As protests continue to flare in Los Angeles over the Trump administration carrying out immigration raids and deploying National Guard troops to the area, President Donald Trump has floated the idea of invoking the Insurrection Act over objections from California’s governor and the mayor of LA.
Invoking the Insurrection Act, which generally gives the president the authority to quell rebellion or unrest by deploying the military, would be an escalation of the administration’s actions so far in California. On Saturday, Trump deployed at least 300 National Guard troops to downtown Los Angeles after thousands of protesters took to the streets. They largely concentrated themselves in the city’s garment district, where federal agents had started conducting raids for undocumented workers on Friday.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, rioters assaulted multiple Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, “slashed tires, defaced buildings and taxpayer funded property,” the agency said in a statement on Saturday. (The agency also singled out several Democratic lawmakers, accusing them of “villainizing and demonizing” ICE agents.) Local news station KTLA reported Monday that at least five LAPD officers have been injured, requiring medical care. Six other officers experienced minor injuries that did require hospitalization.
