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 against the administration’s immigration actions was unnecessary and an “infringement” on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s authority.
The suit, which was expected to be filed later Monday, will seek a court ruling 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, and that the administration “had trampled over our state’s sovereignty.”
He charged that the “protests had dissipated and streets were quiet” before the president took action. “Since Trump announced his plan to deploy troops the situation on the ground has escalated quickly with unrest growing overnight,” Bonta said.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference, Bonta noted that the law Trump used to activate the guard had only been used once before, when then-President Richard Nixon used it in 1970 to activate the guard to deliver mail during a postal strike. He also said it’s the first time the guard had been activated without a governor’s consent since 1965, when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed troops in Alabama to protect civil rights demonstrators.
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.
“We did the right thing,” Trump told reporters Monday, adding the “place would be burning down” if he hadn’t. “I’m very happy I got involved. And I think Gavin, in his own way, is probably happy I got involved,” Trump said.
Newsom had said that 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.”
Tensions between protesters and law enforcement escalated on Saturday, with some protesters throwing objects and law enforcement deploying pepper balls and flash-bangs. Videos also showed looting and a car on fire.
The protests swelled on Sunday, with demonstrators shutting down streets and highways, setting more cars on fire and increased confrontations with law enforcement.
The protests initially began in response to immigration enforcement operations, as the Trump administration has made mass deportations a centerpiece of its domestic policy. In recent days, administration officials have targeted major Democratic cities in their enforcement efforts, including L.A., Chicago and New York.
Trump praised the National Guard on Truth Social for a “job well done” in the early hours of Sunday morning, before they’d been deployed in the city.
On Monday, he ratcheted up his rhetoric about the protesters on social media, charging that if any protester spat on a National Guard member, “they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before.”
“Such disrespect will not be tolerated!” wrote Trump. On his first day in office, Trump issued roughly 1,500 pardons to people who’d been charged in the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the Capitol in which 140 law-enforcement officers were injured.
About 300 guard members are currently in L.A., officials said, where they’ve been tasked with guarding federal personnel and properties. In addition, two defense officials told NBC News that approximately 700 Marines have been mobilized to support the guard members until more National Guard troops arrive.
Mosheh Gains and Courtney Kube contributed.
