(Here it should be said that a few years earlier, in 1990, Trump praised the Chinese government for its handling of the protests at Tiananmen Square in 1989: “When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength.”)
In any case, the administration’s crackdown on day laborers in the city sparked a predictable response from the community, which immediately rallied to their defense. Initially hundreds but soon thousands of residents went to the streets in what have been mostly peaceful protests, despite the police use of tear gas, flash-bang grenades, rubber bullets and other so-called less lethal armaments. But there has been property damage in the form of burned-out cars and broken windows. And this damage, along with a few instances of looting, is the president’s pretext for a military crackdown.
“A once great American City, Los Angeles, has been invaded and occupied by Illegal Aliens and Criminals,” Trump declared on Truth Social:
Now violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations — But these lawless riots only strengthen our resolve. I am directing Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, and Attorney General Pam Bondi, in coordination with all other relevant Departments and Agencies, to take all such action necessary to liberate Los Angeles from the Migrant Invasion, and put an end to these Migrant riots.
On Saturday, the president mobilized 2,000 National Guard troops. On Monday, he deployed 700 marines and 2,000 additional guardsmen. Notably, Trump has not invoked the Insurrection Act. Instead, his directive cites a provision within Title 10 of the U.S. Code on Armed Services, 10 U.S.C. 12406, which allows federal deployment of National Guard forces if “the United States, or any of the Commonwealths or possessions, is invaded or is in danger of invasion by a foreign nation” or if “there is a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States” or if “the president is unable with the regular forces to execute the laws of the United States.”
Except, there is no invasion nor is there a rebellion nor is the president unable to execute the laws. The other major complication is that 10 U.S.C. 12406 does not authorize any particular activity — it simply outlines conditions for bringing the National Guard under federal control.
If the president had also invoked the Insurrection Act, he could use the Guard to do ordinary law enforcement on behalf of the federal government. As it stands, it’s not clear that the Guard, once called out, can legally do anything. As for the Marines, the president has no authority under 10 U.S.C. 12406 to deploy them for law enforcement purposes, and the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act specifically forbids the federal government from using Marines, or any other regular defense force, to enforce domestic law.
