California Attorney General Rob Bonta has announced that the state will file a lawsuit against the Trump administration, challenging President Donald Trump’s deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles amid protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids.
According to Bonta, the administration trampled California’s sovereignty by federalizing the state’s National Guard without Governor Gavin Newsom’s consent. He also called the action “unlawful” and “unprecedented.”
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The lawsuit is set to be filed in federal court and will seek to nullify Trump’s order which mobilized the troops to protect ICE agents and federal property during demonstrations that erupted Friday in response to immigration sweeps across Los Angeles County.
Bonta also argued that local law enforcement had the situation under control, stating, “I spoke with local authorities yesterday, and they confirmed they had what they needed.”
He described the federal intervention as an escalation of initially scattered protests into broader unrest, asserting, “This was not inevitable.”
The protests, sparked by ICE operations targeting undocumented residents, have led to clashes in areas like Paramount and downtown Los Angeles.
Trump defended the deployment, claiming on Truth Social that Los Angeles would have been “completely obliterated” without the troops and describing the demonstrators as “violent, insurrectionist mobs.”
The White House stated the National Guard’s role was to secure federal facilities and personnel, not to engage in law enforcement unless authorized under the Insurrection Act, which has not been invoked.
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