Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D) slammed President Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops in the city as a “chaotic escalation” amid rising tensions between law enforcement officers and protesters pushing back against federal immigration enforcement tactics.
“What we’re seeing in our city is chaos provoked by the Trump Administration,” Bass said in a message to Los Angeles residents late Sunday.
“When you raid Home Depots and workplaces, when you tear parents and children apart, and when you run armored caravans through our streets, you cause fear and panic,” she added. “And deployment of federalized troops on the heels of raids is a chaotic escalation.”
The former congresswoman, who was elected mayor of Los Angeles in late 2022, urged demonstrators to exercise their right to protest peacefully.
“Angelenos have the right to make their voices heard through peaceful protest but don’t fall into the Administration’s trap,” Bass said in her emailed message to residents.
“Violence is unacceptable,” she said. “No one should be put in danger — not law enforcement, not protestors. I urge everyone to be peaceful.”
“The fear people are feeling in our city right now is very real – it’s felt in our communities and within our families. It is clear that the Administration is pushing an agenda — there is clearly no plan other than chaos,” she added. “We will rise above it.”
The message follows Trump’s deployment of National Guard members to Los Angeles on Sunday to quell protesters demonstrating against federal immigration enforcement tactics.
Trump said he has deployed 2,000 National Guard members, 300 of whom were already on the ground by midafternoon Sunday.
The federalization of the California National Guard represents a rare and legally murky step that bypassed the consent of California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), who said Sunday evening that he plans to bring a lawsuit against the Trump administration for going around him.
The last time the federal government mobilized National Guard members without the consent of the governor was in 1965, when former President Lyndon Johnson sent Guard members to Selma, Ala., to protect civil rights protesters there.
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