Should We Be Happy About the Trump Administration’s Military Deployment to Quell the Los Angeles Riots?

Over the weekend, protests broke out across Los Angeles County, California, prompting the Donald Trump administration to issue a Title 10 exception to the Posse Comitatus Act, which prevents the military from being used for domestic law enforcement purposes, to gain the authority to bring in the National Guard and the United States Marine Corps (USMC, or Marines) to quiet the chaos. Was the National Guard really needed to protect the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in the sanctuary city of Los Angeles (a sanctuary city being one where the local government and law enforcement refuse to participate in deportation cases and leave such enforcement to the federal government alone), or was this an excuse for the Trump administration to practice martial law against American citizens for future cases in other places across the country?

The demonstrations began on Friday, June 6 after four federal judicial warrants were issued across three locations in central Los Angeles, one of which pertained to the “harboring of people illegally in the country,” and leading to forty-four people being detained. The protesters, which amassed a crowd of over 1,000 people, then began vandalizing (with graffiti) the Robert Young Federal Building in the downtown part of the city on suspicion that some of the illegal immigrants were being held there, and it turned into throwing pieces of concrete at members of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). At that point, police warned protesters to go home or be arrested, and they formed a line, protected by riot gear, to push the charging crowd back. Other protesters blocked federal agents’ vehicles from being able to perform their official duties and erected barricades, and some lighted fires, destroyed vehicles, and shot projectiles (rocks, fireworks, etc.) at police, as law enforcement prepared for similar engagements on Saturday and Sunday. At least fifty protesters were arrested.

The protests then spread to the nearby Los Angeles County cities of Compton and Paramount after a rumor that ICE was targeting locations around there, including a Home Depot (Home Depot is often the center of a lot of these immigration issues because migrants congregate there looking for work). After the protesters refused to abide by LAPD’s orders to disband because of a declaration of an “unlawful assembly,” President Trump authorized the deployment of 2,000 members of the California National Guard without the approval of Governor Gavin Newsome, who called the decision “purposefully inflammatory” (President Lyndon Johnson federalized the National Guard in 1965 without the permission of the Alabama governor to protect civil rights protesters, and that was the last time). Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (who, as you may recall, failed the city during the wildfires) said that President Trump’s federalization of the National Guard was a “chaotic escalation.”

By Sunday, police, backed by the 300 National Guard troops that had been mobilized timely, continued to fire tear gas and other non-lethal munitions, like they had the day prior, at the crowd in front of the federal detention center in downtown Los Angeles, and some protesters even blocked traffic on United States Highway Route 101 (101 Freeway), prompting a line of riot officers to confront the crowd. Tensions escalated as National Guard troops, along with those from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), pushed several protesters to the ground with riot shields and cleared the area with tear gas to make a path to the detention center for military vehicles from DHS and Border Patrol. On Monday, clashes between LAPD officers and protesters slowed but continued, and there was the occasional rubber bullets and pepper-filled rounds being fired, as well as a few protesters launching fireworks toward police and throwing a large trash bin at the law enforcement line.

The Trump administration then made the decision to bring in 700 Marines until the remainder of the 2,000 authorized National Guard troops were able to reach the city, and the number of Guardsmen may soon rise to 4,000, as city officials have levied a curfew as an attempt to curb the violence. Will the Marines simply provide security for federal property or administer temporary hospitals, like other branches of the military did during the COVID-19 pandemic, or is there something more sinister brewing? Is the Trump presidency setting the precedent to quell protests and round up dissenters with the use of the military? Will a future Democratic president do this against conservative protesters?

Former Los Angeles Mayor and Speaker of the California Assembly Antonio Villaraigosa said that the deployment was “meant to incite more fear and chaos in our community” and that “Trump’s military-style mass deportation ICE raids in California have gone too far, tearing families apart and threatening public safety…The raids at stores and workplaces are wrong, just as it’s wrong to separate families with raids at schools, graduations, and churches.” Some of the locals were appalled at the behavior of the police and National Guard and believed that the president’s actions were provoking the situation and making things far worse than they needed to be. Julie Solis said, “They want arrests. They want to see us fail. We need to be peaceful. We need to be eloquent,” and Jose Longoria, as he struggled to breathe the tear gas-filled air and limp away after having a canister from police thrown at him, stated, “We’re not armed. We’re just peacefully protesting. They’re acting out.” In Paramount, Jessica Juarez echoed the sentiments by saying, “I'm proud of our community, of the strength we showed…It's like they put so much fear into Paramount and for what? These guys didn't even clean up after themselves,” while Alejandro Maldonado said, “What else do you call it but an attack on Paramount and the people who live here?.”

It is hard to say definitively which side is correct, and the reality is probably that there is some truth in both. Some of the protesters may have been peaceful, as the corporate media suggested, but many were not, as businesses and cars were destroyed. Police, and later the National Guard, may have escalated tensions just simply by being present and having the mindset that they were going to “stop the baddies,” but they did not start the violence (at least from what we know at this moment). Any time those who have the authority to act in a violent manner over the rest of the population patrol the streets or gather to disperse protests, you will inevitably have skirmishes erupt. It is only natural. However, protesters launching fireworks, rocks, cinder blocks, and other objects at police and their vehicles and setting Waymo cars and businesses on fire are certainly unwarranted, and much of this occurred before the deployment of the National Guard (this is why the Guard was sent, and the argument that the deployment is what caused the violence is simply not true).

There was also a surge in migrants under the Joe Biden administration, so sending in ICE and other federal agents to deport illegal immigrants is not a novel concept or anything unprecedented (President Barack Obama was a huge proponent of deportations), so liberals acting a fool over this are making themselves look bad. It is almost like the powers that be wanted immigration to surge so that there was an excuse for a populist president to get elected and enact draconian immigration policies that would then lead to civil unrest and the ushering in of totalitarian rule. Maybe both parties are working for the same ultimate interests. Could George Soros or other behind-the-scenes elites be funding and supporting these riots in order to bring about the downfall of the United States? Could billionaires on the right side of the political aisle be fueling the flames in order to give President Trump more power? Is the deep state provoking tensions in order to undermine the Trump administration or usher in globalist agendas? We do not know what is really going on yet (if we ever do), but regardless, something is clearly happening.

Although people have the First Amendment right to burn the American flag and fly the Mexican flag, the fact that some protesters were doing these things was disgusting, and it is pretty telling that many liberals are willing to defend illegal immigrants over the rights of Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic and the January 6^th protests. These same people complaining about the government’s use of the National Guard to quell the Los Angeles protests wanted to use federal law enforcement to hunt down and round up Trump supporters who stormed the Capitol, and of course, they wanted to use the police to enforce mask mandates and social distancing requirements and prevent peaceful assemblies during the circulation of a virus (not to mention they advocated for the Joe Biden administration to censor speech). Is the Left getting what it asked for when it wanted to declare Trump supporters in insurrection? When the tide turns against them, they claim to be the victims of Trump’s fascist rule. Then, when a Democratic president comes back into office and uses the military to enforce gun laws against conservatives (or target them for something), Republicans will go back from supporting strong centralized power to opposing government overreach, while liberals will once again defend tyranny. This endless cycle of political back and forth has the people divided and not focused on the real enemy: the powers that be and the system of government that has us imprisoned.

So, the question remains: was the Trump administration correct in making the decision to deploy the military to circumvent local law enforcement? The short of it is that this was not a good decision for the effect that it can have for the future and the trust between government and the people, but the National Guard can legally be used to secure federal property or assist with federal operations, especially in terms of intelligence gathering and surveillance. The Posse Comitatus Act of 1878 prevents the military, to include the federalized National Guard and the Marines, from acting as domestic law enforcement. If the administration bypasses this by invoking the Insurrection Act of 1807, we must be willing to accept that any president in the future can do the same. Additionally, each state retains power under the Tenth Amendment and the compact of federalization, so invoking the Insurrection Act against the will of the governor would be a violation of the Constitution, except that an 1871 amendment allowed it to be invoked even if a state opposed such action (this is not what Thomas Jefferson had envisioned when he signed the law). Newsome’s lawsuit against the Trump administration has been delayed, so it is expected that the National Guard, and perhaps the Marines, will assist ICE and federal agents with deportations and arrests of migrants. This is not the proper role of the military (even if it is legal), and we should not cheer on the centralization of power in the hands of the federal government or the ability of it to act in a capacity that potentially threatens the rights of citizens.

As federal helicopters and armored vehicles fill the city, we must think about whether or not we desire the military to be used for civilian law enforcement purposes. I understand the point of view that we want the violence to end, that illegal immigration has surged, and that ICE is doing its job; but I cannot stress enough the dangers of organizing the military to the streets of American cities, especially at a time when we know that the powers that be would like to move the United States further along into compliance with the global system. The mobilization may currently be directed at illegal immigrants and rioters, but civilians will be inevitably affected by a military deployment. Future presidents may not think twice about rounding up dissenters down the road, and this is not something that we should be happy about.

If the state government is unable to handle the violence itself, it can ask for assistance from the federal government, but that is not what is happening. California and the Trump administration are in disagreement about how to handle the situation (to the point where the federal government is considering arresting Newsome and Bass), and if this turns into blue states rebelling against the federal government, is that really a position you want to be in? Does the pride of getting those illegal immigrants warrant the destruction of the country? This is a fragile time, and just like most other things, this may blow over within a few days or weeks, but what if it does not? Think about what this would mean before you start cheerleading for the deployment of the military for domestic purposes.

Thank you for reading, and please check out my book, The Global Bully, and website.