Roughly 2,000 National Guard troops continued patrolling Los Angeles on Monday under an order from President Donald Trump following weekend protests in response to federal immigration sweeps. It was the first time the federal government had activated the guard over the objections of local officials in 60 years. Without providing any evidence, Trump claimed on his Truth Social platform that the protesters are “paid insurrectionists.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass condemned the deployment, describing it as federal overreach and a dangerous provocation. Early Monday, Newsom announced plans to file a lawsuit challenging the deployment. “That move is purposefully inflammatory and will only escalate tensions,” Newsom said in a statement.
There’s a substantial amount of social science backing up Newsom’s suggestion. A large body of research, spanning more than 50 years, shows that heavy-handed policing and militarized responses to civil unrest tend to make protests more volatile — not less.Read the Full Story