President Donald Trump compared the Los Angeles protests to a foreign ‘invasion’ as California’s governor asked a court to block him from using the military.
Speaking at a military rally in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Trump said that he deployed ‘thousands’ of National Guard troops as well as Marines to protect law enforcement in LA.
‘Generations of army heroes did not shed their blood on distant shores only to watch our country be destroyed by invasion and third-world lawlessness,’ said Trump late afternoon Tuesday.
‘What you’re witnessing is a full-blown assault on peace and public order.’
Trump added that he would now allow federal agents to be targeted and or an American city to be ‘invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy’. He insisted that ‘that’s what they are’.
‘We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again,’ Trump said.
Moments earlier, California Governor Gavin Newsom filed an emergency motion in federal court to block Trump from using National Guard soldiers and Marines to support immigration raids in the city.
Newsom asked for a temporary restraining order that would limit National Guard troops and Marines from guarding federal buildings and not allow them to cary out law enforcement actions in the city.
The governor argued that the troops’ presence will encourage civil unrest and escalate tensions.
‘Trump is turning the US military against American citizens,’ wrote Newsom on X (formerly Twitter).
A federal judge set a hearing date on Thursday on Newsom’s request to stop Trump from using the troops.
About 700 Marines arrived in LA earlier on Tuesday, on top of 4,000 National Guard members that Trump already ordered there.
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