President Donald Trump mobilized an additional 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles Monday night as the city cleans up the damage from a weekend of rioting and seeks to stave off more agitators.
The new batch of National Guard troops will join 2,000 Guardsmen who were deployed by the Trump administration on Saturday, along with 700 Marines sent to L.A. on Monday, bringing the total number of mobilized military personnel in the city to at least 4,700, The Washington Post reported. Trump said on Tuesday morning that his decision to deploy troops to L.A. saved the city from “burning to the ground.”
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. do [sic] to an incompetent Governor and Mayor,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
California filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Monday over the National Guard deployment, arguing that the president infringed on Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom’s role without there being a clear threat of “invasion” or “rebellion.” Sending in the National Guard is a power typically exercised by governors but also granted to the president in certain circumstances.
On Monday, Newsom sent 800 more state and local law enforcement officers to Los Angeles “to clean up President Trump’s mess.” Newsom and L.A. Democratic Mayor Karen Bass argue that the rioting in pockets of L.A. County was under control until Trump intervened to deploy the National Guard.
“Chaos is exactly what Trump wanted, now we are sending in hundreds more law enforcement to pick up the pieces. State and local leaders stand together, coordinated and resolute to ensure the safety of the Los Angeles region,” Newsom said.
Bass added, “While Washington choreographed these chaotic events, the LAPD and local law enforcement continue to effectively respond.”
The protests-turned-riots in L.A. were sparked by federal immigration raids in the region last week, one of which arrested suspected illegal immigrants in a Home Depot parking lot. Some of those arrested in the raids included people convicted on gun and drug charges, Fox News’ Bill Melugin reported.
The rioting picked up over the weekend as agitators attacked law enforcement officers by throwing rocks and cement and shooting fireworks at them. Rioters — some of whom waved Mexican flags — also set fire to multiple Waymo robotaxis in the street. A total of 42 agitators were arrested, and some of them face charges of assault on an officer and attempted murder, CBS News reported.
The cleanup process has begun in a section of downtown L.A. after rioters destroyed planter boxes, pedestrian signs, and public benches and chairs. At least three businesses, a T-Mobile store and two athletic footwear stores, were ransacked by looters, and a Jordan Studio 23 and Adidas store suffered shattered glass in their front doors. What remained of five burned-out Waymo vehicles was also being cleaned up in the street. Waymo suspended service in downtown L.A. after the rioters targeted the robotaxis.
While L.A. looks to clean up the damage, more anti-ICE rioting has hit San Francisco, where around 150 people were arrested Sunday night and at least two police officers were injured, ABC 7 reported.