American Democratic governors criticized President Donald Trump on Sunday for deploying National Guard troops due to protests in Los Angeles. Earlier Sunday evening, the U.S. military reported that troops had arrived in the city.
The governors state in a joint statement that the decision-making power to deploy the National Guard should lie with the leaders of the state concerned and not with the president of the country.
“President Trump’s decision to deploy the California National Guard is a case of alarming abuse of power,” the governors state. “It is important that we respect the executive authority of governors in directing their National Guard.”
The Democratic governor of California, Gavin Newsom, had previously spoken out strongly against the deployment of the troops. An expert noted in The New York Times that it is the first time in sixty years that a president has deployed the National Guard in a state without the permission of the governor of that state.
Trump sent 2,000 members of the National Guard to Los Angeles on Saturday “to address the lawlessness that has continued to fester,” the White House reported. Protests against immigration services, which began carrying out search warrants throughout the city, have been taking place in the California city since Friday. The protests led to violent confrontations between demonstrators and the police.