What to know about Trump’s deployment of National Guard troops to LA protests

Protesters kick the side of a Border Patrol vehicle during a demonstration over the dozens detained in an operation by federal immigration authorities a day earlier, in Paramount, Calif., Saturday, June 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Thayer)

By  NEWS BLEND 360

Updated 2:13 AM EDT, June 8, 2025

President Donald Trump has announced the deployment of 2,000 California National Guard troops to Los Angeles to address immigration protests, despite opposition from California Governor Gavin Newsom.

This is not the first instance where Trump has activated the National Guard to manage protests. In 2020, he requested governors from multiple states to send troops to Washington, D.C., in response to protests following George Floyd's death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Many governors complied, dispatching troops to the capital, while those who declined were allowed to keep their forces within their states.

This time, Trump is acting against Newsom, who would typically control California’s National Guard. Trump claims federalizing the troops is necessary to tackle "lawlessness" in California, whereas the Democratic governor argues the action is "purposely inflammatory and will only escalate tensions."

Here are some key points about when and how the president can deploy troops on U.S. soil.

The laws are a bit vague

Generally, federal military forces are prohibited from performing civilian law enforcement duties against U.S. citizens, except in emergencies.

The Insurrection Act, a wartime law from the 18th century, is the primary legal tool a president can use to activate the military or National Guard during rebellion or unrest. However, Trump did not invoke the Insurrection Act on Saturday.

Instead, he used a similar federal law that allows for the federalization of National Guard troops under certain conditions.

The National Guard serves both state and federal purposes, usually operating under state command and funding. Sometimes, states assign National Guard troops to federal missions, maintaining state command but using federal funding.

The law cited by Trump’s proclamation places National Guard troops under federal command. It permits this under three scenarios: when the U.S. is invaded or at risk of invasion, when there is a rebellion or threat of rebellion against U.S. authority, or when the President cannot “execute the laws of the United States” with regular forces.

However, the law also states that orders for these purposes “shall be issued through the governors of the States.” It remains unclear if the president can activate National Guard troops without the state governor’s order.

The role of the National Guard troops will be limited

Trump’s proclamation specifies that the National Guard troops will support by protecting ICE officers during law enforcement, rather than performing law enforcement tasks themselves.

Steve Vladeck, a professor at Georgetown University Law Center specializing in military justice and national security law, notes this is because National Guard troops cannot legally engage in ordinary law enforcement activities unless Trump invokes the Insurrection Act.

Vladeck warns that this move increases the risk of troops using force in their “protection” role and could lead to more aggressive troop deployments later, as he mentioned on his website.

“There’s nothing these troops will be allowed to do that, for example, the ICE officers against whom these protests have been directed could not do themselves,” Vladeck wrote.

Troops have been mobilized before

The Insurrection Act and related laws were used during the Civil Rights era to protect activists and students desegregating schools. President Dwight Eisenhower deployed the 101st Airborne to Little Rock, Arkansas, to protect Black students integrating Central High School after the state’s governor activated the National Guard to block them.

George H.W. Bush used the Insurrection Act to respond to riots in Los Angeles in 1992 following the acquittal of white police officers filmed beating Black motorist Rodney King.

National Guard troops have been deployed for various emergencies, including the COVID pandemic, hurricanes, and other natural disasters. Typically, these deployments occur with the agreement of the governors of the responding states.

Trump is willing to use the military on home soil

In 2020, Trump asked governors of several states to deploy their National Guard troops to Washington, D.C., to manage protests arising after George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police officers. Many governors agreed, sending troops to the federal district.

At the time, Trump also threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act for protests following Floyd’s death in Minneapolis—an intervention rarely seen in modern American history. But then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper resisted, stating the law should be invoked “only in the most urgent and dire of situations.”

Trump never invoked the Insurrection Act during his first term.

However, while campaigning for a second term, he suggested that would change. Trump told an Iowa audience in 2023 that he was prevented from using the military to suppress violence in cities and states during his first term and said if faced with the issue again in his next term, “I’m not waiting.”

Trump also pledged to deploy the National Guard to support his immigration enforcement goals, with his top adviser Stephen Miller explaining how this would be executed: Republican governors sympathetic to the cause would send troops to neighboring states that refuse to participate, Miller said on “The Charlie Kirk Show” in 2023.

After Trump announced the federalization of the National Guard troops on Saturday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth indicated other measures could follow.

Hegseth posted on the social media platform X that active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton were on high alert and would also be mobilized “if violence continues.”