Controversy and confusion after Trump’s announcement of the deployment of the National Guard – Liberation
After two days of tense protests Against immigration services in Los Angelesthe White House announced on Saturday June 7 at 6:49 p.m. (local time) the deployment of 2,000 national guards, invoking the need to respond to alleged attacks on federal agents. In the process, Donald Trump attacked the Democratic Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, and to the mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, accused of « Do not do their job, what everyone knows ».
Gavin Newsom described this decision as « Deliberately incendiary », Affirming on X that Trump was deploying the National Guard « Not for lack of police forces, but because they want spectacle »and adding: “Don’t give them. Never use violence. Speak peacefully. «
Donald Trump mobilized the troops of the National Guard by invoking title 10 of the Armed Forces Code, a device normally reserved for extreme situations: invasion, rebellion or incapacity of the regular forces to enforce the law. This decision raises legal issues, in particular on the possibility of such a deployment without the agreement of the State of California. Experts in law and the civil civil liberties Union, an organization for the defense of civil rights, questioned by the Los Angeles Timesdenounce an authoritarian drift and the unprecedented use of exceptional powers to repress manifestations.
In the following hours, a certain blur reigned on the subject. On social networks, many commentators, sometimes supporting image, said the soldiers were in action in the Californian city. Confusion maintained by the president. As of Saturday evening, at 11:41 p.m., in a shared publication on his social social network, he greeted the« Excellent work of the National Guard in Los Angeles after two days of violence, clashes and troubles ». All accompanied by new spikes highlighting the incompetence of the governor and the mayor, opposed to the intervention of these military troops.
A statement quickly denied by the mayor of Los Angeles: « To be clear, the National Guard was not deployed in the city of Los Angeles » pointed out Karen Bass in a shared publication on X, at 12:22 a.m., where she only thanked the Los Angeles police, local police and Governor Newsom.
In fact, as reported by Washington Post,, The National Guard was still not deployed in the streets of Los Angeles on Saturday evening, during the president’s congratulations. « We were told that the National Guard had been deployed, but it is not yet on the scene or on the ground », said Deputy Sheriff Tracy Koerner around 1:45 a.m. local time. This absence in the field was also Confirmed the NBC channel In his live, around 1 am, local time.
Questioned by the New York Times,, Bilal A. « Bill » Essayli, the interim prosecutor of the California central district, said that the 2,000 troops of the National Guard would be deployed in the twenty-four hours, and are therefore expected this Sunday « At least in downtown Los Angeles » For « Concentrate mainly on the protection of federal properties ».
Images of the riots and the intervention of the police, sometimes heavily equipped, were able to sow confusion on the supposed intervention of the troops of the National Guard.
