AARON PATRICK: The Trump-California conflict risks getting out of control

For the first time since 1965, a US President has sent National Guard soldiers into a US city to end violence without the request of the State Governor.

Donald Trump’s decision to act against immigration-related protests is another example of the President casting aside long-held conventions as he seeks to fundamentally change American society.

On his social media site, Mr Trump said Los Angeles had been “invaded and occupied” and “violent, insurrectionist mobs are swarming and attacking our Federal Agents to try and stop our deportation operations.”

The National Guard troops — a state-based equivalent of Australia’s Army Reserve — have been “federalised”, which means that have been transferred to the control of the Federal Government.

The last time this happened was in 1992 when race-related riots swept Los Angeles after policemen who beat Black man Rodney King were acquitted. In that case, the governor requested federal assistance.

Open conflict

Today, California and the Trump Administration are in a state of open conflict. Where it will end is unclear. “This is deranged behaviour,” Governor Gavin Newsom said.

“The Secretary of Defense is now threatening to deploy active-duty Marines on American soil against its own citizens.”

Peter Hegseth, the Defence Secretary, has threatened to call in the Marines to help immigration agents conduct mass deportations of immigrants, a militarisation of the process that was an explicit promise by the Trump campaign.

“We’re going to have troops everywhere,” Mr. Trump said. “We’re not going to let this happen to our country.”

Acute tension

Los Angeles, a centre of opposition to the administration’s plans, was a city of acute tension on Sunday afternoon, Monday morning Australia time.

California Highway Patrol officers faced off with protestors on from the 101 Highway in the centre of the city.

As hundreds, possibly thousands, of people watched, officers wearing gas masks used gas cannisters or smoke bombs to move smaller groups off the road, which runs past Los Angeles Union train station and the financial district.

Six Waymo self-driving taxis were vandalised nearby. Some had the words “F--- ICE” spraypainted on their windows, a reference to the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Someone waived a Palestinian flag nearby.

At least two were on fire. No police officers or fire fighters could be seen.

Elsewhere, people threw firecrackers and bottles at police horses. “It’s chaos,” a reporter for CBS News said. “It’s getting more violent down here.”

While the Government said 2,000 National Guardsmen were being sent to Los Angeles, the media reported 300 were present on Sunday protecting federal buildings.

Earlier Sunday, pepper spray was fired at hundreds of protesters, some waiving Mexico flags, outside the Metropolitan Detention Centre not far from Hollywood. By Sunday afternoon, there were two lines of officers protecting the building: National guardsmen in camouflage uniforms in front of Los Angeles police in black.

Further south, in the Hispanic-dominated suburb of Paramount, residents clashed on Saturday with immigration officers who may have raided a Home Depot outlook looking for illegal employees. Eight people were arrested, according to local media reports.

Mayor Karen Bass told protestors “we do not want to play into the administration’s plans” by becoming violent.

“I call on all Angelenos to continue expressing your right your anger - your outrage - but to do it peacefully,” she told journalists. “The last thing this city needs is civil unrest.”

The city, America’s second-largest, is the home to tens of thousands of Australians and an important transit route from the east coast of Australia.

Thirty days more

There were no reports of deaths, serious injuries or shooting, but a Congresswoman who represents some of the areas affected, Nanette Barragán, said the federal government had told local officials to “get ready for 30 days of enforcement”.

The administration has said it wants to arrest at least 3000 migrants a day, a campaign being actively resisted by officials in Democrat-dominated California.

The Governor, Mr Newsom, whom Mr Trump called “Newscum”, suggested California might retaliate by withholding tax payments to Washington.

“Californians pay the bills for the federal government,” he wrote on X. “Maybe it’s time to cut that off.”

With both sides escalating their rhetoric, violence may follow. Not just between law enforcement officers and protesters, but what happens if state and federal agents receive contradictory orders that puts them in conflict?

The US is entering a dangerous place.