The Pentagon mobilized 700 U.S. Marines on Monday to deploy to Los Angeles to help the National Guard after a weekend of violent anti-ICE protests.
U.S. Northern Command said the Marines will add heft to the guard members, who are trained in de-escalation tactics and crowd control.
Hours earlier, California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a lawsuit against President Trump to derail the deployment of the National Guard. He said the president’s move was unwarranted and needlessly heightened a city already on edge over a wave of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests.
“Donald Trump is creating fear and terror by failing to adhere to the U.S. Constitution and overstepping his authority,” Mr. Newsom said. “This is a manufactured crisis to allow him to take over a state militia, damaging the very foundation of our republic.”
Mr. Trump said he would like Mr. Newsom, whom he calls “Gavin Newscum,” to be arrested for failing to maintain the peace.
Mr. Trump deployed the Marines despite saying his “great decision” to deploy the guard on Saturday had turned the corner on the situation.
SEE ALSO: ‘Anarchists’ behind violent turn in L.A.’s anti-ICE protests; nearly 60 arrested over weekend
“It’s now heading in the right direction,” the president said Monday afternoon.
It wasn’t clear what changed the president’s mind, but the troops marked a fast escalation in what some call the “Battle of Los Angeles.”
Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said the situation deteriorated Sunday to the point that it may take the National Guard to restore order.
“Do we need them? Well, looking at tonight, this thing has gotten out of control,” he said.
Chief McDonnell said protesters have fired deadly commercial-grade fireworks at officers. He said one tactic is to bring a cinder block and hammer concealed in a backpack. Once at a clash site, rioters smash the block and use the chunks as weapons.
He said protesters have also smashed concrete bollards outside a federal building and used those pieces as weapons.
SEE ALSO: Trump backs arrest of Newsom but border czar says ‘no discussion’ of detaining California’s governor
Some 2,000 California Army National Guard soldiers have been placed under federal command under Mr. Trump’s Saturday order. As of Monday, 300 had been deployed to three locations in the Los Angeles area.
The Marines will integrate with that unit.
Mr. Newsom announced his own deployment of police and cast it as an attempt at “cleaning up Trump’s mess.”
He said it included nearly 900 police from the California Highway Patrol and neighboring counties and municipal police forces within Los Angeles County.
Mr. Trump was largely critical of Mr. Newsom’s handling of the situation.
Mr. Newsom challenged the White House to order his arrest, which he said would please Mr. Trump.
“Gavin likes the publicity, but I think it would be a great thing. He’s done a terrible job,” the president said.
He said Mr. Newsom should have responded to the guard deployment with a “Thank you, President Trump, you are so wonderful. We would be nothing without you, sir.”
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the demonstrators also “should be thanking ICE officers.”
That was unlikely, given the vulgar chants and graffiti targeting ICE that have dominated the protests.
California said it will ask for a temporary restraining order in the lawsuit to halt Mr. Trump’s troop call-up.
State Attorney General Rob Bonta, who is leading the lawsuit, called the deployment “unnecessary and counterproductive.”
He said local law enforcement had the protest under control, but that changed after Mr. Trump’s “unnecessary, counterproductive and, most importantly, unlawful order.”
“Since Trump announced his plan to deploy troops, the situation on the ground has escalated quickly,” he said. “This was not inevitable.”
He and Mr. Newsom said their lawsuit was about drawing a line to prevent Mr. Trump from federalizing guard troops in other states and situations.
They said Mr. Trump used to recognize the lines he was erasing.
Mr. Newsom’s office pointed to remarks Mr. Trump made in 2020 when he suggested that he lacked the power to call up the guard to quell anti-police violence except in the case of an “insurrection.”
“We can’t call in the National Guard unless we’re requested by a governor,” he said.
U.S. Northern Command announced the call-ups this weekend. It said it was acting under Title 10 of the U.S. Code, which allows a call-up in times of invasion, rebellion or danger of rebellion or when the president is unable to secure the execution of the law.
Trump administration officials say the protesters’ attempts to stymie ICE arrests justify the deployment.
Ms. McLaughlin released a list of people ICE arrested Sunday in Los Angeles.
She said they included Eswin Uriel Castro, an illegal immigrant who had been deported before and who had criminal convictions for child molestation and carrying a weapon; Rafael Gamez-Sanchez, who has a conviction for vehicular manslaughter; and Dzhakhar Aslambekov, a Russian illegal immigrant who was arrested on charges of stealing from government programs.
“Why do Governor Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass care more about violent criminal illegal aliens than they do about protecting their own citizens?” Ms. McLaughlin said.
• Stephen Dinan and Jeff Mordock contributed to this report.
