United States: Immigration: Why Donald Trump is deploying the National Guard to Los Angeles

The National Guard was deployed to the streets of Los Angeles this Sunday after several days of clashes with protesters challenging Donald Trump's immigration policy. The US president decided to take strong measures by militarizing the response to the demonstrations that have been rocking the Californian megacity since Friday. However, calm had returned by Sunday morning.

The US administration had not called on the National Guard since the 2020 riots that followed the death of George Floyd, an African American man killed by police in Minneapolis, Minnesota, while Donald Trump was already in the White House.

The National Guard deployment to Los Angeles was ordered against the advice of California's Democratic Governor, Gavin Newsom, who denounced the measure as "intentionally inflammatory" and warned of a risk of escalation. The US president can exceptionally dispense with the governor's approval by relying on a federal law that authorizes him to use the National Guard to deal with the risk of invasion or rebellion, or in cases where the regular police force is overwhelmed. According to CNN, a president has not "federalized" this unit since the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which were triggered by the acquittal of four white police officers accused of beating a Black motorist.

The clashes in Los Angeles were sparked by raids by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents hunting undocumented immigrants. Incidents erupted as they prepared to conduct checks in the parking lot of a large Home Depot hardware store, where precarious workers offer their services to customers by the day. The clashes occurred in Paramount, a neighborhood in South Los Angeles where more than 80% of the population is Latino.

Arrests and deportations of illegal immigrants have increased since the start of Donald Trump's second term. The events in Los Angeles have highlighted one of the priorities of the American president, who won the November 2024 election by promising to strengthen the border with Mexico and deport millions of undocumented immigrants. This key plank of his campaign has been temporarily overshadowed by the trade war he declared on the rest of the world and his stormy divorce from Elon Musk.

However, the Federal Immigration Service has continued to strictly enforce Donald Trump's orders. Its agents have arrested more than 100,000 people since January, although not all have been deported, partly due to decisions by judges challenging the legitimacy of these arrests.

Donald Trump is playing the repression card and once again clashing with Democratic elected officials in California and Los Angeles, whom he accuses of laxity, as he did during the spectacular fires of January 2025. The Californian megalopolis has declared itself a "sanctuary city" for immigrants, like other communities openly opposed to the American president's immigration policy. The issue of immigration and identity is particularly sensitive in Los Angeles County, where one in three residents was born abroad and half the population is of Latino origin.