When US states, White House clash over National Guard deployments

In Los Angeles, California, clashes between police and protesters have continued since Friday, following multiple detentions by the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency. Police have reportedly used tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets in an effort to disperse crowds. Protesters have responded by hurling rocks, electric scooters and fireworks at law enforcement.

The ICE arrests are part of the Republican administration's renewed immigration enforcement efforts, which critics say disproportionately target people of Latin American origin. Demonstrators have been calling for the release of those detained. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum defended migrants living north of the border on Sunday, saying "They are not criminals. They are good men and women!"

Since Donald Trump returned to office in January, ICE arrests have increased significantly, recently surpassing 100,000, according to a CBS report last week. The surge has sparked nationwide backlash. Several dozen demonstrators protesting the raids were arrested over the weekend in Los Angeles.

As clashes intensified over the weekend, the situation drew international attention. Australian 9News journalist Lauren Tomasi was struck in the leg on Sunday by a nonlethal rubber bullet fired by police while she was reporting live from downtown Los Angeles. Speaking on Monday, Tomasi confirmed she was safe and unharmed.

Trump ordered the deployment of some 2,000 National Guard troops to the city on Saturday to support ICE officers and, according to the White House, to "address the lawlessness." But the legal basis for the deployment has been disputed. California Governor Gavin Newsom called the move "purposefully inflammatory" and announced Monday the state planned to file a lawsuit against the administration.

National Guard troops are typically deployed to manage natural disasters and, occasionally, civil unrest. However, the Insurrection Act grants the president the authority to deploy military forces to assist state authorities with law enforcement in times of rebellion or unrest. The reserve military, or National Guard, is almost always mobilized with the consent of state and local authorities.

The deployment of troops by the Trump administration marks the first time in decades that a president has moved to mobilize the National Guard in this manner, without a governor's consent or explicit request. DW takes a look at past notable invocations of the Insurrection Act.

In 1957, President Dwight D. Eisenhower federalized the entire Arkansas National Guard and sent troops to escort nine Black students into Little Rock Central High School. This came after Governor Orval Faubus used the state guard to block the students from entering the racially segregated school.

Following police attacks against civil rights demonstrators in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson bypassed Alabama's segregationist governor to send National Guard state troops into federal service in support of civil rights demonstrators marching from Selma to the state capital, Montgomery. Led by Martin Luther King Jr., the march became a landmark event in the American Civil Rights Movement.

The assassination of civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. (pictured above) on April 4, 1968, triggered civil unrest and rioting in over 100 US cities. In response, President Lyndon B. Johnson invoked the Insurrection Act in order to restore order in the capital, Washington D.C. This allowed federal troops to be deployed to quell unrest.

In 1992, President George H. W. Bush invoked the Insurrection Act and ordered hundreds of National Guard troops to Los Angeles after days of unrest sparked by the acquittal of police officers who were videotaped beating Black motorist Rodney King. The violence left 60 people dead, and more than 2,300 injured according to the Bill of Rights Institute.

In June 2020, during his first term as president, Trump considered invoking the Insurrection Act in response to nationwide protests following the police killing of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis when an officer knelt on his neck during an arrest. In many affected states, like Minnesota (pictured above), governors activated National Guard troops to manage the unrest.