Congressional Republicans took to social media to support President Donald Trump’s efforts to stop the Los Angeles riots.
Protests erupted on Friday in response to a wave of Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids targeting illegal immigrants. The demonstrations quickly escalated into riots as demonstrators attacked police officers and looted businesses.
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On Saturday night, Trump ordered the deployment of the National Guard in California. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) condemned the move, calling the Trump administration’s order “unlawful.”
Many Democrats, including former Vice President Kamala Harris, publicly criticized Trump’s decision. However, Republicans expressed strong support online.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in an X post on Saturday, “If @GavinNewsom was doing his job our ICE agents would not be injured and attacked while doing their jobs and carrying out immigration enforcement.”
“Under the leadership of @POTUS Trump, we will put the safety of American citizens FIRST, not these criminal illegal aliens that sanctuary city politicians are defending,” she added.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) echoed Noem’s sentiment, saying Newsom is “inexplicably standing with criminals who attack our brave @ICEgov agents as they tirelessly try and fix the failures of the Biden Administration.”
With the California governor race looming, leading Republican candidates have used the chaos to promote their platforms.
Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running as a Republican, responded to Harris’s defense of the riots, saying Trump “didn’t start these riots. He’s not out there lighting cars on fire, hurling projectiles at law enforcement, or blocking freeways. This statement is an embarrassment and does nothing to diffuse the violent riots taking place across the city.”
“The Democrats and their ‘leaders’ own this,” Bianco said.
Fellow Republican contender Steve Hilton criticized a statement from Newsom, who he said is lying instead of leading.
“The chaos and lawlessness was entirely caused by Democrats ‘sanctuary extremism,” Hilton said. “All of this would have been avoided if Democrats had worked WITH federal law enforcement instead of against it.”
Trump addressed the situation on Truth Social early Monday morning.
“Looking really bad in L.A. BRING IN THE TROOPS!!!” Trump said. “ARREST THE PEOPLE IN FACE MASKS, NOW!”
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In response, Newsom announced plans for California to sue over the National Guard deployment.
“This is exactly what Donald Trump wanted. He flamed the fires and illegally acted to federalize the National Guard,” Newsom said. “The order he signed doesn’t just apply to CA. It will allow him to go into ANY STATE and do the same thing. We’re suing him.”