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() President Donald Trump’s decision to federalize the National Guard amid riots and protests in Los Angeles County against ICE has polarized many in politics and beyond.
Tensions escalated Saturday in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids at a Home Depot in the city of Paramount, south of LA.
President Trump deployed hundreds of National Guard members to the area Sunday and said he was prepared to send in the Marines, a move several California officials have slammed as an escalation of chaos.
On Monday, California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced the state was suing the Trump administration following weekend protests.
The state is asking the court to set aside President Donald Trump’s order to federalize the National Guard.
How can the National Guard be federalized?
Under United States Code, Title 10 §12406, the National Guard can be federalized when there is a rebellion, the U.S. is invaded, or danger of either occurring, and if the president cannot execute U.S. law with regular forces.
“The President may call into Federal service members and units of the National Guard of any State in such numbers as he considers necessary to repel the invasion, suppress the rebellion, or execute those laws,” the provision reads.
“Orders for these purposes shall be issued through the governors of the States or, in the case of the District of Columbia, through the commanding general of the National Guard of the District of Columbia.”
What precedent is there?
Trump deployed the California National Guard without California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s request, the first time a president has sent troops to a state without the governor’s request since the Civil Rights Movement.
Specifically, the L.A. riots of 1992 were the last time the National Guard was called by the president. Previous to that was the New York postal strike in 1970, and after Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination in 1968.
However, the last time a president activated the National Guard without a request from the state was in 1965 when President Lyndon B. Johnson deployed them to Alabama in a bid to protect civil rights protestors, per The New York Times.
