Bay Area elected leaders and community groups are denouncing the Trump Administration's actions to deploy members of the California National Guard to Los Angeles in response to clashes between immigration officials and demonstrators at protests.
For three straight days, demonstrators in Los Angeles took to the streets protesting federal immigration raids. At times, it became tense, escalating to clashes with law enforcement.
Watch NBC Bay Area News free wherever you are
WATCH HEREIn response to the protests, President Donald Trump deployed 2,000 National Guard troops to crack down on unrest and guard federal property.
"We stand in solidarity with our immigrant communities. We are here to urge that all protests remain peaceful," said Rep. Sam Liccardo. "We are here to stand against the tyranny that is threatened by the president's reckless use of National Guard and threatened use of other military for domestic law enforcement."
Liccardo, alongside other elected leaders and community groups in Palo Alto, pushed back on the Trump Administration's actions.
"It is clear that this move to federalize National Guard troops is designed to inflame and divide," said Rep. Kevin Mullin (D), South San Francisco. "That is the goal to create chaos and inflame and trigger a reaction over the governor's and mayor's objections."
Mr. Trump's action makes rare use of authority. Normally, a governor can call out the National Guard to help in different situations.
"Here, President Trump is just stepping in directly is using some rather rarely used authority," said David Levine, professor of law at the University of California, San Francisco. "I think it was last used in the civil rights era in the 1960s to call up some of the National Guard, even though the governor has not granted that permission or agreed to do that, so it's an end run around the governor, so it's an extremely rare for the president to do that."
Trump said, "We’ll send whatever we need to make sure there is law and order."
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news with the Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
SIGN UP Belinda Hernandez Arriaga, founder and executive director of Ayudando Latinos A Soñar (ALAS), said she was heartbroken to see what has happened.
Seeing the National Guard come in is another level of tactics of fear, psychological warfare," she said. "Trying to criminalize our immigrant community again and now criminalize those who are protesting, [which] we have a right to do in this country."
