President Trump’s use of the National Guard to respond to protests in California is raising questions about how far he’ll go to respond to scrutiny of his immigration policies, including whether he may invoke the Insurrection Act.

It’s normally the governor who calls in the National Guard, but Trump bypassed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) in sending troops to the streets of Los Angeles.

Protests erupted over the weekend in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers conducted workplace raids in search of those suspected of being unlawfully present.

Neither the state nor city officials have requested federal assistance, sparking criticism of Trump when on Saturday he signed an order authorizing the use of 2,000 National Guard troops, though so far, just 300 have arrived in the city.

Elizabeth Goitein, a national security law expert at the Brennan Center for Justice, called the move “a huge red flag for democracy.”

“There’s an even bigger problem with Trump’s order. He isn’t just deploying Guard forces to Los Angeles. In fact, his memorandum doesn’t even mention LA. It authorizes deployment ‘at locations where protests against [ICE] functions are occurring or are likely to occur,’” she wrote on X, noting that protests of Trump’s immigration policies have been happening across the country.

“No president has ever federalized the National Guard for purposes of responding to potential future civil unrest anywhere in the country. ‘Preemptive’ deployment is literally the opposite of deployment as a last resort. It would be a shocking abuse of power and the law,” she added.

“In short: don’t let the absence of the words ‘Insurrection Act’........

© The Hill