As our Americas editor John Lyons puts it:
“It’s rare for the military-trained National Guard to be deployed in the United States, and even rarer for it to be done without the support of the governor of a state.”
So, Donald Trump’s use of presidential powers to bypass California Governor Gavin Newsom in calling in the state-based military reserve force is quite significant.
Firstly because LA’s protests remain far smaller than past events that have brought the National Guard to Los Angeles, including the Watts and Rodney King riots, and the 2020 protests against police violence, in which Newsom requested the assistance of federal troops.
The last time the National Guard was activated without a governor’s permission was in 1965, when President Lyndon B Johnson sent troops to protect a civil rights march in Alabama, according to the Brennan Center for Justice.
In this case, the White House’s directive came despite objections from Newsom, who insisted there was no shortage of law enforcement in LA locally, and said the move was designed to create a spectacle of force.
As for whether the National Guard can actually make arrests, Trump’s memo authorising the deployment has not explicitly ordered the troops to conduct arrests, but that can be done if the president decides to invoke the 1807 Insurrection Act.
