Trump defends decision to 'SEND IN THE TROOPS' amid LA protests

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President Donald Trump orders 700 members of the U.S. Marines to Los Angeles to assist as anti-ICE protests continue.

LOS ANGELES - As anti-ICE protests enter a fifth day in Southern California, President Donald Trump is doubling down on his decision to deploy thousands more troops to Los Angeles despite fierce opposition from California Gov. Gavin Newsom and local officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

What we know:

In a Truth Social post on Tuesday, Trump defended his decision to deploy the National Guard to LA, claiming if he hadn't, "that once beautiful and great city would be burning to the ground right now."

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"If I didn’t "SEND IN THE TROOPS" to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. do to an incompetent Governor and Mayor - Incidentally, the much more difficult, time consuming, and stringent FEDERAL PERMITTING PROCESS is virtually complete on these houses, while the easy and simple City and State Permits are disastrously bungled up and WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE! They are a total mess, and will be for a long time. People want to rebuild their houses. Call your incompetent Governor and Mayor, the Federal permitting is DONE!!!," he wrote. 

CA Leaders Fight Back:

California officials sued Trump on Monday to roll back the administration’s National Guard deployment, saying the president trampled on the state’s sovereignty. Local officials and Newsom don’t want the military deployed in the city, and the police chief said it creates logistical challenges for safely handling protests.

The 2,000 Guard members authorized Monday are an addition to the 2,100 the president mobilized for the protests Sunday. Trump has also deployed 700 Marines to help them.

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This appears to be the first time in decades that a state’s National Guard was activated without a request from its governor.

Newsom has called the presence of troops on the streets of Los Angeles both "illegal and immoral." On X, he called the decision to deploy the additional National Guard troops reckless and "disrespectful to our troops."

Meanwhile, Bass accused the federal government of stoking the unrest that rocked Los Angeles over the weekend, calling immigration enforcement operations that occurred Friday unnecessary and provocative acts.

She suggested that the operations occurring in Los Angeles seemed almost to be an "experiment" by federal authorities to see if similar operations will succeed in other series.

"If you remember at the beginning of this administration, we were told that raids would be to look for violent criminals, people who had warrants," Bass said. "But I don't know how you go from a drug dealer to a Home Depot to people's workplaces where they just trying to make a living. At Home Depot, you have day laborer centers so that the people -- who are trying to seek work each and every day -- will have a place to be so that it doesn't interfere with the business.

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"These are not the people that we were told were going to be detained, and it makes me feel like our city is actually a test case or a test case for what happens when the general government comes in and takes the authority away from the state or away from local government.

"I don't think that our city should be used for an experiment to see what happens in the nation's second largest city."

The backstory:

The recent anti-ICE protests in Los Angeles erupted following widespread anger over the agency's enforcement tactics. 

Community leaders reported incidents of ICE appearing at elementary school graduations, disrupting the legitimate immigration processes at various court houses, and aggressively raiding workplaces and locations like Home Depot. 

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These actions, perceived as arbitrary and invasive, sparked outrage among residents and galvanized the public into widespread demonstrations across Los Angeles County.

Over the weekend, tensions grew high across the city with video capturing smoke bombs being tossed around, cars being set on fire and nonlethal rounds of rubber bullets flying across downtown Los Angeles, Paramount and Westlake, in addition to freeways near downtown.