Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said Sunday that the administration won’t allow a “repeat of 2020” to occur after President Trump called for the National Guard to enforce order in the Los Angeles area amid protests over activity by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.
“We’re not going to let a repeat of 2020 happen,” Noem said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” referring to the unrest in Minneapolis following the killing of George Floyd.
At the time, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz made the controversial decision to deploy the state’s National Guard amid the 2020 riots in Minneapolis, but Noem on Sunday criticized Walz for what she said were “very bad decisions,” claiming he “let his city burn for days on end.” Mr. Trump also deployed the National Guard in June 2020 to Washington, D.C, to quell protests.
And as California’s Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom urged that the state had things under control after protests broke out in L.A. in reaction to ICE operations in recent days, Noem claimed Newsom “has proven that he makes bad decisions.”
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“The president knows that [Newsom] makes bad decisions, and that’s why the President chose the safety of this community over waiting for Gov. Newsom to get some sanity,” Noem added. “And that’s one of the reasons why these National Guard soldiers are being federalized so they can use their special skill set to keep peace.”
Mr. Trump signed a memo Saturday using Title 10 authority to order the deployment of at least 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles County following clashes between immigration authorities and demonstrators in Paramount, California, and large-scale protests elsewhere in the county. It marks the first time since 1965 that a president has “sent troops into a state without a state request,” said Elizabeth Goitein, senior director of the Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program.
Newsom claimed in a post on X that the move by the Trump administration was “purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” adding that “there is currently no unmet need.”
“The federal government is taking over the California National Guard and deploying 2,000 soldiers in Los Angeles — not because there is a shortage of law enforcement, but because they want a spectacle,” Newsom said in another post, adding “Don’t give them one.”
The California governor called Mr. Trump and the two spoke for about 40 minutes Saturday night, a spokesperson for Newsom told CBS News.
Noem said the National Guard soldiers being engaged Sunday are “specifically trained for this type of crowd situation” and will “provide safety around buildings and to those that are engaged in peaceful protests, and also to our law enforcement officers so they can continue their daily work.”
“They’re there at the direction of the president in order to keep peace and allow people to be able to protest, but also to keep law and order,” Noem said, adding that “unfortunately, we’ve seen some violent protests happen, and that’s why these National Guard soldiers are being utilized to help with some security in some areas.”
Meanwhile, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Saturday that “if violence continues, active-duty Marines at Camp Pendleton will also be mobilized,” adding that “they are on high alert.”
On the issue of sending in active-duty military personnel to police a domestic disturbance, Noem said she’s hopeful “that we work with local leaders that would do their jobs,” saying in L.A., the mayor “has refused to recognize the dangerous situation that she’s perpetuating.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KCAL late Saturday that she is “confident in our law enforcement partners here in Los Angeles, that we can handle the situation” saying “there is no need for 2,000 National Guard troops.”
When pressed on the idea of sending U.S. troops, Noem said “ICE and Homeland Security are running these operations right now,” while noting that Mr. Trump “makes the decisions.”
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Minnesota Democrat who also appeared on “Face the Nation” Sunday, defended the ability of governors to “make their own decisions based on the situation.”
“When you look at where the American people are, they want to make sure you follow the law and that there’s due process, and you don’t want to inflame things by threatening to bring in the Marines or deporting people based on a mistake,” Klobuchar said.
The developments come as a new CBS News poll, conducted just prior to Saturday’s protests in L.A., found that more than half of Americans approve of the Trump administration’s deportation program, though large percentages of Americans continue to say it is not acceptable if legal residents are mistakenly deported as part of the program.
