TOI correspondent from Washington: US President Donald Trump has deployed the National Guard, a military force, to quell protests against immigration raids in California, triggering a political clash with America’s richest state and an economic powerhouse long governed by Democrats. Trump signed a presidential memorandum on Saturday federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops to “address the lawlessness that has been allowed to fester” in Los Angeles. He cited “numerous incidents of violence and disorder” and claimed that protests inhibiting the execution of federal immigration laws constituted a “form of rebellion against the authority of the Government of the United States.”The National Guard is a unique dual-mission organization, serving both state and federal roles, and can be deployed by both state and center. It has been utilized in recent times to assist during natural disasters like hurricanes and forest fires, but Trump has also used it to support his goal of staunching illegal immigration and deporting undocumented workers. The weekend deployment was triggered by what the Trump administration said was “violent mobs” attacking ICE officers and federal law enforcement agents conducting “basic deportation operations.” It accused California’s Democratic leaders of having “completely abdicated their responsibility to protect their citizens,” justifying the federal intervention. Trump began thanking National Guard for a “job well done” in Los Angeles even before the boots were on the ground, suggesting he had made the decision pre-emptively, even as the state asserted local law enforcement is bringing the situation under control and the troops were not requiredCalifornia officials reacted angrily to the deployment, with governor Gain Newsom, a potential 2028 Democratic Presidential candidate, describing it as “purposefully inflammatory” and likely to escalate tensions between the state and the federal government. The deployment is particularly contentious because it was not requested by Newsom, marking a rare use of federal authority to federalize the Guard without gubernatorial consent, a move not seen since 1965.Even before the immigration clash, Trump has been twitting California, a Democratic redoubt, threatening to withhold federal funding on a range of grounds from “anti-semitism” in state universities, to allowing transgender athletes to participate in women’s sport, to its sketchy voter ID laws and water management policies.Matters have gotten so serious that Newson warned last week that California might withhold its $80 billion net federal tax contribution, stating, “Californians pay the bills for the federal government. We pay over $80 BILLION more in taxes than we get back. Maybe it’s time to cut that off.” If viewed as a standalone nation, California’s $ 4.1 GDP would make it the world’s fourth largest economy behind the US, China, and Germany, and just ahead of India and Japan.Currently 23 American states are governed by Democrats and 27 by Republicans, and there is growing tension between some of the bluer states and the MAGA dispensation. There is no provision for unilateral secession in the US. The last such effort during the Civil War (1861–1865), when 11 Southern states attempted to form the Confederate States of America, resulted in establishing a union that is considered perpetual.
