California Attorney General Rob Bonta said Monday he is suing the Trump administration for deploying hundreds of National Guard members to Los Angeles over the weekend, a move he called “unlawful.”
Bonta said President Donald Trump’s move to federalize 2,000 members of the state National Guard on Saturday in response to protests of the administration’s immigration actions was unnecessary and an “infringement” on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority.
The suit will seek a court finding that Trump’s order was illegal, he said.
“The president is trying to manufacture chaos and crisis on the ground for his own political ends. Federalizing the California National Guard is an abuse of the President’s authority under the law – and not one we take lightly. We’re asking a court to put a stop to the unlawful, unprecedented order,” Bonta said.
Bonta also argued that the move took crucial resources away from wildfire season.
The White House had contended the move was necessary to combat “lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in Los Angeles, referring to clashes and confrontations between federal agents carrying out immigration raids and protesters.
Newsom had said there was no need to deploy the National Guard, and that Trump took the drastic step out of a desire for a “spectacle.”
He also accused Trump of trying to “manufacture a crisis.”
“He’s hoping for chaos so he can justify more crackdowns, more fear, more control,” Newsom said in a post Sunday on X, where he also urged protesters to “stay peaceful.”
