California Governor Gavin Newsom plans to sue the Trump administration for deploying the National Guard’s presence to the uprising in Los Angeles.
Protesters spent the weekend in the streets protesting ICE raids and deportations that have been happening over the last several weeks across the country. But tensions rose on Sunday with thousands of protesters taking to the streets, setting vehicles on fire, and throwing rocks at law enforcement officials.
Law enforcement responded to the demonstrators by using rubber bullets, flash bags, and tear gas in an attempt to control the crowd, but at times, those methods seemed futile with several officers taking shelter beneath the underpass of a closed off highway.
The federal government met the demonstrators by deploying 300 National Guardsmen. On Sunday evening, Governor Newsom wrote a letter to President Trump asking him to rescind the deployment of the National Guard because, Newsom asserted, their presence was a violation of state sovereignty.
Both Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and Newsom asserted that the presence of the National Guard only served to make and already tense situation worse.
“What we’re seeing in Los Angeles is chaos that is provoked by the administration,” Bass said in a press conference. “This is about another agenda, this isn’t about public safety.”
By Monday, California’s attorney general announced that the state would sue the Trump administration over the deployment of the troops.
Rob Bonta called the use of the troops, ““unnecessary, counterproductive, and most importantly, unlawful,” at a press conference. He also said that Trump violated the 10th amendment and federal law by abusing the federal government’s authority.
Officials also noted that the crowd had begun to dissipate before the first National Guardsmen arrived to buttress the claims that their presence only fanned the flames and that local law enforcement was prepared to handle the protests.
On Monday afternoon, Newsom took to social media and asserted that, “Donald Trump’s violation of the U.S. Constitution is an overstep of his authority. We will not let this stand.”
