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President Donald Trump has ordered the deployment of an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles in response to growing unrest over his administration’s immigration enforcement, according to the Pentagon’s top spokesperson.
The move raises the total number of National Guard members activated under federal orders for the protests to more than 4,100.
The new directive follows the earlier deployment of roughly 700 Marines to the city to assist local law enforcement as demonstrations intensify. While 2,100 Guard members were initially expected to be on the ground by Monday evening, it remains unclear whether all had arrived.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta denounced the deployment as “unlawful” and accused the federal government of trampling on state sovereignty. Bonta filed a lawsuit Monday against the Trump administration. Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, also announced plans to file a separate legal challenge.
“This is not about public safety — this is reckless,” Newsom said in an interview with MSNBC. He added that the federal intervention marks the first time in decades a state’s National Guard has been activated without the consent of its governor.
Trump has defended the move under a federal statute that permits the president to mobilize service members in the event of “a rebellion or danger of a rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”
The Pentagon noted that the newly ordered troops may take one to two days to arrive in full due to the timing of the directive issued Monday evening.
As protests continue in Los Angeles, the president issued a stern warning on social media to demonstrators confronting law enforcement and National Guard personnel:
“‘If they spit, we will hit.’ This is a statement from the President of the United States concerning the catastrophic Gavin Newscum inspired Riots going on in Los Angeles. The Insurrectionists have a tendency to spit in the face of the National Guardsmen/women, and others,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Monday.
“These Patriots are told to accept this, it’s just the way life runs. But not in the Trump Administration. IF THEY SPIT, WE WILL HIT, and I promise you they will be hit harder than they have ever been hit before. Such disrespect will not be tolerated!” he added.