TOI Correspondent from Washington: MAGA supremo Donald Trump deployed 700 US marines to Los Angeles on Monday in addition to 4000 National Guard to quell spluttering protests against immigration raids even as he prepared to take the salute at a military parade in Washington to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the US Army on Saturday, which also happens to be his 79th birthday. Optics of the twin developments suggested the possible onset of authoritarian rule in America that Trump has long expressed a liking for, particularly since protests against the strong-arm methods employed by heavy-handed immigration authorities were said to be dying down even as disquiet spread across liberal America. Demonstrations — mostly peaceful — against the Trump administration’s immigration policies have now spread to several cities including San Francisco, Dallas, Austin and New York City.California officials maintained that much of the violence in LA was centered in downtown area, pointing out that rest of the city and state were peaceful. Calling Trump’s action a federal overreach they accusing his administration of provoking the riots. State governor Gavin Newscom, derided by the President as “Newscum,” called the deployments “deranged behavior” on part of Trump to put US on the road to authoritarian rule. “That’s an American president in 2025, threatening a political opponent who happens to be a sitting governor. That’s not with precedent in modern times. That’s what we see around the globe in authoritarian regimes,” Newscom said after Trump said on Monday that he favored the governor’s arrest, and Trump aides unloaded on California, calling the Democrat-governed state a haven for illegal immigrants. “Illegal aliens invaded America. The government of California aided and abetted that invasion,” Trump’s immigration policy architect Stephen Miller said on X, accusing political leaders of California and Los Angeles of “siding with the insurrectionist mobs fighting to dissolve America over the heroes of ICE fighting to save America.”MAGA protagonists, backed by stark visuals, seized on stray incidents of violence and looting, including one of an Apple story in downtown LA, to portray a city in flames to justify the federal military intervention. If his administration had not deployed the army, the city “would have been completely obliterated,” Trump claimed in a post on Truth Social. But the heavy-handed response of federal forces was also starkly on display when troops appeared to deliberately aim and shoot a rubber bullet at an Australian reporter covering the unrest on live camera. The incident attracted the ire of Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese who called it “horrific” and said his officials had raised the issue with the US. “We don’t find it acceptable that it occurred. And we think that the role of the media is particularly important,” he said. Separately, the Indian government too took up the incident where a young student appeared to be strong-armed into an aircraft for deportation. The protests in Los Angeles were triggered after the Trump administration, under pressure from its MAGA base, began a crackdown on illegal immigrants, in the process hauling in undocumented workers seeking in regularize their status and in some cases even legal residents. The action followed instructions from Stephen Miller, Trump’s immigration policy czar, who reportedly told ICE officials — who have been under fire for acting slowly and not producing impressive deportation numbers — to drop the practice of developing lists of illegal immigrants. Instead, he directed them go out to places like Home Depot (where day Latino laborers hang out looking for work) and 7-Eleven convenience stores ( which is a haven for workers from the sub-continent) and haul in people for deportation. Several dozens are said to have already been deported without due process triggering panic and alarm in immigrant communities, even among those with documentation. The crackdown, while bringing joy to the MAGA base, has angered Democrats in California who draw political support from immigrant communities. “There is a real fear in Los Angeles right now. Parents, workers, grandparents, young people scared to go about their daily lives. We are a city of immigrants. Washington is attacking our people, our neighborhoods and our economy,” said LA Mayor Karen Bass, urging the Trump administration to stop the raids.
