deploy the National Guard to help carry out his immigration enforcement goals and his top adviser Stephen Miller explained how that would be carried out Troops under sympathetic Republican governors would send troops to nearby states that refuse to participate Miller noted on The Charlie Kirk Show in After Trump disclosed he was federalizing the National Guard troops on Saturday Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth noted other measures could follow Hegseth wrote on the social media platform X that evolving duty Marines at Camp Pendleton were on high alert and would also be mobilized if violence continues