The Department of Homeland Security is preparing to deploy ICE tactical units to five Democrat-led cities in response to ongoing unrest in Los Angeles, where Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom appeared visibly emotional as he blamed President Donald Trump for contributing to the crisis.
According to MSNBC, the specialized units will be sent to New York City, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and northern Virginia. Four of these locations are solidly Democratic, while northern Virginia includes the Democratic stronghold of Alexandria.
The ICE operations have ignited widespread protests, bringing Los Angeles to a standstill and prompting the mayor to impose a citywide curfew from 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. But they are part of Trump’s promised crackdown on the presence of migrants in the U.S. illegally after four years of ‘open borders’ policies under former President Joe Biden.
The reports came as the California governor delivered a harrowing prediction for the rest of the country Tuesday night in a nationally televised address that blasted Trump’s deployment of US troops to Los Angeles to protect federal property and federal agents – not to conduct civilian immigration and law enforcement functions, which would be a violation of U.S. law.
“Look, this isn’t just about protests here in Los Angeles, when Donald Trump sought blanket authority to commandeer the National Guard. He made that order apply to every state in this nation,” Newsom said.
“his is about all of us. This is about you. California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next. Democracy is under assault before our eyes, this moment we have feared has arrived,” he claimed, though Trump’s authority as commander-in-chief of all armed forces, including, ultimately, state National Guard units, is clearly spelled out in the Constitution.
To that end, a federal appeals court for the 9th Circuit late Thursday temporarily paused a lower court’s ruling that ordered the return of control over the California National Guard back to Newsom. Both sides have until early next week to present their arguments.
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During his speech, Newsom also accused Trump of “taking a wrecking ball to our founding fathers’ historic project” of three co-equal branches of government.
As Newsom delivered his emotional address, Trump was at Fort Bragg meeting with U.S. military personnel.
While in North Carolina to commemorate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army, Trump used much of his speech to defend the decision to deploy troops in response to the protests in Los Angeles, referring to the demonstrators opposing ICE arrests as “animals” and “foreign enemies.”
“What you’re witnessing in California is a full-blown assault on peace, on public order and national sovereignty… with the aim of continuing a foreign invasion of our country. We’re not gonna let that happen,” Trump told the troops. “We will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy. That’s what they are.”
The president went on to describe Los Angeles as “a trash heap,” claiming that “entire neighborhoods are under control” of criminals. He vowed that the federal government would “use every asset at our disposal to quell the violence and restore law and order.”
“We will liberate Los Angeles and make it free, clean and safe again,” he added.
Newsom blamed the federal government for the ongoing crisis in Los Angeles and issued a stark warning that similar unrest could soon spread to other states.
“Authoritarian regimes begin by targeting people who are least able to defend themselves, but they do not stop there,” he said.
“This is a president who in just over 140 days, has fired government watchdogs that could hold him accountable, accountable for corruption and fraud. He’s declared a war, a war on culture, on history, on science, on knowledge itself. Databases, quite literally, are vanishing,” he further claimed, though members of his own party have blamed the far-left elements for ‘warring’ against the very same things.
