US Marines in LA: The showdown Trump has been waiting for

The Los Angeles protest is more than an anti-immigration uprising for US President Donald Trump. It is a strategic win for the president in a state that has been painted blue for a long time, with its Democratic governor and LA’s mayor repeatedly slamming Trump’s policies.

Trump on Tuesday deployed the US Marines along with 2,000 more National Guard troops in the city, vowing those protesting immigration arrests would be “hit harder” than ever.

According to a CNN analysis, Trump’s actions indicate that the movement in Los Angeles is more than run-of-the-mill protests against one of his policies. The president is eyeing political objectives in the state of California.

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He is sending a warning to Democratic-led areas across the country that resist his deportation efforts. More than just signalling his intent to escalate immigration enforcement using military-style tactics, he’s also suggesting he might deploy the military, particularly the National Guard, to suppress protest and dissent.

Trump’s extraordinary mobilization of 700 full-time professional military personnel – and thousands of National Guard troops – came on the fourth day of street protests triggered by dozens of immigration arrests in a city with huge foreign-born and Latino populations.

California Governor Gavin Newsom slammed the move, posting on X that US Marines “shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American.”

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“Trump’s move on Saturday is also a hint that he’s willing to trample tradition and potentially constitutional limits down the line and that he wants to exploit what Republicans see as Democratic weakness on public order,” the CNN analysis said.

Meanwhile, the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles’s federal facilities is a flagrant infringement of the Posse Comitatus Act, the law that does not allow federal troops to be involved in law enforcement operations unless they are ordered and authorised by Congress.

“Images of troops in combat gear, and the administration’s vows to enforce order if local leaders won’t, boost Trump’s tough-guy image, which is an important factor in his appeal to his supporters. It bolsters Republican claims of fecklessness in liberal-run cities that have been plagued by homelessness and crime,” the report said, adding that Trump is leveraging the protests for his political gains in the state.