California Gov. Gavin Newsom believes Donald Trump’s choice to deploy U.S. Marines into Los Angeles as the protests against ICE continue is the “deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President.”
Trump initially announced Monday that 700 marines were being deployed into Los Angeles to support the National Guard as the city’s protest against the most recent ICE raids against undocumented individuals spilled into day four. Newsom was quick to fire back his thoughts on the escalation.
“U.S. Marines have served honorably across multiple wars in defense of democracy. They are heroes,” Newsom wrote. “They shouldn’t be deployed on American soil facing their own countrymen to fulfill the deranged fantasy of a dictatorial President. This is un-American.”
The protests against the Trump administration’s federal arrests of undocumented individuals began Friday and continued through the weekend – sparking in intensity after the president sent additional National Guard troops into the city.
The governor added in a separate tweet Monday that Trump had ordered an another 2,000 troops into L.A. – despite the majority of the first batch largely doing nothing.
“I was just informed Trump is deploying another 2,000 Guard troops to L.A.,” Newsom tweeted. “The first 2,000? Given no food or water. Only approx. 300 are deployed — the rest are sitting, unused, in federal buildings without orders. This isn’t about public safety. It’s about stroking a dangerous President’s ego. This is Reckless. Pointless. And Disrespectful to our troops.”
On Sunday night, the governor issued a letter asking the president to pull the initial deployment of the National Guard out of L.A.
“I have formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles County and return them to my command,” he wrote Sunday. “We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty — inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the Order. Return order to California.”
Trump’s decision to deploy marked the first time a president sent the National Guard to a state without a request from that state’s governor since the 1960s. Protestors and officers clashed off and on all weekend, with most of the intensity coming Sunday.
Newsom announced plans Monday to sue Trump over the deployment of the National Guard.
The post Gavin Newsom Says Trump Sending Marines to LA Is the ‘Deranged Fantasy of a Dictatorial President’ appeared first on TheWrap.