 "A protester taunts a line of California National Guard protecting a federal building in downtown Los Angeles on June 9, 2025. AP")
Military veterans and legal experts have raised alarm over United States President Donald Trump’s decision to mobilise the military in Los Angeles to quash protests against government immigration raids and deportations. After deploying 2,000 National Guard members through a memorandum on Saturday (June 7), the Trump administration has ordered the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard members in the city.
Around 700 US Marines have also been activated in the Los Angeles area to join the National Guard members, the US Northern Command said in a statement. The National Guard was mobilised by Trump over the weekend without the consent of California’s governor or LA’s mayor.
The US president has threatened that troops could be deployed on a much wider scale. “We’re gonna have troops everywhere,” he said on Sunday. There are concerns that this could set a dangerous precedent in the US.
 "What triggered the Los Angeles immigration protests? A rumour")
 "Who's calling? Trump picks up calls from unknown numbers, vulnerable to scams: Report")
Let’s take a closer look.
National Guard, Marines to quell immigration protests
Trump deployed National Guard troops in response to street protests in Los Angeles on Saturday. His memo stated that US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth can activate regular military troops, along with National Guard forces, to protect federal activities in the country wherever protests have erupted.
It further said that troops can be sent to “locations where protest against [federal] functions are occurring, or are likely to occur based on current threat assessments”.
The National Guard members started arriving in LA on Sunday to protect federal personnel and buildings. However, they are not authorised to conduct law enforcement activities, such as making arrests.
About 1,700 troops are operating in the greater Los Angeles area, a statement from US Northern Command said on Monday.
LA is witnessing protests against immigration raids and mass deportations since Friday, when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers carried out raids in areas with dominant Latino populations. The development comes amid Trump’s promise to curb illegal immigration.
While the LA protests have been largely peaceful, there have been some incidents of arson and demonstrators shutting down a major freeway. The police fired rubber bullets and flash bangs at the protesters on Monday to disperse the crowd.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has criticised the deployment of the National Guard, calling it “unlawful”. The US state has also filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, urging a judge to declare the deployments “unconstitutional”.
Newsom also announced Monday that he is sending more than 800 additional state and local law enforcement officers to “ensure the safety of our LA communities.”
On Monday, the US Northern Command announced that it is activating 700 Marines in the Los Angeles area to protect federal personnel and property.
California Governor Newsom’s press office called the deployment of Marines “completely unwarranted, uncalled for, and unprecedented”.
“Trump is escalating this situation even further – deploying active duty Marines, the ‘best of the best,’ against their own countrymen in an American city,” the office said in a post. “Completely unnecessary and only inflames the situation more.”
LA Mayor Karen Bass said there was “nothing happening in our city” that warranted immigration raids.
“It makes me feel like our city is a test case,” she said, as the federal government “moves in and takes authority” from the local government.
Responding to the scenes from the protest, Trump wrote on social media on Monday, “Looking really bad in LA. BRING IN THE TROOPS.”
He also called for the arrest of any protesters wearing masks, calling them “insurrectionists.”
Why Trump’s troop deployment has caused worries
Trump ’s troop deployment has raised concerns about the use of the military for domestic politics.
Speaking to The Guardian, Major General Paul Eaton said this is the “politicisation of the armed forces”. “It casts the military in a terrible light – it’s that man on horseback, who really doesn’t want to be there, out in front of American citizens.”
Democratic governors across America have signed a letter, describing Trump’s National Guard deployment as an “alarming abuse of power.”
“The military appears to be clashing with protesters in the streets of our country. That’s not supposed to happen,” Elizabeth Goitein, a national security law expert at New York University’s Brennan Center, told Politico. “It’s such a dangerous situation. It’s dangerous for liberty. It’s dangerous for democracy.”
Legal experts worry that the troop deployment in LA is a way to wield more power over blue states that have not toed the line on Trump’s deportation agenda. This could result in the US president calling in more troops or expanding their mission.
Janessa Goldbeck, a Marine Corps veteran, told The Guardian that Trump’s memo was an invitation to Hegseth to “mobilise as many troops as he wants anywhere within the US. That’s a massive escalation across the country.”
Trump’s move to bring in the military to tackle protests is being seen as political rather than a necessary one.
“This deployment was made counter to what the governor wanted, so it seems like a political forcing – a forced use of the military by Trump because he can,” a retired senior US Army officer was quoted as saying by the British daily.
Critics argue that the premise could be used to impose the Insurrection Act. The 1807 legislation empowers the US president to employ the military to suppress insurrections, “domestic violence” or conspiracies that undermine constitutional rights or federal laws.
“We are headed towards the invocation of the Insurrection Act, which will provide a legal basis for inappropriate activity,” Eaton warned.
A US official, on the condition of anonymity, said to Reuters that it is unlikely Trump will invoke the Insurrection Act, at least for now. However, the person said the situation was “fluid” and might change.
Trump’s move could, however, backfire as Americans do not favour the use of the military for domestic purposes. A CNN poll conducted in 2020 showed that 60 per cent of Americans said it would be “inappropriate” for a president to “deploy the US military in response to protests in the United States.”
With inputs from agencies