California National Guard troops began arriving in Los Angeles on Sunday morning after President Trump said he would be deploying 2,000 members to respond to immigration protests.
Trump earlier on Sunday said people participating in protests in Los Angeles will not be allowed to wear masks and praised the National Guard for “a job well done” after deploying them to the city to settle the protests.
“These Radical Left protests, by instigators and often paid troublemakers, will NOT BE TOLERATED,” he wrote on Truth Social early Sunday morning. “Also, from now on, MASKS WILL NOT BE ALLOWED to be worn at protests. What do these people have to hide, and why???”
His post comes a day after the White House slammed protests in L.A. following some residents’ outrage over raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Several lawmakers are expected to discuss the ongoing protests in California on Sunday morning’s news shows.
Follow below for today’s latest updates.
Democrats blast Trump’s decision to send National Guard to Los Angeles: ‘They want a spectacle’
Several Democrats on Sunday criticized President Trump for ordering thousands of National Guard troops to the Los Angeles area in response to immigration protests over the past two days.
Trump has ordered 2,000 troops to assist immigration agents in quelling the protests in L.A., where demonstrators are rallying against federal immigration raids. Troops began arriving in L.A. on Sunday morning.
Booker blasts Trump’s response to LA protests compared to Capitol riots
Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) slammed President Trump’s response to the protests in Los Angeles as “hypocritical at best” compared to how he responded to the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.
NBC’s Kristen Welker asked Booker about his thoughts on Trump deploying 2,000 National Guardsmen to the Los Angeles area without a governor’s signoff amid protests against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. Despite the National Guard’s deployment, California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) said there was no unmet need for law enforcement.
“Since years before I was born, law enforcement knows it’s good when there’s cooperation and coordination,” Booker said. “For the president to do this when it wasn’t requested, breaking with generations of tradition, is only going to incite the situation and make things worse.”
He compared Trump’s reaction to the L.A. protests to his response to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol.
Lankford: Trump ‘trying to de-escalate’ by deploying National Guard to Los Angeles
Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said President Trump’s decision to deploy 2,000 National Guardsmen to the Los Angeles area without a governor’s signoff is an effort to “de-escalate” the situation.
“I think what President Trump’s trying to do is pretty clear. He’s trying to de-escalate all the tensions that are there,” he said during an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He compared the situation to the 2020 protests in Portland, Ore., when monthlong demonstrations erupted after the killings of Black Americans like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
“What President Trump is trying to do is say, ‘This is not going to take weeks this time. We’re not going to allow this to be able to spiral out of control,'” Lankford said.
Sanders on LA National Guard deployment: Trump ‘thinks he has a right to do anything’
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday went after President Trump over the deployment of 2,000 National Guardsmen to the Los Angeles area, saying the president “thinks he has a right to do anything.”
“He does not believe in the Constitution; he does not believe in the rule of law,” Sanders told CNN’s Dana Bash of Trump on “State of the Union.”
“My understanding is that the governor of California, the mayor of the city of Los Angeles, did not request the National Guard, but he thinks he has a right to do anything he wants,” he added.
California Democrat says National Guard in LA is ‘going to escalate the situation’
Rep. Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.) said Sunday that the deployment of the National Guard to the Los Angeles area is “going to escalate the situation.”
“It’s a concern,” Barragán told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union.” “I mean, it’s going to escalate the situation. People are going to protest because they’re angry about the situation, and we have to just reiterate to people to do it peacefully.”